Building Approvals, Australia

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Provides the number of dwelling units and value of buildings approved

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Reference period
November 2025
Released
7/01/2026
  • Next Release 3/02/2026
    Building Approvals, Australia, December 2025
  • Next Release 10/02/2026
    Building Approvals, Australia, December 2025
  • Next Release 3/03/2026
    Building Approvals, Australia, January 2026
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Release date and time
14/01/2026 11:30am AEDT

Key statistics

The November 2025 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Total dwellings approved rose 15.2% to 18,406.
  • Private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 34.1% to 8,463 and private sector houses rose 1.3%, to 9,458.
  • The value of total residential building rose 26.3% to $11.34b.
  • The value of total non-residential building fell 3.9% to $7.04b.

Dwellings approved

November key figures
 Nov 25 (no.)Monthly change (%)Yearly change (%)
Seasonally adjusted 
 Total dwelling units approved18,40615.220.2
 Private sector houses9,4581.33.2
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses8,46334.155.3
Trend 
 Total dwelling units approved16,5350.57.1
 Private sector houses9,4100.42.4
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses6,7360.716.7
  1. Trend break added to 'Total dwelling units approved' trend series for February 2021

The seasonally adjusted estimate for the number of dwellings approved rose 15.2%, after falling 6.1% in October.

The trend estimate for total dwellings approved rose 0.5%, after a 0.8% October increase. 

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

Private sector dwellings excluding houses approvals rose 34.1%, after falling 13.5% in October.

The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector house approvals gained 1.3%, after a 1.3% October fall.  

The trend estimate for private sector house approvals rose 0.4%, following a 0.3% October increase. Private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 0.7%, after a 1.4% rise in October.

Seasonally adjusted summary, by state

Approvals for total dwellings were mixed: Queensland (34.2%), New South Wales (28.7%), Victoria (23.8%), and South Australia (1.0%) rose, while Western Australia (-14.1%) and Tasmania (-5.8%) fell.

Approvals for private sector houses were also mixed, as New South Wales (4.3%), Queensland (3.9%), and Western Australia (1.2%) rose, while South Australia (-3.7%) and Victoria (-0.9%) fell in November.

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 Wales1,9744.34,84828.7
Victoria2,612-0.95,21523.8
Queensland2,1413.94,55834.2
South Australia798-3.71,2811.0
Western Australia1,6421.22,067-14.1
Tasmanianana195-5.8
Northern Territorynananana
Australian Capital Territorynananana
Australia9,4581.318,40615.2


 

Trend summary, by state

In trend terms, approvals for total dwellings were mostly higher. Northern Territory (4.9%), Western Australia (2.1%), Victoria (1.8%), South Australia (1.2%), and Tasmania (0.5%) rose, while total dwellings approved fell in the Australian Capital Territory (-7.7%) and New South Wales (-0.6%), and the result in Queensland was flat.

Approvals for private sector houses rose in Western Australia (2.3%), New South Wales (1.5%), and Queensland (1.1%). Victoria fell (-1.9%) in November and the result in South Australia was flat.

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 Wales1,9271.54,277-0.6
Victoria2,652-1.94,9131.8
Queensland2,0771.13,5050.0
South Australia8080.01,2241.2
Western Australia1,6432.31,9892.1
Tasmanianana2160.5
Northern Territorynana644.9
Australian Capital Territorynana349-7.7
Australia9,4100.416,5350.5

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 rose 12.8% (to $18.38b), after a 1.8% October fall. The value of total residential building rose 26.3% (to $11.34b), comprised of a 30.4% rise in new residential value (to $10.14b) and a 0.1% fall in alterations and additions (to $1.20b).

The value of approved non-residential building fell 3.9% (to $7.04b), after a 13.5% October rise. 

Value of building approved, trend

The trend estimate of the value of total building approved rose 1.9% (to $17.35b), after a 1.1% rise in October. The value of total residential building rose 1.9% (to $10.25b) after a 1.9% rise in October. New residential building rose 2.1% (to $9.06b) and alterations and additions fell 0.1% (to $1.19b).

The value of non-residential building rose 2.0% (to $7.10b), following a flat October result. 

Value of building approved, by building type
 Seasonally adjustedSeasonally adjustedTrendTrend
($m)Monthly change (%)($m)Monthly change (%)
New residential building10,13830.49,0642.1
Alterations and additions to residential building1,205-0.11,186-0.1
Total residential building11,34226.310,2501.9
Non-residential building7,037-3.97,1032.0
Total building18,37912.817,3521.9

Data downloads

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Dwellings approved

Data files
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Value of building approved

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Non-residential building approved

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Chain volume measures

Data files
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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]

Small area datacubes

Data items

Building Approvals: Data items available by Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS)

Data files
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NSW

Data files
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Vic.

Data files
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Qld

Data files
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SA

Data files
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WA

Data files
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Tas.

Data files
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NT

Data files
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ACT

Data files

Validation table

Building Approvals: Data cube validation table

Data files
Download xlsx [34.23 KB]

Small area approvals (.csv)

Statistical Area Level 2

Data files

Local Government Area

Data files

Demolition approvals (.csv)

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 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

Building Approvals by Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) and above - Number and value of approvals, monthly, July 2016 - June 2021

Building Approvals by Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) and above - Number and value of approvals, monthly, July 2021 onwards

Building Approvals by Local Government Area (LGA 2024) - Number and value of approvals, monthly, 2024/25

Building Approvals by Local Government Area (LGA 2025) - Number and value of approvals, monthly, 2025/26

Dwellings revised by state

In this release, revisions are provided for the time period from July 2024 to October 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 Wales7926
Victoria-34
Queensland1894
South Australia-521
Western Australia-4
Tasmania71
Northern Territory-11
Australian Capital Territory1-1
Total100190

Post release changes

14/01/2026 - As advertised in the ABS future releases calendar, this additional information release contains all Building Approvals small area data components. This is comprised of the small area excel data cubes, csv files and additional Data Explorer links for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 financial years. 

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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

A building approval is the official permit that allows construction to begin.

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