Residential building approvals have slumped to their lowest level in just over two years.
Approvals for the construction of new homes dropped by 12.6 per cent in October.
After the monthly fall, the third in a row, approvals are down by 24.9 per cent from a year earlier, and at their lowest point since September 2014, according to the figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.
Approvals for private sector houses were down by 3.4 per cent in the month and 5.7 per cent through the year.
At the same time, approvals for homes in multi-residence developments, like apartment blocks and townhouses, were down 24.8 per cent in October and 42.6 per cent from 12 months earlier.
The value of housing approvals fell by 15.2 per cent to a two-year low of $5.23 billion, down $1.52 billion from the $6.74 billion peak reached in April, the bureau's seasonally adjusted figures showed.
The data follows a report on Tuesday from the Housing Industry Association which showed that new home sales were at their lowest level for more than two years and forecast a three-year decline that would reduce the number of homes started by 25 per cent.
In the much more volatile non-residential building category, which includes shops, offices, hospitals and the like, the ABS figures showed a 46.9 per cent drop to $2.98 billion in October.
However, that followed a surge that more than doubled approvals to a record $5.61 billion in September.
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