Australian building approvals fell heavily in August, largely reflecting a steep drop in apartments. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), approvals fell by 9.4% to 16,477 in seasonally adjusted terms, leaving the decline on a year earlier at 13.6%. Markets were looking for an increase of 1% during the month. July’s figure, originally reported as a fall of 5.2%, was revised slightly higher to a drop of only 4.6%. Still, combined with the result from August, there’s now little doubt that residential construction activity in the period ahead will be greatly reduced compared to the levels seen in ... (full story)