Apartment approvals drive growth in May

Media Release

Released

3/07/2023

Source

Building Approvals, Australia, May 2023

The total number of dwellings approved rose 20.6 per cent in May, in seasonally adjusted terms, following a 6.8 per cent decrease in April, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Daniel Rossi, ABS head of construction statistics, said: "The rise in total dwellings was driven by the more volatile dwellings excluding houses series, which rose 59.4 per cent. This increase reflected a large number of apartment developments approved in New South Wales in May."

"Approvals for private sector houses remain more subdued, rising 0.9 per cent, following a 3.0 per cent fall in April."

Across Australia, total dwelling approvals were mixed, with rises in New South Wales (+52.9 per cent), Tasmania (+41.1 per cent), Victoria (+15.0 per cent) and Queensland (+0.9 per cent). Meanwhile, falls were recorded for Western Australia (-11.1 per cent) and South Australia (-4.8 per cent).

Approvals for private sector houses were driven by a rise in Victoria (+7.3 per cent), while falls were recorded in all other states: South Australia (-7.2 per cent), Western Australia (-4.5 per cent), New South Wales (-3.4 per cent) and Queensland (-1.8 per cent).

The value of total building approvals rose 11.1 per cent, following a 1.7 per cent rise in April.

The value of total residential building approvals rose 15.2 per cent, comprised of a 17.1 per cent rise in new residential building and a 4.3 per cent rise in alterations and additions.

The value of non-residential building approved reached the highest level since March 2021, rising a further 6.6 per cent in May, following a 10.0 per cent rise in April.

