> Australia - Building Approvals (February): +8.3% m/m (expected -1.5%)

Australia - Building Approvals (February): +8.3% m/m (expected -1.5%)

Monday, 03/04/2017 | 01:30 GMT-0

Up 8.3% month on month, a huge beat

expected -1.5% m/m and +2.2% was the prior, revised from +1.8%
Private sector house approavals up 5.3% on the month

Down 4.9% for the year on year

expected -14.5% y/y, prior -11.6%, revised from -12.0%

Approvals have been on a slowing trend since August last year. The m/m data is volatile, today's result a case in point.

There is plenty of construction work "in the pipeline" and February approvals add to it. There are concerns over the potential of a glut of apartments. For buyers that is not bad news ... but be cautious as all the concerns expressed, for the past year and more, have not slowed price gains (the latest CoreLogic data from earlier today is here: Australia - CoreLogic March House Price Index, values up most since May 2010)