Approvals for both units and houses have fallen, leading to a drop of 6 percent in overall dwelling approvals in August.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Head of Construction Statistics Daniel Rossi said 14,744 were approved in the month, with dwellings, excluding houses, down by 8.1 percent, following a 25.8 percent fall in July.
Mr Rossi said private sector houses also fell, down 2.6 percent in August, after rising 1.3 percent in July.
He said the housing result was 3.5 percent lower than one year ago.
“The fall in private sector houses in August was driven by the two largest states, Victoria and New South Wales, which were down 8.3 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively.
“In contrast, Queensland rose 2.9 percent and Western Australia rose 1.7 percent.”
Mr Rossi said falling approvals for apartments and townhouses, were the main driving of the drop in private sector dwellings, excluding houses.
“In original terms, apartments approved fell 33.4 percent, to 2704 dwellings.
“This was the second lowest result in the past 12 months, with only 527 new apartments approved in New South Wales and 342 new apartments approved in Victoria.”
