As per the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there has been a 1.8 per cent (seasonal adjusted terms) surge in approvals for the construction of new homes in January 2017 to 17,412 dwellings. This has exceeded the market expectations of a 0.3 per cent fall. On the other hand, a slump of 12 per cent was noted for the housing approvals over the year to January 2017.It is also noted that apartment approvals have surged by 6.6 per cent in January. The improvement in approvals is typically expected to reinforce the construction-related activity.
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Trade in Goods and Services (Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics)
With regards to trade surplus, there has been a shrinking from $3,334 million to $1,302 million in January 2017 (seasonally adjusted terms). In trend terms, the balance on goods and services was a surplus of $2,176 million in January 2017, indicating an increase of $520 million (31%) on the surplus in December 2016. Exports of goods and services have fallen by 2.9 per cent while the imports have risen 3.7 per cent, indicative of improved consumer and business spending. There has been a slip in gold exports by $671 million along with coal, metal ores and minerals.
Recently, it was also noted that the Australian economy recorded broad-based growth of 1.1 per cent in seasonally adjusted chain volume terms in the December quarter 2016 against the previous quarter’s decline of 0.5 per cent. This was at the back of growth in 15 out of 20 industries with strongest ones being Mining, Agriculture, forestry and fishing, and Professional scientific and technical services. Further, Australia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has now grown 2.4 per cent through the year.
Given the above, it will be prudent to watch out for monetary policy scenario going forward.
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