The number of apartments being built continues to drop, bringing total housing starts down by 3.7 per cent in the June quarter for 2009, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released this week.
Detached house starts grew by 4.2 per cent to 22,808 in the June 2009 quarter. The number of private new houses commenced rose by 3.7 per cent to 22,347 units, down 16.5 per cent from the corresponding quarter a year ago.
Multi-unit starts, however, dropped by 21.5 per cent to 7,603. This figure includes new private sector `other residential building', which fell 20.1 per cent, to 6,459. This follows a revised fall of 14.2 per cent, to 8,080 in the March quarter.
The total number of public sector dwellings commenced rose 21.1 per cent, to 1,063. Falls in Victoria and South Australia were more than offset by gains in the remaining states and territories.
Total housing starts increased by 2.1 per cent in New South Wales, 8.9 per cent in Tasmania, 17.6 per cent in the Australian Capital Territory and 64.9 per cent in the Northern Territory.
The number of housing starts in the June 2009 quarter fell by 3.7 per cent in Victoria, 10.4 per cent in Queensland, 9.6 per cent in South Australia, and 6.3 per cent in Western Australia.