Building Approvals, Australia

Latest release

Provides the number of dwelling units and value of buildings approved

Cite
Print
Reference period
October 2025
Released
2/12/2025
  • Next Release 9/12/2025
    Building Approvals, Australia, October 2025
  • Next Release 7/01/2026
    Building Approvals, Australia, November 2025
  • Next Release 14/01/2026
    Building Approvals, Australia, November 2025
  • View all releases
Release date and time
02/12/2025 11:30am AEDT

Key statistics

The October 2025 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Total dwellings approved fell 6.4% to 15,832.
  • Private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 13.1% to 6,253 and private sector houses fell 2.1%, to 9,251.
  • The value of total residential building fell 11.8% to $9.03b.
  • The value of total non-residential building rose 11.6% to $7.13b.

Dwellings approved

October key figures
 Oct 25 (no.)Monthly change (%)Yearly change (%)
Seasonally adjusted 
 Total dwelling units approved15,832-6.4-1.8
 Private sector houses9,251-2.11.3
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses6,253-13.1-3.3
Trend 
 Total dwelling units approved15,844-0.63.4
 Private sector houses9,2750.00.2
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses6,228-1.211.6
  1. Trend break added to 'Total dwelling units approved' trend series for February 2021

The seasonally adjusted estimate for the number of dwellings approved fell 6.4%, after rising 11.1% in September.

The trend estimate for total dwellings approved fell 0.6%, after a 0.5% September fall.

  1. Trend break added to 'Private sector houses' trend series for February 2021

The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector house approvals fell 2.1%, after a 3.2% rise in the previous month.  Private sector dwellings excluding houses approvals fell 13.1%, after a September increase of 25.0%.

The trend estimate for private sector house approvals was flat, following a 0.1% September increase. Private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 1.2%, after also falling 1.2% in September.

 

Seasonally adjusted summary, by state

Approvals for total dwellings were mixed: Victoria (-24.7%), New South Wales (-20.6%), and Tasmania (-15.0%) fell, while Western Australia (28.1%), South Australia (11.2%), and Queensland (2.4%) rose.

Approvals for private sector houses decreased in most states with falls in Victoria (-6.6%), New South Wales (-2.2%), South Australia (-0.5%), and Western Australia (-0.1%). Queensland was the only state to rise, up 2.7% in October.

Dwellings approved, states and territories, seasonally adjusted
 Private sector housesPrivate sector housesTotal dwelling units approvedTotal dwelling units approved
(no.)Monthly change (%)(no.)Monthly change (%)
New South Wales1,872-2.23,705-20.6
Victoria2,638-6.64,212-24.7
Queensland1,9852.73,3352.4
South Australia837-0.51,25611.2
Western Australia1,621-0.12,39028.1
Tasmanianana209-15.0
Northern Territorynananana
Australian Capital Territorynananana
Australia9,251-2.115,832-6.4

Trend summary, by state

In trend terms, approvals for total dwellings were mixed. New South Wales (-3.2%), Australian Capital Territory (-2.8%), South Australia (-1.3%), Queensland (-0.1%), and Western Australia (-0.1%) fell. Meanwhile, Northern Territory (6.9%), Tasmania (3.2%), and Victoria (1.2%) rose in October.

Approvals for private sector houses fell in Victoria (-1.1%) and Queensland (-0.7%), but increased in Western Australia (1.9%), New South Wales (0.3%), and South Australia (0.2%), in trend terms.

Dwellings approved, states and territories, trend
 Private sector housesPrivate sector housesTotal dwelling units approvedTotal dwelling units approved
(no.)Monthly change (%)(no.)Monthly change (%)
New South Wales1,8490.34,051-3.2
Victoria2,746-1.14,6831.2
Queensland1,978-0.73,455-0.1
South Australia8140.21,173-1.3
Western Australia1,5831.91,888-0.1
Tasmanianana2253.2
Northern Territorynana626.9
Australian Capital Territorynana309-2.8
Australia9,2750.015,844-0.6

Value of building approved

  1. Trend break added to 'Total residential' trend series for September 2020 and February 2021.

Value of building approved, seasonally adjusted

The value of total building work approved fell 2.8% (to $16.16b) after a 3.7% September fall. The value of total residential building fell 11.8% (to $9.03b), comprised of a 13.7% fall in new residential value (to $7.85b) and a 3.5% gain in alterations and additions (to $1.18b).

The value of approved non-residential building rose 11.6% (to $7.13b), after a 19.2% September decrease. 

Value of building approved, trend

The trend estimate of the value of total building approved fell 0.7% (to $16.33b) after a 0.4% fall in September. The value of total residential building fell 0.1% (to $9.57b) after a 0.2% rise in September. New residential building value was flat (at $8.41b) and alterations and additions fell 0.9% (to $1.17b).

The value of non-residential building fell 1.5% (to $6.76b), following a 1.3% fall in September.
 

Value of building approved, by building type
 Seasonally adjustedSeasonally adjustedTrendTrend
($m)Monthly change (%)($m)Monthly change (%)
New residential building7,848-13.78,4090.0
Alterations and additions to residential building1,1813.51,165-0.9
Total residential building9,029-11.89,575-0.1
Non-residential building7,13211.66,758-1.5
Total building16,160-2.816,332-0.7

Data downloads

Download all (2.85 MB)

Dwellings approved

Data files
Download all (2.51 MB)

Value of building approved

Data files
Download all (5.26 MB)

Non-residential building approved

Data files
Download all (482.77 KB)

Chain volume measures

Data files
Download all (101.27 KB)

Demolitions

Data files

  • Table 87. Number of dwellings approved for demolition, original, states and territories

    Download xlsx [53.47 KB]

  • Table 88. Number of dwellings approved for demolition, by Greater Capital City Statistical Area - original

    Download xlsx [58.91 KB]

Data Explorer datasets

Caution: Data in the Data Explorer is currently released after the 11:30am release on the ABS website. Please check the time period when using Data Explorer.

Help for: Data Explorer Datasets

Building Approvals by Greater Capital Cities Statistical Area (GCCSA) and above - Number and value of approvals, monthly, July 2001 onwards

Dwellings revised by state

In this release, revisions are provided for the time period from July 2024 to September 2025. Further information about potential sources of revisions can be found here: "Revisions to Building Approval Statistics".

Revisions to the total number of dwelling units approved in this issue are:

Dwellings revised
  2024-252025-26
New South Wales1-4
Victoria4461
Queensland50228
South Australia-1-
Western Australia1138
Tasmania-2
Northern Territory--
Australian Capital Territory--
Total95425

Article archive

Previous feature articles

Enquiries

For enquiries about these and related statistics, contact the Customer Assistance Service via the ABS website Contact Us page. The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to us.

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 8731.0.

Methodology

Scope

Approvals included:

  • construction of new buildings
  • alterations and additions to existing buildings
  • non-structural renovation and refurbishment
  • installation of integral building fixtures
  • full demolitions of existing dwellings.

Geography

Data available for:

  • Australia
  • States and territories
  • Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA)
  • Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4)
  • Local Government Areas.

Source

Administrative data collection from local government or other approving authorities.

Collection method

Statistics of building work approved are compiled from:

  • local government authorities and other principal certifying authorities
  • contracts authorised by government authorities
  • media reports and the Building Activity Survey.

Concepts, sources and methods

Buildings are classified according to the ABS Functional Classification of Buildings, January 2021.

History of changes

Concurrent seasonal adjustment was reinstated from the May 2022 release.

View full methodology

Media releases