Approvals for the construction of new homes have seen their sharpest fall in seven months.
 
The 4.4% figure for April was much worse than market expectations, but were up 16.6% for the 12 months to April, Yahoo! News said in its report.
 
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) also said approvals for private sector houses went up 4.7% in April, while 'other dwellings' such as apartment blocks and townhouses dipped 15%.
 
"I don't think there's anything significant in the result, the Reserve Bank will be comfortable there's plenty of building work being done," , Commsec economist Savanth Sebastian was quoted as saying.
 
He suspects that tighter lending restrictions may also have been a small drag on building approvals, adding that it may take one or two months of weakness before the sector bounces back.
 
"Banks are certainly being more responsible in terms of their lending policies, and I think that's showing up in the house price data as well," he said.
 

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