SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - Building approvals in Australia fell a seasonally adjusted 5.6 percent from April to 12,004 units in May
and were down 7.2 percent year-on-year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said on Tuesday.
The market consensus forecast was for a 1.4 percent decrease in May from the previous month.
In April, total building approvals rose 3.4 percent from March, revised from the earlier estimate of an
8.1 percent increase.
The ABS said private sector home building approvals in May decreased 3.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis to 8,503 units from April and were down 4.1 percent from a year earlier.
Other dwelling approvals dropped 10.0 percent month-on-month to 3,226 units and were down 16.6 percent year-on-year.
The ABS released the following table, with percentage changes:
May mth-on-mth yr-on-yr
Total dwellings (adj) 12,004 -5.6 -7.2
Private sector houses (adj) 8,503 -3.2 -4.1
Private sector other dwellings (adj) 3,226 -10.0 -16.6
Total dwellings (trend) 12,359 -0.6 -3.7
Private sector houses (trend) 8,603 +0.1 -1.0
Private sector other (trend) 3,437 -1.9 -11.2
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