Approvals drop off
There was the expected drop in house approvals ahead of the tapering of the HomeBuilder grants, albeit not so much in booming Perth!
Plotted on a rolling annual basis the success of the HomeBuilder package can be seen across the state capitals.
Unit approvals have been less distorted by the grants and have continued to snake lower.
In fact unit approvals dropped all the way back to 2009 levels in January on a seasonally adjusted basis, reflecting a lack of demand from migrants and fewer willing buyers from the Chinese mainland.
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SQM Research has generally speaking not seen the very large drop in stock on the market recorded by CoreLogic.
That said, listings were down 13 per cent year-on-year in January according to SQM's latest figures, although Melbourne still had more stock on the market than a year earlier at above 38,000 listings.
The major declines have been driven by the southern capitals, plus Brisbane, and Canberra, with Perth likely to follow suit next.
There's more detailed analysis of building approvals and other news from James Foster here.
