Australia Building Approvals Fall In February

(RTTNews) - Australia's building approvals dropped in February, preliminary data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed on Tuesday.

The number of dwellings approved fell 0.3 percent to 16,606 in February, following a 6.9 percent rise in January. However, this was better than economists' forecast of 1.4 percent decrease.

Approvals were varied across the building types, ABS head of construction statistics Brock Hermans said.

Private dwellings excluding houses dropped 1.5 percent, while private sector house approvals grew 1.0 percent.

Data showed that private sector dwellings excluding houses decreased 1.5 percent to 7,113 units, after reaching a two-year high in January.

The value of total building approved fell 3.1 percent in February, which was much slower than the 7.1 percent January drop.

At the same time, total residential building value moved up 5.0 percent to A$9.65 billion, an all-time high for a second consecutive month, the ABS said.