New home building approvals dived the most in six years in November as buyers remained on the sidelines in spite of the Government's stimulus package and hefty interest rate cuts. New South Wales bucked the trend.

- Approvals drop 35% from year ago

- Building activity hits new low

- Trade surplus halves

Building approvals fell 13%, seasonally adjusted, to 9581 in November, down from 10,730 in October, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said today.

The Age, The Australian