Apartment building remains strong

Home building continues to fluctuate, according to data released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The latest figures show that the total number of homes commenced in Australia fell 4.4 per cent to 45,156 in the June quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. The fall was driven by new houses, which were down 6.6 per cent to 26,074, and follows a rise of 6.7 per cent in the March quarter.

Work started on multi-unit homes rose 1 per cent to 18,033, following a whopping rise of 20 per cent in the March quarter.

In total, there were 223,922 homes under construction in the June quarter, of which 84,760 were new houses.

In seasonally adjusted terms, 40,524 dwellings were completed in the June quarter. New houses accounted for 27,287 of the dwellings completed, down 2 per cent from March, while new ‘other residential’ completions fell 17.5 per cent from March to 12,168 homes.

The value of new residential building fell 0.6 per cent to $20.6b in the June quarter, seasonally adjusted, with the value of alterations and additions falling 0.3 per cent to $3.5b.