Australian home construction rises 11.4%

Australian government approval for the construction of new homes rose 11.4 percent across the country in October, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said on Tuesday.
Economists had predicted approvals to be up by 5 percent in October, so the higher than expected data pushed the Australian dollar higher to 85.01 U.S.cents up from 84.88 U.S.cents.
Approximately 17,062 new homes, including houses, townhouses and apartments in multi-unit buildings, were approved by local councils in October and over the 12 months to October and building approvals were up 2.5 percent, the ABS said.
Medium density housing, which includes apartment blocks and townhouses, was up 31.3 percent, while approvals for free standing houses fell 0.2 percent in the month