Dwelling approvals slump
Dwelling approvals fell in October across all states other than Western Australia, new data shows.
Approvals for units and houses rose 2.1 per cent in WA, while dropping 7.5 per cent nationally, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
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Units and house approvals across Australia fell 10.7 per cent.
"Today's approvals update is a very weak one which serves to highlight the urgency of acting in late 2011 on both the monetary and fiscal policy front," HIA chief economist, Harley Dale said.
"Approvals for both detached houses and other dwellings dropped sharply in October 2011, taking total approvals to a level 30 per cent below that of the same month last year," Mr Dale said.
The biggest decrease was seen in Queensland (19.5 per cent), Victoria (18 per cent) and Tasmania (12.8 per cent).
South Australia and New South Wales reported drops of 3.4 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively.
Total building value decreased by 2.4 per cent in October, following a decrease of 14.1 per cent in September.
"This outcome vindicates the November interest rate cut, justifies the case for a further cut next week, and highlights the folly of blindly focussing on a budget surplus objective for 2012/13."
