Building Activity, Australia

Latest release

Estimates of value of building work and number of dwellings commenced, completed, under construction and in the pipeline

Reference period
March 2026
Released
8/07/2026
  • Next Release 7/10/2026
    Building Activity, Australia, June 2026
  • Next Release 13/01/2027
    Building Activity, Australia, September 2026
  • Next Release 7/04/2027
    Building Activity, Australia, December 2026
  • View all releases
Release date and time
08/07/2026 11:30am AEST

Key statistics

In seasonally adjusted terms:

  • Total dwellings commenced fell 11.2% to 48,012 dwellings.
  • New private sector houses commenced fell 3.5% to 27,658 dwellings.
  • New private sector other residential commencements fell 20.7% to 19,116 dwellings.
  • The value of total building work done rose 0.7% to $44.8b.

Dwellings commenced

Number of dwellings commenced, seasonally adjusted
 Mar qtr 26
no.
Dec qtr 25 to Mar qtr 26
% change
Mar qtr 25 to Mar qtr 26
% change
New private sector houses27,658-3.5-2.1
New private sector other residential19,116-20.75.6
Total sector total dwellings48,012-11.20.2
Number of dwellings commenced, trend
 Mar qtr 26
no.
Dec qtr 25 to Mar qtr 26
% change
Mar qtr 25 to Mar qtr 26
% change
New private sector houses28,3450.24.0
New private sector other residential21,3541.025.9
Total sector total dwellings51,0090.511.7

Seasonally adjusted dwelling commencement series for Tasmania, Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory are available in the Data downloads. Caution should be exercised using these series, as the small numbers and volatile nature of these data makes reliable estimation of the seasonal pattern difficult.

Total dwellings commenced in Australia fell 11.2% to 48,012 dwellings in the March quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. Private sector other residential dwellings commenced fell 20.7% to 19,116 dwellings, following a rise of 26.0% in the December quarter. Private sector new houses commenced fell 3.5% to 27,658 dwellings, following a fall of 0.1% in the December quarter.

There were 243,864 total sector dwellings under construction in the March quarter, of which 90,972 were new houses.

Dwellings completed

Number of dwellings completed, seasonally adjusted
 Mar qtr 26
no.
Dec qtr 25 to Mar qtr 26
% change
Mar qtr 25 to Mar qtr 26
% change
New private sector houses26,201-0.6-6.1
New private sector other residential16,3650.710.5
Total sector total dwellings43,816-0.40.8
Number of dwellings completed, trend
 Mar qtr 26
no.
Dec qtr 25 to Mar qtr 26
% change
Mar qtr 25 to Mar qtr 26
% change
New private sector houses26,098-1.7-6.4
New private sector other residential16,9484.716.7
Total sector total dwellings44,3280.92.4

Seasonally adjusted dwelling completion series for Tasmania, Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory are available in the Data downloads. Caution should be exercised using these series, as the small numbers and volatile nature of these data makes reliable estimation of the seasonal pattern difficult.

Total dwellings completed in Australia fell 0.4% to 43,816 dwellings in the March quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. Private new houses completed fell 0.6% to 26,201 dwellings. Private new other residential completions rose 0.7% from December to 16,365 dwellings.

In original terms, 38,333 dwellings were completed in the March quarter, a rise of 0.8% from March 2025.

Value of work done

Value of work done, seasonally adjusted chain volume measures (a)
 Mar qtr 26
$m
Dec qtr 25 to Mar qtr 26
% change
Mar qtr 25 to Mar qtr 26
% change
 New residential building23,162.8-1.05.3
 Alterations and additions to residential building3,976.24.110.2
 Non-residential building17,674.62.211.4
Total value of work done44,813.60.78.0
Value of work done, trend chain volume measures (a)
 Mar qtr 26
$m
Dec qtr 25 to Mar qtr 26
% change
Mar qtr 25 to Mar qtr 26
% change
 New residential building23,468.21.27.4
 Alterations and additions to residential building3,937.82.58.9
 Non-residential building17,692.02.311.3
Total value of work done45,136.01.89.1

 

  1. Reference year for chain volume measures is 2023-2024

The value of total building work done rose 0.7% to $44.8b in the March quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. The rise was driven by non residential building work done, which rose 2.2% to $17.7b. New residential building work done fell 1.0% to $23.2b, work done on new houses fell 3.1% to $13.5b, while new other residential building rose 1.9% to $9.7b.

Data downloads

Time series spreadsheets

Data files

Data items in the Building Activity: Australia pivot table

Data files

Data Explorer datasets

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

Building Activity by state - value of building work and number of dwellings commenced, completed, under construction and in the pipeline.

About this issue

This publication updates the preliminary estimates released in Construction Work Done, Australia. The data in this publication are based on a response rate of approximately 85% of the value of building work done during the quarter, which is lower than the long term response rate average. The data are subject to revision when the next quarter's survey responses are processed. Final data for the March 2026 quarter will be released in the next edition of this publication, Building Activity, Australia on 7 October 2026.

Several time series spreadsheets contain 'np' (not available for publication) annotations from the September quarter 2012 onwards. This is due to suppressing confidential data in these series.

Changes this release

Revisions

Article archive

The following data cubes provide additional insights into Building Activity and are updated annually. Refer to the Data Downloads section of the relevant Building Activity release.

June quarter:

  • Building Activity Average Dwelling Commencement Times
  • Building Activity Average Dwelling Completion times
  • Building Activity Abandonment Rates for New Dwellings

December quarter:

  • Building Activity Average Cost
  • Building Activity Average Floor Area

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 8752.0.

Methodology

Scope

Building activity in Australia on approved work greater than $10,000, including: 

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

Geography

Data available for:

  • Australia
  • States and territories
  • select series at Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA).

Source

Building Activity Survey.

The survey sample is selected from approved building jobs notified to the ABS Building Approvals, Australia collection.

Collection method

Survey responses from builders and other individuals and organisations engaged in building activity, compiled from:

  • online forms
  • paper forms
  • telephone calls
  • approval information

Concepts, sources and methods

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

History of changes

  • Trend series were reinstated in the September 2022 release.
  • Concurrent seasonal adjustment was reinstated in the September 2022 release.
View full methodology
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