Approvals crash as well
Woeful building approvals figures were reported today, with seasonally adjusted dwelling approvals falling to their lowest levels in over a decade (since 2012) in January according to ABS figures.
Non-residential approvals also fell by -25.6 per cent over the month.
Source: ABS
The monthly numbers are very choppy, of course, but these figures generally appear to point to an accelerating downtrend.
There is still a long supply pipeline under construction too, but this weak result now takes annual approvals to a 25-month low.
The interesting thing is that these figures area seasonally adjusted upwards, so the actual number of monthly approvals was around -20 per cent lower.
Big city shortages
Sydney saw only 384 attached dwellings approved in the month, as unit rents continue to accelerate.
Detached house approvals are also slowing in Sydney, suggesting a chronic shortage of housing over the coming few years as regional migrants return to the office and as immigration hits record levels.
Western Australia saw the lowest level of approvals on record, even lower than their 1983 nadir.
Overall, these were pretty dire numbers, suggesting some major challenges for capital city housing ahead.
Indeed, there is much more damage to come for housing supply, per the Housing Industry Association's Chief Economist, as the cash rate hikes have barely begun to have an impact yet.
Yikes.
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OpenLot separately reported a rush for the exits in off-the-plan apartment project sales, with seller requests soaring to 47 per cent.
Messy. Very messy.
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There was a modest rebound in residential listings to 231k in February, albeit far below the 343k seen pre-COVID in February 2019, according to SQM Research:
All capitals reported the usual seasonal increase, though listings remain a little below their levels of a year ago in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Darwin.
New listings were -11 per cent lower than a year earlier, mainly driven by Sydney (-19 per cent).
