Building approvals see steady activity

HIA chief economist Tim Reardon said this provides further evidence that the housing market had momentum going into 2020.

“Due to the lag between purchasing a dwelling and getting a building approval, these results are from sales prior to the restrictions on trade and travel,” he added.

“Prior to March, the housing market was gaining momentum, and leading indicators including new home sales, house prices and housing finance data all showed that the market was starting the new decade strongly.

“Approvals were steady across the board with both detached houses and multi-units experiencing quarterly increases of 1.9 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively.”

The results showed that the state of NSW had the strongest month for multi-unit approvals since February 2019, to make the March quarter 28.6 per cent higher than the December 2019 quarter, Mr Reardon noted, saying: “This suggests that there was another cycle, albeit smaller, of apartment building on the way.”

“At least up until the end of March, we were looking at solid home building activity across most regions for 2020,” he concluded.