Canberra building approvals topped the nation in March, ABS data

The ACT has recorded the biggest increase in building approvals out of the Australian states and territories for March 2018, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released on Thursday.

The monthly ABS Building Approvals release showed the ACT had the biggest trend increase in the nation at 28 per cent. The number of dwellings nationwide rose by only 0.2 per cent.

ABS director of construction statistics Justin Lokhorst said the ACT played the biggest part in boosting the national figure.

“In trend terms, the national figure rose by 47 dwellings,” he said.

“The ACT made the strongest contribution to this rise with a 113 dwelling increase. The state with the next largest contribution was Queensland, up 83 dwellings.”

Along with the ACT, the Northern Territory and Queensland were the only states and territories to experience a trend increase in building approvals.

ACT’s performance was bolstered by the number of dwelling units approved, recorded at 1294. This jumped by 897 on February’s total of 397.

“The result was mainly driven by an increase in dwelling units approved in flats, units and apartments in a four-or-more storey block,” said Mr Lokhorst.

“There were 1003 such dwellings approved in March, compared to 80 in February.

“This is actually the highest result in this category since we started providing this breakdown in July, 1991.”

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Private-sector housing approvals in the ACT also surged in March by 69.8 per cent, from February’s total of 86 to 146.

Eighteen public sector dwellings were also approved in March.

“Prior to this, there were eight public-sector dwellings approved in February and 55 in January,” Mr Lokhorst said.

The total value of the building approvals was $539.4 million, with $394.5 million equating for residential.

There were a total of 51 non-residential buildings approved in March.

“Notably, there was an approval for an office building worth over $50 million,” Mr Lokhorst added.