The total number of building approvals issued in Australia was down a seasonally adjusted 9.0 percent on year in February, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

That barely beat expectations for a decline of 9.1 percent following the upwardly revised 14.5 percent contraction in the previous month (originally -15.5 percent).

On a monthly basis, approvals climbed 3.1 percent – beating forecasts for 2.5 percent following the upwardly revised 6.6 percent contraction in January (originally -7.5 percent).

The largest contributors to the overall rise in seasonally adjusted dwelling approvals by state were Tasmania (24.0 percent), New South Wales (14.4 percent) and Queensland (9.5 percent).

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