New home building continued to weaken through the final months of 2022, according to new data released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The figures show that the total number of homes commenced in Australia fell 6.7% to 41,374 in the December quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms.
The fall was driven by multi-unit dwellings, which dropped 16.5% to 12,053 dwellings and follows a similar fall of 11.7% in the September quarter.
Work started on houses fell 2.3% to 28,330 dwellings, following on from a fall of 4.4% in the September quarter.
Overall, the number of homes under construction have fallen 2.0% to 238,475 in the December quarter after a record high of 243,456 in September. This was despite new houses reaching a new record high of 105,111 dwellings under construction in December 2022.
The value of new residential building work completed rose 1.1% to $15.8b in the December quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. Work done on new houses rose 1.0% to $9.3b, while new ‘other residential’ building rose 1.2% to $6.5b.
