ABS: The rise in falls and fall in rises

• Demolition numbers outpaced buildings approved
• March 2021 quarter strongest for demolition approvals
• Building approvals were down 8.6% for April

The cryptic headline comes as data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows the March 2021 quarter had a surge in building demolitions, and a fall in buildings approved for the month of April.

Building approvals down

ABS data was released today on total dwellings approved.

For the month of April, the seasonally adjusted estimate showed falls of 8.6%.

While the monthly change went down, the year on year change saw building approvals up by 39.2%.

Houses, however, saw a small positive movement, up 4.6%, but other buildings like apartments and townhouses were down 28.6%.

Values of buildings approved also saw a drop, total values were down more than $12 billion, or 22.6%.

Source – ABS.

Building demolitions up

The ABS data showed that there were 107,294 dwellings that were approved for demolition in the five years to March 2021 quarter.

This quarter just passed saw the largest uptick in demolition activity, with 6,140 dwellings approved to be brought to the ground.

The vast majority of demolitions were houses (95.1%).

New South Wales was the state to have the most demolitions approved, 28,499.

Source – ABS.

Demolitions generally sat equal with new dwelling approvals up until late 2018, when it continued to outpace new housing through to today.