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NEELIMA CHOAHAN NEW DEVELOPMENT REPORTER HERALD SUN REAL ESTATE

NEW residential building approvals have hit a 13-month low in Victoria with experts blaming the federal Budget and international turmoil for the slide.

Latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures reveal new building approvals for multi-units and detached houses have fallen 11.5 per cent to 4011 in the year to September

The seasonally adjusted numbers are even gloomier for the month of September, falling 19.8 per cent in Victoria.

Housing Industry of Australia senior economist Shane Garrett said the slump in new home building was a reflection of increased consumer woes in the wake of the federal Budget.

“There has been a raft of bad news over the past six months nationwide,” Mr Garrett said.

“We have seen the federal Budget which people didn’t take too well to (and) there has been bad news internationally.

“There has been geopolitical stuff going on, the international economy has taken a little bit of a step backwards over the last three or four months.”

The data shows a shift away from building new apartments and townhouses, with multi-units taking a bigger fall than detached housing.

Mr Garrett said building approvals for multi-units were down by 21.5 per cent in the year to September, while approvals for detached houses fell 2.3 per cent in the same period.

The figures were even lower in NSW, where building approvals fell 30.1 per cent in the year to September.

Nationally, detached house approvals eased back by 3 per cent during the month, but remained 7.9 per cent higher than 12 months earlier.

Mr Garrett said the figures provided further evidence that the national recovery in new home building was likely to have passed its peak.

“Recent HIA research shows an annual requirement for 180,000 dwellings to be built each year,” he said.

“The fact that we seem to be drifting below this level of output again is a worrying sign.”