Building approvals in Australia rose in December, with the trend expected to level off in the first few months of this year.
New Australian property approvals were up in December, boosting the economy, statistics show.
Building approvals rose 2.2 per cent to 14,869 units from an upwardly revised 14,555 units in November, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.
For the year to the end of December 2009, national building approvals were up 53.3 per cent.
The trend is expected to start levelling off as the government boost for new home builders and Australian property buyers has ended, creating a lull in early 2010.
"While the result is certainly great at the moment with building approvals - they're holding at some of the best levels in about seven years in annual terms - it's likely that we [will] see a bit more weakness over the next few months," said Commsec economist Savanth Sebastian.
Alongside the increase in new-builds, Australian property prices went up at the end of last year. JP Morgan figures revealed a 5.2 per cent increase in the final three months of 2009.
Posted by Craig Francis
New Australian property approvals were up in December, boosting the economy, statistics show.
Building approvals rose 2.2 per cent to 14,869 units from an upwardly revised 14,555 units in November, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.
For the year to the end of December 2009, national building approvals were up 53.3 per cent.
The trend is expected to start levelling off as the government boost for new home builders and Australian property buyers has ended, creating a lull in early 2010.
"While the result is certainly great at the moment with building approvals - they're holding at some of the best levels in about seven years in annual terms - it's likely that we [will] see a bit more weakness over the next few months," said Commsec economist Savanth Sebastian.
Alongside the increase in new-builds, Australian property prices went up at the end of last year. JP Morgan figures revealed a 5.2 per cent increase in the final three months of 2009.
Posted by Craig Francis
