Housing approvals remained strong up until the end of last year according to ABS data, suggesting that construction will remain robust into 2016, and confidence in the economy remains high.

ABS Building Approvals rose 9.2% in December, after falling 12.4% in November.

Approvals for new houses rose 5.7%, while notoriously 'lumpy' data for apartment building approvals rose 13.5%.

In 2015, 232,078 homes were approved for construction - the strongest calendar year on record, according to Craig James, Chief Economist, CommSec.

"Australia's long building boom may be showing signs of peaking but there is still a lot of work in the pipeline," said James. "The boom in home building will continue to support economic activity over the next 12-18 months."

"However, with the tightening in bank lending standard, it is pretty clear that the lift in supply should result in a much more balanced housing sector."

The data also reflected the shift towards large-scale, apartment living in Australia. Nearly two-thirds, or 64.3% of all units approved in 2015 were in buildings higher than four storeys. Only 27% of apartment approvals were townhouses, and a mere 8.7% were low-rise developments.