by Sanjeev Sah | Mar 28, 2023 | Market Updates

Australia’s pipeline of new homes is drying up, with the number of new buildings approved in January dropping 27.6% to 12,065, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. 

That’s the smallest number of approvals in over a decade with both detached house approvals (-13.8%) and multi-unit approvals (-40.8%) recording a month-on-month drop – see image.  

Housing Industry Association senior economist Tom Devitt said the last time detached house approvals were at these low levels was in June 2012, which coincides with the last time the Reserve Bank of Australia ‘overshot’ its cycle of cash rate increases. 

“This will not be the end of the decline in approvals. The adverse impact of last year’s cash rate increases is still to fully flow through to the official data,” he said.