The approval of new homes continues at a slow but steady pace, generally upwards, in line with demand, if the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on dwelling approvals are any indication.The ABS numbers show that, for May, the total fell by 5.2 per cent after rising by 3.3 per cent in April. In trend terms, approvals rose for the sixth consecutive month, up by 0.9 per cent.The ABS also said that, over the past year, 233,974 new homes were approved. This was a retreat from the record high 240,842 in the year to October 2015.Separating out the types of dwellings showed that house approvals rose by 0.2 per cent in May after a 1.4 per cent fall in April (private sector rose by 0.1 per cent). Meanwhile, the 'lumpy' apartment approvals fell by 10.3 per cent in May after rising by 8.2 per cent in April. Private sector apartment approvals fell by 11.3 per cent in May.The value of all commercial and residential building approvals fell by 10.3 per cent in May after rising by 18.2 per cent in April. Residential approvals fell by 6.4 per cent with new building down by 5.7 per cent while alterations & additions fell by 11.2 per cent. Commercial building fell by 18.5 per cent in April to be down 5.7 per cent on a year ago.Market economists such as Savanth Sebastian at CommSec suggested this means the housing sector "continues to bubble along at a healthy pace".Sebastian wrote in a note to clients that "home prices remain resilient despite changes in regulation and tighter lending standards that have been adopted by the banking sector. More importantly the pipeline of new building will continue to support broader-based economic growth over the coming 12 to 18 months."Over the past year 233,974 new homes were approved, easing further from the record high 240,842 in the year to October 2015. The anticipated lift in housing supply should ensure a more balanced environment - in essence house price growth is likely to be more contained over the medium term. This gels with increasingly higher auction clearance rates, as evidenced by the latest RPData CoreLogic report. It shows a long term rises in sales, but average prices have dropped.