Australia’s apartment slump has passed the worst, economists declared on Thursday after new figures showed approvals of new apartments, townhouses and semidetached homes turning positive on a yearly basis for the first time in almost 2 ½ years.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data show attached housing approvals – driven by apartments, rather than medium-density homes – picked up to 63,648 over the 12 months to January, up 1.5 per cent from a year earlier and marking the first such positive reading since July 2022.