Building work on homes around the country 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 rose 14% to 46,546 in the March quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms.
Apartments drove the increase, rising 57.2% to 19,344 dwellings, 11.8% higher for the year. The number of standalone houses started fell 5.5% to 26,026 dwellings, following a similar drop of 4.6% in the December quarter, to be down 15.8% over the year.
The number of homes under construction increased 1.3% to 240,813 in the March quarter. New houses accounted for 103,778 of the total.
The value of new residential building work done fell 2% to $15.4b in the March quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms, following an increase of 1.0% in the December quarter.
Work done on alterations and additions to residential buildings, on the other hand, rose 2.1% to $2.7b.
