Australia’s homeowners are back into renovating their homes, but we still need a lot more new homes, according to data released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The latest seasonally adjusted figures show that the total number of homes commenced in Australia fell 10.4% to 37,116 in the September quarter.
Apartment buildings drove the decline, falling 11.2% to 13,485 homes; this sector has now fallen by 9.6% since September 2022. Standalone house starts fell 9.7% to 22,741 following a fall of 6.5% in the June quarter, to be down by a whopping 21.9% through the year.
Dwellings under construction fell 3.1% to 231,387 dwellings in the September quarter. New houses accounted for 97,120 of the dwellings under construction.
The total number of dwelling units completed in Australia rose 8.2% to 44,093 dwellings in the September quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms.
Multi-units drove the increase, rising 19.5% to 15,156 dwellings, to be 4.3% higher for the year. The number of new standalone houses completed rose 3.7% to 27,980 dwellings, following a fall of 2.2% in the June quarter to be down by 0.4% for the year.
The value of work done on new residential building rose 1.0% to $17.7b in the September quarter, to be 5.2% higher for the year.
Work done on alterations and additions rose 4.2% to $3.0b.
