8731.0 - Building Approvals, Australia, May 2011 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 04/07/2011   
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MEDIA RELEASE
4 July, 2011
Embargo: 11.30 am (Canberra time)

85/2011

Dwelling approvals continue to weaken in May

ABS Building Approvals show that the total number of dwellings approved fell 7.9% in May 2011, in seasonally adjusted terms, after falling 0.3% in April.

Dwelling approvals decreased for the month of May in Victoria (-18.5%), New South Wales (-15.6%) and Tasmania (-0.4%) while South Australia (+5.7%), Western Australia (+3.0%) and Queensland (+1.2%) recorded increases in seasonally adjusted terms.

In seasonally adjusted terms, approvals for private sector houses rose 0.7% in May with rises in Victoria (5.2%), New South Wales (3.0%) and South Australia (1.5%) while there were falls in Western Australia (-8.2%) and Queensland (-1.4%).

The value of total building approved fell 2.8% in May in seasonally adjusted terms. The value of total residential building fell by 2.7% while non-residential building fell by 3.0% after a 41.3% fall in April.

Widespread flooding, and other natural disasters, in the eastern states during late 2010 and early 2011 have not adversely affected participation by providers in the Building Approvals collection or the quality of estimates in this release. However, these events may have had an impact on the number of approved dwellings and the value of approved work.

Further information is available in Building Approvals, Australia (cat no. 8731.0).

Media note: Please ensure when reporting on ABS data that you attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.