Dwelling approvals rebound to 17.5k from July wipeout

Approvals bounce

Building approvals rebounded from a dismal 13,700 in July to 17,500 in August, mainly due to units not being stuck at close to zero in Sydney and Melbourne as they were last month.

You can pick out your own favourite capital city in the rolling annual figures below. 

House approvals also posted a better month, though the trend for total dwellings approved remains -14 per cent below a year earlier. 

Overall the trend seems to be levelling off, although the annual number of dwellings approved has slumped to the lowest level in 18 months at around 195,000. 

The trend for higher-density dwellings is fairly flat, and it's hard to see this taking off without foreign investors in the market. 

In summary, a decent rebound in dwelling approvals, but this may not flow through to commencements with many projects considered to be unprofitable as interest rates rise and the higher costs of materials bites. 

There's going to be a lot of pressure in some parts of the housing market as immigration increases to a record high next year. 

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Housing finance fell a further -3.4 per cent in August as the average loan size decreased from $609,000 to $589,000, though these data are so old it's hard to draw anything meaningful from the figures...except to say that they'd be much lower today.

There was a small increase in first homebuyer activity in August, mainly due for the FY2023 First Home Guarantee, according to the ABS release. 

There are plenty of places available, for those willing and able to buy.