ABS figures show moderate housing construction growth for quarter

New Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show residential construction saw growth in the September quarter.

The three-month period experienced a 0.9 per cent improvement on new residential real estate building work. There was also a lift in the volume of work on new detached dwellings with a half a per cent rise.

Housing Industry Association (HIA) economist Geordan Murray said that this slight upswing is a positive sign.

He commented: "It is good to see the aggregate volume of residential building work tick up by 0.6 per cent over the quarter following five consecutive quarters of decline."

Mr Murray did clarify that by saying that the result for the year to September 2012 was a poor performing one compared with the same period to 2011. He said that it's the association's hope that things will improve through government reform.

He explained: "To date, monetary policy has been the primary macroeconomic tool in play, and it looks like this situation will persist.

"It is time to see federal and state government actions occur to a substantially larger extent than is currently evident."

Overall, the entire residential building sector saw growth of 0.6 per cent for the September quarter.