Australia’s market for detached home construction has broken another record.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicates that the number of detached homes which were approved for construction rose by 0.1 percent in March to go from a previous record of 14,204 in February to a new record of 14,440 in March.

At this level, approvals are 62 percent higher compared with their level in March 2020 and were higher than at any other time since the ABS began collecting data on them in 1983.

Activity was generated as property owners rushed to sign construction contracts before March 31 to meet eligibility requirements for the Commonwealth HomeBuilder program.

All up, 121,363 applications for the grant were received.

Of these, 99,253 related to the construction of new homes whilst the remaining 22,220 related to substantial home renovations.

Housing Industry Association Senior Economist Nick Ward said the boom in approvals would lead to a record number of detached home commencements this year.

In 2021, HIA expects detached home commencements to reach almost 130,000.

This will eclipse the previous record of just over 120,000 in calendar 2018.

Ward says this level of activity will help to absorb workers across the economy.

Meanwhile, approvals in multi-unit construction rose 59 percent to come in at 8,772.

Whilst this is the highest level in more than three years, caution should be observed due to the statistically volatile nature of this market segment.