Home building approvals showed a modest fall in April following the steep swings in recent months, initially sparked by the COVID-19 Omicron variant at the turn of the year.
Dwelling approvals fell 2.4 per cent in April to 14,908, following the 19.2 per cent slump the previous month, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.
Private sector home approvals rose by 0.5 per cent to 10,077, while other dwellings fell 6.1 per cent to 4701.
BIS Oxford Economic senior economist Maree Kilroy said households faced an environment of higher interest rates and increasing building costs, "which is undoubtably a drag on new housing demand'.
"The RBA cash rate target is expected to reach 1.25 per cent by the end of the year, adding near $7000 annually to the average new mortgage repayment," she said.
The Reserve Bank of Australia's latest credit figures showed demand for loans remained solid in April and prior to the central bank's first rate increase in more than a decade at the start of May.
Total credit rose 0.8 per cent to an annual rate of 8.6 per cent, the fastest yearly rate since late 2008.
The ABS also released a spread of quarterly figures that contribute to the national accounts for the March quarter due on Wednesday.
This included the international trade balance for the quarter, which narrowed to a $7.5 billion surplus from $13.2 billion previously, the smallest since 2019.
However, ABS head of international statistics Andrew Tomadini said this was the 12th consecutive surplus, the longest run since the 1970s.
Imports increased by 12 per cent, outpacing a nine per cent rise in exports.
Net exports are expected to have made a large 1.7 percentage point detraction from economic growth in the March quarter.
Meanwhile, company gross operating profits increased by 10.2 per cent in the March quarter, while inventories - stock on shelves and in warehouses - rose 3.2 per cent.
Prior to the data, economists were forecasting a quarterly economic growth result of 0.5 per cent, a sharp slowdown from the 3.4 per cent rise in the December quarter, and largely as a result of an expected detraction from net exports.
If correct, it would see the annual growth rate slow to 2.8 per cent compared with 4.2 per cent in the December quarter.
Such a weak outcome will do little to lift confidence, which remains down in the dumps due to ballooning inflation pressures, and showed little reaction to Labor returning to government for the first time in nearly a decade.
The latest weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence survey captured the full response to the May 21 election, which has seen Labor secure at least 76 seats to form a majority government.
The consumer confidence index - a pointer to future household spending - was down 0.1 per cent at 90.7, well below its long-run average of 112.4 and indicating pessimists continue to outweigh optimists.
ANZ head of Australian economics David Plank said this muted reaction was not unusual, with little immediate reaction seen in response to the previous four elections.
"Confidence going into the 2022 election was, however, well below previous pre-election levels and it remains at a historically low level," Mr Plank said.
Consumer inflation expectations rose 0.2 percentage points to 5.5 per cent, its highest level since April, which Mr Plank thought likely reflected the rise in petrol prices.
The Australian Institute for Petroleum said the national average petrol price rose 0.9 cents in the past week to $2 per litre, the sixth consecutive weekly increase.
