ABS GENERAL PURCHASING TRENDS.

ABS RETAIL:

• The following states and territories rose in trend terms in January 2015: Queensland (0.4%), Western Australia (0.4%), New South Wales (0.1%), South Australia (0.3%), Tasmania (0.1%) and the Northern Territory (0.1%). Victoria (0.0%) and the Australian Capital Territory (0.0%) were relatively unchanged in January 2015.

ABS BUILDING APPROVALS JAN 15:

TOTAL DWELLING UNITS

• The trend estimate for total dwellings approved rose 1.3% in January and has risen for eight months.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for total dwellings approved rose 7.9% in January following a fall of 2.8% in the previous month.

PRIVATE SECTOR HOUSES

• The trend estimate for private sector houses approved was flat in January.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector houses rose 0.4% in January and has risen for two months.

PRIVATE SECTOR DWELLINGS EXCLUDING HOUSES

• The trend estimate for private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 2.6% in January and has risen for eight months.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 19.6% in January following a fall of 9.4% in the previous month.

ABS BUSINESS INDICATORS DEC 15

CHAIN VOLUME ESTIMATES

• The trend estimate for inventories rose 0.4% in the December quarter 2014. The seasonally adjusted estimate fell 0.8% this quarter.
• The trend estimate for Manufacturing sales of goods and services fell 0.3% this quarter. The seasonally adjusted estimate was relatively unchanged.
• The trend estimate for Wholesale trade sales of goods and services rose 0.3% this quarter. The seasonally adjusted estimate rose 0.3%.

CURRENT PRICE ESTIMATES

• The seasonally adjusted estimate for company gross operating profits fell 0.2% in the December quarter 2014.
• The seasonally adjusted estimate for wages and salaries rose 0.3% in the December quarter 2014.

ABS NUMBER OF DWELLING COMMITMENTS DEC 14

NB December 2014 compared with November 2014:

• In trend terms, the number of commitments for owner occupied housing finance rose 0.5% in December 2014.
• In trend terms, the number of commitments for the purchase of established dwellings rose 0.6%, while the number of commitments for the purchase of new dwellings fell 1.1% and the number of commitments for the construction of dwellings was flat.
• In original terms, the number of first home buyer commitments as a percentage of total owner occupied housing finance commitments fell to 14.5% in December 2014 from 14.6% in November 2014.

ABS CHANGES TO RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY PRICE INDEX DEC 14

Preliminary estimates show that the price index for residential properties for the weighted average of the eight capital cities rose 1.9% in the December quarter 2014. The index rose 6.8% through the year to the December quarter 2014.

• The capital city residential property price indexes rose in Sydney (+3.4%), Melbourne (+1.3%), Brisbane (+1.4%), Adelaide (+0.8%), Perth (+0.3%), Hobart (+1.0%) and Canberra (+0.2%) and fell in Darwin (-0.6%).
• Annually, residential property prices rose in Sydney (+12.2%), Brisbane (+5.3%), Melbourne (+4.5%), Adelaide (+2.5%), Hobart (+2.2%), Canberra (+1.7%), Perth (+1.2%) and Darwin (+0.8%).

TOTAL VALUE OF THE DWELLING STOCK

• The total value of residential dwellings in Australia was $5,399,951.8m at the end of December quarter 2014, rising $124,445m over the quarter.
• The mean price of residential dwellings rose $10,900 to $571,500 and the number of residential dwellings rose by 38,000 to 9,448,300 in the December quarter 2014.