Building Activity, Australia

Latest release

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

Reference period
June 2025
Released
15/10/2025
  • Next Release 21/01/2026
    Building Activity, Australia, September 2025
  • Next Release 8/04/2026
    Building Activity, Australia, December 2025
  • View all releases
Release date and time
15/10/2025 11:30am AEDT

Key statistics

In seasonally adjusted terms:

  • The total number of dwelling units commenced fell 4.4% to 45,156 dwellings.
  • New private sector house commencements fell 6.6% to 26,074 dwellings.
  • New private sector other residential commencements rose 1.0% to 18,033 dwellings.
  • The value of total building work done fell 0.3% to $38.9b.

This release includes data on average commencement times, average completion times and abandonment rates for new dwellings in the Data downloads section. For more information about these data please see the June 2019 feature articles in the Article archive section.

Number of dwellings commenced

Number of dwellings commenced, seasonally adjusted
 Jun qtr 25
no.
Mar qtr 25 to Jun qtr 25
% change
Jun qtr 24 to Jun qtr 25
% change
New private sector houses26,074-6.6-0.9
New private sector other residential18,0331.027.7
Total sector total dwellings45,156-4.49.2
Number of dwellings commenced, trend
 Jun qtr 25
no.
Mar qtr 25 to Jun qtr 25
% change
Jun qtr 24 to Jun qtr 25
% change
New private sector houses26,542-1.60.2
New private sector other residential18,1386.425.7
Total sector total dwellings45,9591.310.1

The total number of dwelling units commenced in Australia fell 4.4% to 45,156 dwellings in the June quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. The fall was driven by private sector new houses, which fell 6.6% to 26,074 dwellings and follows a rise of 6.7% in the March quarter. Private sector other residential commencements rose 1.0% to 18,033 dwellings and follows a rise of 20.0% in the March quarter.

 

 

There were 223,922 total sector dwellings under construction in the June quarter, of which 84,760 were new houses.

Number of dwellings completed

Number of dwellings completed, seasonally adjusted
 Jun qtr 25
no.
Mar qtr 25 to Jun qtr 25
% change
Jun qtr 24 to Jun qtr 25
% change
New private sector houses27,287-2.0-5.1
New private sector other residential12,168-17.5-26.7
Total sector total dwellings40,524-6.5-12.5
Number of dwellings completed, trend
 Jun qtr 25
no.
Mar qtr 25 to Jun qtr 25
% change
Jun qtr 24 to Jun qtr 25
% change
New private sector houses27,380-1.3-6.4
New private sector other residential13,160-9.1-16.9
Total sector total dwellings41,432-3.8-10.2

In seasonally adjusted terms, 40,524 dwellings were completed in the June quarter. Private new houses accounted for 27,287 of the dwellings completed, falling 2.0% from March. Private new other residential completions fell 17.5% from March to 12,168 dwellings. 

In original terms, 40,619 dwellings were completed in the June quarter, a fall of 12.6% from June 2024.

Value of work done

Value of work done, seasonally adjusted chain volume measures (a)
 Jun qtr 25
$m
Mar qtr 25 to Jun qtr 25
% change
Jun qtr 24 to Jun qtr 25
% change
New residential building20,632.2-0.64.7
Alterations and additions to residential building3,453.7-0.34.9
Non-residential building14,795.60.1-4.3
Total value of work done38,881.5-0.31.1
Value of work done, trend chain volume measures (a)
 Jun qtr 25
$m
Mar qtr 25 to Jun qtr 25
% change
Jun qtr 24 to Jun qtr 25
% change
New residential building20,745.10.55.3
Alterations and additions to residential building3,475.11.06.3
Non-residential building14,740.5-0.4-4.4
Total value of work done38,956.50.21.5

(a) Reference year for Chain Volume Measures is 2022-2023

The value of total building work done fell 0.3% to $38.9b in the June quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. The fall was driven by both new residential building, which fell 0.6% to $20.6b and alterations and additions to residential buildings which fell 0.3% to $3.5b. Work done on non-residential building rose 0.1% to $14.8b but is 4.3% lower than June 2024. 

 

Data downloads

Time series spreadsheets

Data files

File contents

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 returns from the following quarter are processed. Final data for the June 2025 quarter will be released in the next release of this publication, Building Activity, Australia on 21 January 2026.

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

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.

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.

Post-release changes

Some Australia level estimates for the December 2023 quarter have been updated due to an error. Several estimates were incorrectly rounded to the nearest million instead of thousand. The rounding error impacted value of work under construction, value of work yet to be done and value of work in the pipeline series for total residential, total non-residential and total building. A total of thirteen cells have been updated across spreadsheets 49, 50, 69, 78 and 79.

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.
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