The data is here from earlir - I've almost finished being shocked at the huge beat
Australia - Building Approvals for June: +10.9% m/m (expected +1% m/m)
Westpac comments:
- Dwelling approvals were much stronger than expected
- high rise approvals rebounded strongly month to month - still more likely to be noise than a renewed uptrend - but non high rise segments also posted a strong gain
- High rise approvals look to have jumped about 14% but were still down for Q2 as a whole and about 20% below year ago levels
- 'mid rise' unit approvals surged 30% in the month - this small segment tends to be more stable than high rise but may be finding more favour with developers in part due to changes in state government planning policies
- Overall, while the headline surge is clearly flattered by month to month noise in the high rise segment, the gains in non-high rise approvals look more 'genuine'. That should provide a little more counter-weight to the high rise construction boom wind down that is expected to dominate activity from late this year although it remains to be seen how enduring the strength in 'non high rise' segments in recent months will prove to be.
