The number of new homes approved for construction in WA has fallen to its lowest level in almost eight years.
Latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show there were 1192 dwellings approved for construction in WA in November, 29.5 per cent fewer than the previous month.
Of those dwellings, just 961 were private homes, a drop of 33.4 per cent. It is the first time since March 2001 that there have been fewer than 1000 homes approved.
The value of residential building in the state - which includes refurbishments - slumped to $381.3 million, the lowest since April 2005 and a drop of 27.6 per cent.
The figures were just as bad for non-residential building, where $193 million of work was approved in November, 30 per cent less than in October and the lowest since June 2007.
The falls come despite a Federal Government scheme to boost the number of first homebuyers entering the new housing market.
Grants for these buyers have been tripled, to $21,000. Housing Industry Association policy chief executive Chris Lamont said it had been hoped this would have lifted November approvals.
But HIA WA executive director John Dastlik said the impact of that scheme would not become fully clear until March, when approvals for January were released, due to the lag between buying a prospective new home and it being approved.
The November fall was "not unexpected", with the HIA's own surveys showing building activity falling.
However, he expected the impact of the increased first homeowner grant could see approvals rise by 10 per cent.
About 8000 fewer homes than necessary had been built in WA in the past two years, which would also create problems in the rental market, Mr Dastlik said.
Mr Lamont said there needed to be further government carrots to boost investment.
"The industry was thumped in the second half of last year and to get employment and activity firing again there is a need to look at some new incentives to get things moving, " he said.
This included ensuring availability of credit.
nabCapital chief economist Rob Henderson said: "There's no other way to describe (the November figures) than awful".
He believed the approval numbers could still fall in the first few months of this year, but the federal stimulus package and interest rate cuts should help.
