We're building more houses, but not nearly enough apartments, it seems, with figures released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showing that approvals to build new homes fell further in May 2010.
Detached house approvals increased by 1.5 per cent in May 2010. In trend terms, detached house approvals have been easing for five consecutive months.
Approvals for `Other dwellings' dropped by 20.2 per cent in May to reach their lowest level since October last year.
In May 2010 the number of seasonally adjusted residential dwelling approvals fell in five out of six states.
Approvals fell by 9.8 per cent in New South Wales, 3 per cent in Victoria, 8.6 per cent in Queensland, 13.9 per cent in Western Australia, 24.6 per cent in Tasmania, and were down by 1.1 per cent in trend terms in the Northern Territory.
Approvals increased by 30.6 per cent in South Australia and were up by 3.7 per cent in trend terms in the Australian Capital Territory.