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
December 2025
Released
8/04/2026
  • Next Release 8/07/2026
    Building Activity, Australia, March 2026
  • Next Release 7/10/2026
    Building Activity, Australia, June 2026
  • Next Release 13/01/2027
    Building Activity, Australia, September 2026
  • View all releases
Release date and time
08/04/2026 11:30am AEST

Key statistics

In seasonally adjusted terms:

  • Total dwellings commenced rose 8.0% to 53,567 dwellings.
  • New private sector houses commenced fell 0.9% to 28,469 dwellings.
  • New private sector other residential commencements rose 23.4% to 23,849 dwellings.
  • The value of total building work done rose 0.4% to $43.9b.

This release includes updated data on the average cost and average floor area for new dwellings in the Data downloads section. For more information please refer to the Article archive section. 

Dwellings commenced

Number of dwellings commenced, seasonally adjusted
 Dec qtr 25
no.
Sep qtr 25 to Dec qtr 25
% change
Dec qtr 24 to Dec qtr 25
% change
New private sector houses28,469-0.97.6
New private sector other residential23,84923.463.7
Total sector total dwellings53,5678.026.1
Number of dwellings commenced, trend
 Dec qtr 25
no.
Sep qtr 25 to Dec qtr 25
% change
Dec qtr 24 to Dec qtr 25
% change
New private sector houses28,5371.65.2
New private sector other residential22,4339.943.1
Total sector total dwellings52,2835.018.5

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 rose 8.0% to 53,567 dwellings in the December quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. Private sector other residential dwellings commenced rose 23.4% to 23,849 dwellings, following a rise of 6.1% in the September quarter. Private sector new houses commenced fell 0.9% to 28,469 dwellings, following a rise of 8.1% in the September quarter.

There were 236,858 total sector dwellings under construction in the December quarter, of which 88,630 were new houses.

Dwellings completed

Number of dwellings completed, seasonally adjusted
 Dec qtr 25
no.
Sep qtr 25 to Dec qtr 25
% change
Dec qtr 24 to Dec qtr 25
% change
New private sector houses26,052-3.9-7.3
New private sector other residential16,172-1.1-2.0
Total sector total dwellings43,536-1.7-3.9
Number of dwellings completed, trend
 Dec qtr 25
no.
Sep qtr 25 to Dec qtr 25
% change
Dec qtr 24 to Dec qtr 25
% change
New private sector houses26,288-2.5-6.3
New private sector other residential16,1607.14.9
Total sector total dwellings43,5981.2-1.8

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 1.7% to 43,536 dwellings in the December quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. Private new houses completed fell 3.9% to 26,052 dwellings. Private new other residential completions fell 1.1% from September to 16,172 dwellings.

In original terms, 47,803 dwellings were completed in the December quarter, a fall of 3.7% from December 2024.

Value of work done

Value of work done, seasonally adjusted chain volume measures (a)
 Dec qtr 25
$m
Sep qtr 25 to Dec qtr 25
% change
Dec qtr 24 to Dec qtr 25
% change
 New residential building23,189.4 0.67.7
 Alterations and additions to residential building3,728.2 -0.24.9
 Non-residential building16,959.1 0.37.9
Total value of work done43,876.8 0.47.5
Value of work done, trend chain volume measures (a)
 Dec qtr 25
$m
Sep qtr 25 to Dec qtr 25
% change
Dec qtr 24 to Dec qtr 25
% change
 New residential building23,252.4 2.28.1
 Alterations and additions to residential building3,741.2 0.75.4
 Non-residential building17,046.4 2.38.0
Total value of work done44,069.4 2.27.9

 

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

The value of total building work done rose 0.4% to $43.9b in the December quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. The rise was driven by new residential building work done, which rose 0.6% to $23.2b. Alterations and additions to residential buildings fell 0.2% to $3.7b. Work done on non-residential building rose 0.3% to $17.0b and is 7.9% higher than December 2024.

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 December 2025 quarter will be released in the next edition of this publication, Building Activity, Australia on 8 July 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.
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