Australian home-building approvals rose in March at the fastest pace since 2002, a sign that housing demand hasn’t been damped by the central bank’s world-leading round of interest rate increases.

The number of permits granted to build or renovate houses and apartments gained 15.3% from February, when they dropped a revised 2.7%, the Bureau of Statistics said in Sydney today. The median estimate of 22 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 0.8% gain.

bloomberg.com