Building approvals slip for second month Australia's construction industry continues to struggle with tepid market conditions as building approvals fell for a second consecutive month in January. The performance is set to frustrate the hopes of the Reserve Bank that a housing market recovery will help underpin the economy as the mining boom begins to fade. Nationally, building approvals fell 2.4 per cent, seasonally adjusted, in January. It comes after a 1.7 per cent decline in December, according to the Bureau of Statistics. Falls were recorded in NSW (-1.3 per cent), Victoria (-2.6 per cent), South Australia (-3.2 per cent) and Queensland (-5.8 per cent). Meanwhile, Tasmania posted the strongest rise in the country (13.9 per cent), followed by Western Australia (3.1 per cent). Harley Dale, chief economist for the Housing Industry Association, said the result was "disappointing" as the market had been expecting a rise on the back of the low interest rate environment. The signs of a recovery in residential recovery were always only very tentative, and that story is continuing into 2013. It's a reminder that if the Reserve Bank's looking for a strong recovery in residential construction to offset an easing in mining resources investment it won't be getting it any time soon. The results by type of housing stock were also sharply divergent in January, with a fall of -9.1 per cent in the apartment market contrasted by a 3.2 per cent rise for detached homes. Over the year, building approvals for houses fell by 2.1 per cent but soared 34.9 per cent for apartments. "Unit and apartment approvals have been running really strong, but approvals for detached houses are really still in the gutter, which is being matched by all the new home sales data," said MacroBusiness economist Leith van Onselen. It's not good for the [RBA's objectives] because the most labour intensive sector of the market, houses, is still tanking. Mr van Onselen also cautioned that national building approval numbers were weak but looked "worse than they actually are" because the ABS revised the December figure upwards.