Australian Bureau of Statistics
Celebrating the International Year of Statistics 2013

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February Key Figures

		Feb 04	Jan 04 to Feb 04	Feb 03 to Feb 04
		no.	% change	% change
Trend
Dwelling units approved
	Private sector houses	9,559	-1.9	5.8
	Total dwelling units	14,301	-1.5	2.1
Seasonally Adjusted
Dwelling units approved
	Private sector houses	9,301	-3.1	0.8
	Total dwelling units	14,592	3.2	5.5

Dwelling units approved, Total number

Private sector houses approved, Total number

February Key Points

TREND ESTIMATES

• The trend estimate for total dwelling units approved fell 1.5% in February 2004, the fifth consecutive monthly fall.
• The trend estimate for private sector houses approved fell 1.9% in February 2004. The trend has now fallen for five consecutive months, and is now falling in all states and territories.
• The trend estimate for other dwellings approved fell 0.7% in February 2004. This is the fifth consecutive monthly fall.
  

• The seasonally adjusted estimate for total dwelling units approved rose 3.2%, to 14,592, in February 2004.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector houses approved fell 3.1%, to 9,301, in February 2004. This is the fifth consecutive monthly fall.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for other dwellings approved rose 17.1%, to 5,164, in February 2004. This was driven by large rises in New South Wales and Western Australia, which offset a fall in Victoria.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate of the value of total building approved fell 8.3%, to $4,029.4 million in February 2004. Residential building rose 3.4%, to $2,972.4 million, with a 4.1% rise in new residential and a 1.3% fall in alterations and additions. The value of non-residential building fell 30.4%, to $1,057.0 million.

	2002-03	2003-04	TOTAL
New South Wales	25	248	273
Victoria	62	46	108
Queensland	7	214	221
South Australia	-1	-	-1
Western Australia	-	-23	-23
Tasmania	-	-	-
Northern Territory	-	-	-
Australian Capital Territory	-	-	-
TOTAL	93	485	578

VALUE OF BUILDING APPROVED

NEW RESIDENTIAL BUILDING

The trend estimate of the value of new residential building has been relatively flat over the last six months, and rose marginally (0.4%) in February 2004.

		NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
Original
Dwelling units approved
	Private sector houses (no.)	1,809	2,628	2,271	672	1,437	186	21	125	9,149
	Total dwelling units (no.)	3,871	3,384	3,147	826	2,005	201	82	216	13,732
Percentage change from previous month
	Private sector houses (%)	29.7	19.0	8.1	41.8	11.5	5.7	-	83.8	18.3
	Total dwelling units (%)	42.8	-7.1	7.9	19.4	29.3	1.5	13.9	89.5	15.4
Seasonally Adjusted
Dwelling units approved
	Private sector houses (no.)	1,924	2,531	2,271	671	1,582	na	na	na	9,301
	Total dwelling units (no.)	4,269	3,442	3,382	883	2,116	229	na	na	14,592
Percentage change from previous month
	Private sector houses (%)	16.1	-12.1	-12.4	10.3	2.9	na	na	na	-3.1
	Total dwelling units (%)	31.1	-16.2	-4.9	-0.9	16.2	-1.2	na	na	3.2
Trend
Dwelling units approved
	Private sector houses (no.)	1,825	2,683	2,470	672	1,589	na	na	na	9,559
	Total dwelling units (no.)	3,713	3,711	3,484	897	2,012	230	93	164	14,301
Percentage change from previous month
	Private sector houses (%)	-2.1	-2.0	-1.5	-2.6	-1.3	na	na	na	-1.9
	Total dwelling units (%)	-0.1	-1.8	-1.3	-1.8	-0.6	0.2	-1.9	3.6	-1.5
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
na not available

The graphs and tables which follow present the effect of two possible scenarios on the previous trend estimates: that the March seasonally adjusted estimate is higher than the February estimate by 4% for the number of private sector houses approved and 13% for other dwelling units approved; and that the March seasonally adjusted estimate is lower than the February estimate by 4% for the number of private sector houses approved and 13% for other dwelling units approved. These percentages represent the average absolute monthly percentage change for these series over the last ten years.

PRIVATE SECTOR HOUSES APPROVED

WHAT IF NEXT MONTH‘S SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATE: TREND AS PUBLISHED (1) rises by 4% on Feb 2004 (2) falls by 4% on Feb 2004 no. % change no. % change no. % change 2003 October 10,274 -1.1 10,283 -1.1 10,306 -1.0 November 10,109 -1.6 10,111 -1.7 10,122 -1.8 December 9,927 -1.8 9,931 -1.8 9,901 -2.2 2004 January 9,742 -1.9 9,752 -1.8 9,652 -2.5 February 9,559 -1.9 9,590 -1.7 9,403 -2.6 March - - 9,444 -1.5 9,162 -2.6 - nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

WHAT IF NEXT MONTH‘S SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ESTIMATE: TREND AS PUBLISHED (1) rises by 13% on Feb 2004 (2) falls by 13% on Feb 2004 no. % change no. % change no. % change 2003 October 4,964 -0.9 4,946 -1.0 4,991 -0.6 November 4,834 -2.6 4,838 -2.2 4,861 -2.6 December 4,702 -2.7 4,771 -1.4 4,711 -3.1 2004 January 4,610 -2.0 4,812 0.9 4,613 -2.1 February 4,579 -0.7 4,944 2.7 4,569 -1.0 March - - 5,073 2.6 4,508 -1.3 - nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)