Dwelling approvals jump by 19.1% in February

February saw approvals for the construction of new homes rise by a strong 19.1%, largely driven by rises in Victoria (37.3 per cent) and New South Wales (25.2 per cent).

Seasonally adjusted data released on Tuesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics uncovered that apartment blocks and townhouses which fall under the ‘Private dwellings’ category rose by 64.6 per cent.

BIS Oxford economist Maree Kilroy acknowledged the surprising strength of the overall increase, saying apartment approvals in New South Wales and Victoria drove the positive figure – which beat economist expectations of a 1.8 per cent decline.

The value of total building approved rose 1.3 per cent in trend terms.

The Australian dollar briefly rose to 71.12 US cents, after trading at 71.05 immediately before the data’s AEST release.