The trend for private sector housing building approvals in WA has fallen for the first time in seven months, new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the month of April show.
They indicate a 0.8 per cent drop in private sector house approvals from the month of March. How-ever, this masks a 7.8 per cent increase for the year.
The trend for total dwellings has also increased, despite the de-crease in housing approvals, rising 0.5 per cent over the previous month and increasing 8.8 per cent since October 1998.
There were 1,653 dwellings approved in April, down 268 dwellings (14 per cent) from March. The value of these approvals is estimated to be $293 million compared with $254.5 million for April 1998.
Of 1,653 dwellings approved, 71 per cent fell within the Perth metropolitan area with the areas of Wanneroo, Stirling and Joondalup showing the most growth.
Dwelling units commenced for the March quarter also show a decline of 5.3 per cent. Only Queensland showed a greater decline, falling 6.7 per cent from the previous quarter.
The ACT bucked the trend by showing the only increase in commencements – up 19.4 per cent from the previous quarter.