Seasonally adjusted data revealed that the total number of dwellings approved in Australia fell 7.2% to 14,564 in January from 15,693 in the previous month, figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed Tuesday.

Private sector housing approvals inched up 1.1% to 9,753 in January, while approvals for private sector dwellings excluding houses fell around 25% to 4,393, according to the ABS data.

Meanwhile, the value of total non-residential building approvals rose over 19% to AU$8.24 billion, and the value of total residential building approvals declined 1.2% to AU$9.48 billion.