In this week’s data wrap we take a look at a couple of the more notable data releases from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), and review the latest outcomes for South Australia from the latest international visitor survey.

Building activity
The ABS released updated estimates of building activity for the March quarter 2017. These data show that the volume of building work done in South Australia fell by 3.7 per cent in the March quarter in seasonally adjusted terms, to be down 3.4 per cent compared to the corresponding period a year earlier. The latest quarterly decline was driven by a large fall in non-residential building activity (down 8.9 per cent), while there was a slight fall in residential building work done (down 0.3 per cent).

Building activity has also eased at the national level. The volume of building work done fell by 2.4 per cent in the March quarter, and was 1.5 per cent lower compared to the corresponding year ago quarter.

Housing finance commitments
Latest data on housing finance commitments point to a further slowdown in lending activity for housing. The trend estimate of the number of housing finance commitments for owner-occupation in South Australia fell by 0.8 per cent in May, to be down 6.4 per cent compared to a year earlier. National trends were broadly similar although less pronounced: the number of housing commitments fell by 0.4 per cent in May, to be 3.5 per cent lower compared to a year earlier.

Much of the slowdown in the number of housing finance commitments in South Australia appears to be related to purchases of existing dwellings rather than new dwellings. The total number of loans for the purchase of established dwellings in the three months to May 2017 was down 1.6 per cent compared to the corresponding period a year earlier. In comparison, the number of loans for the construction of dwellings or purchase of new dwellings was up 4.7 per cent between these periods, which in consistent with the upturn in building approvals of dwelling units we saw last week. Hence, while the latest housing finance commitments results are somewhat disappointing news for real estate agents, they are more encouraging for builders.

International visitors
Tourism Research Australia released the latest results from the international visitor survey last week. The total number of international visitors aged 15 years and over to South Australia in the year to March 2017 was 436,000, up 6.5 per cent compared to the previous year. In comparison, the total number of international visitors to Australia rose by 9.2 per cent to reach 7.7 million.

International visitors to South Australia in the year to March 2017 spent a total of 10.6 million nights in the state. This represents an increase of 8.8 per cent on the previous year, and compares with a national rise of 5.4 per cent. Thus, while South Australia did not do as well in terms of attracting additional international visitors to the state relative to national performance last year, it did better in terms of encouraging international visitors to stay for longer. The average number of nights spent by international visitors in South Australia rose from 23.8 to 24.3 nights. Indeed, South Australia had the third longest average length of stay of any state or territory for the year to March 2017, behind only Western Australia (30 days) and Victoria (24.6 days).