Further information is available in Building Approvals, Australia

Dwelling units approved, by building type, seasonally adjusted
	Total dwellings	Private sector houses	Private sector dwellings excluding houses
May-08	13,098	8,742	3,988
Jun-08	13,472	8,750	4,238
Jul-08	13,173	8,310	4,426
Aug-08	12,389	8,117	3,914
Sep-08	11,702	7,675	3,678
Oct-08	11,525	7,576	3,689
Nov-08	10,327	7,189	2,814
Dec-08	10,200	6,994	2,557
Jan-09	9,417	7,206	2,015
Feb-09	10,712	7,404	3,074
Mar-09	10,819	7,597	2,906
Apr-09	11,412	7,863	3,086
May-09	10,846	8,229	1,989
Jun-09	12,009	8,764	2,518
Jul-09	13,218	8,911	3,572
Aug-09	12,807	9,409	2,670
Sep-09	14,037	9,512	3,901
Oct-09	13,635	9,928	2,942
Nov-09	14,896	9,894	3,488
Dec-09	15,320	9,983	3,828
Jan-10	14,955	9,980	3,199
Feb-10	15,417	9,985	3,429
Mar-10	17,040	9,949	4,811
Apr-10	15,891	9,492	4,747
May-10	14,947	9,299	4,344
Jun-10	14,653	9,109	4,758
Jul-10	15,389	8,893	5,452
Aug-10	15,040	8,682	5,314
Sep-10	13,853	8,493	4,648
Oct-10	15,313	8,563	6,076
Nov-10	14,100	8,387	5,097
Dec-10	15,096	8,465	5,915
Jan-11	13,130	8,342	4,456
Feb-11	12,880	8,296	4,244
Mar-11	14,214	8,198	5,547
Apr-11	13,853	8,185	5,413
May-11	12,755	8,007	4,459
Jun-11	12,834	8,007	4,456
Jul-11	13,084	7,640	4,920
Aug-11	14,900	7,767	6,716
Sep-11	12,297	7,769	4,282
Oct-11	11,358	7,280	3,877
Nov-11	11,849	7,614	4,023
Dec-11	11,723	7,689	3,897
Jan-12	11,211	7,796	3,202
Feb-12	11,803	7,359	4,289
Mar-12	11,742	7,514	4,048
Apr-12	10,864	6,849	3,915
May-12	14,217	7,304	6,782
Jun-12	14,869	7,267	7,385
Jul-12	11,743	7,664	3,827
Aug-12	13,414	7,700	5,582
Sep-12	15,226	7,930	7,127
Oct-12	14,275	7,825	5,983
Nov-12	13,876	7,719	5,911
Dec-12	13,878	7,765	5,903
Jan-13	12,747	7,815	4,743
Feb-13	13,678	7,776	5,247
Mar-13	13,297	7,959	5,100
Apr-13	14,989	8,165	6,516
May-13	14,427	8,375	5,562
Jun-13	13,771	8,267	5,118
Jul-13	15,268	8,526	6,406
Aug-13	14,889	8,413	6,286
Sep-13	18,358	8,677	9,407
Oct-13	17,648	8,727	8,660
Nov-13	17,262	9,238	7,730
Dec-13	16,955	9,064	7,634
Jan-14	17,771	10,200	7,264
Feb-14	16,729	9,751	6,762
Mar-14	15,993	9,383	6,352
Apr-14	16,492	9,768	6,369
May-14	16,799	9,788	6,783
Jun-14	16,603	9,660	6,613
Jul-14	17,115	9,780	7,093
Aug-14	18,558	9,679	8,625
Sep-14	16,399	9,543	6,622
Oct-14	18,191	9,861	8,141
Nov-14	20,140	9,850	10,071
Dec-14	20,320	9,720	10,154
Jan-15	19,880	9,942	9,613
Feb-15	19,505	9,716	9,443
Mar-15	20,776	9,630	10,825
Apr-15	19,029	9,547	9,164
May-15	20,886	9,551	11,045
Jun-15	19,365	9,903	9,119
Jul-15	19,846	9,741	9,202
Aug-15	19,342	10,072	9,114
Sep-15	20,400	9,817	10,310
Oct-15	21,579	9,745	11,597
Nov-15	18,683	9,649	8,954
Dec-15	20,253	10,286	9,800
Jan-16	18,841	9,835	8,715
Feb-16	19,669	9,817	9,499
Mar-16	20,691	10,253	10,232
Apr-16	20,754	9,998	10,553
May-16	20,312	10,042	9,961
Jun-16	18,691	9,680	8,813
Jul-16	21,540	9,585	11,699
Aug-16	21,975	9,678	11,904
Sep-16	19,175	9,788	9,214
Oct-16	16,582	9,556	6,717
Nov-16	18,411	9,634	8,530
Dec-16	18,331	9,402	8,788
Jan-17	17,085	9,209	7,681
Feb-17	18,796	9,435	9,125
Mar-17	16,487	9,285	6,978
Apr-17	18,229	9,491	8,524
May-17	17,041	9,824	7,056
Jun-17	18,657	9,958	8,487
Jul-17	19,377	10,202	8,707
Aug-17	19,467	10,262	9,026
Sep-17	19,572	10,084	9,231
Oct-17	19,744	10,147	9,272
Nov-17	23,080	10,083	12,838
Dec-17	17,921	10,171	7,593
Jan-18	19,616	9,890	9,455
Feb-18	18,930	10,263	8,360
Mar-18	19,619	10,456	9,009
Apr-18	18,340	10,572	7,572
May-18	18,141	10,005	7,976
Jun-18	19,492	10,214	8,951
Jul-18	18,645	10,140	8,241
Aug-18	16,407	9,952	6,310
Sep-18	16,746	9,617	6,798
Oct-18	17,328	10,047	7,104
Nov-18	14,986	9,362	5,497
Dec-18	14,242	9,057	5,057
Jan-19	14,732	9,384	5,153
Feb-19	16,311	8,911	7,295
Mar-19	15,061	8,513	6,331
Apr-19	14,426	8,568	5,723
May-19	14,499	8,820	5,459
Jun-19	14,984	8,893	5,710
Jul-19	13,644	8,615	4,726
Aug-19	13,786	8,538	5,131
Sep-19	14,544	8,727	5,662
Oct-19	14,570	8,263	6,095
Nov-19	14,741	8,476	6,090
Dec-19	15,998	8,649	7,170
Jan-20	13,452	8,646	4,666
Feb-20	16,040	8,681	7,183
Mar-20	15,377	8,560	6,606
Apr-20	15,069	8,801	5,889
May-20	13,356	8,850	4,215
Jun-20	12,872	8,374	4,106
Jul-20	15,192	9,288	5,580
Aug-20	14,386	9,641	4,571
Sep-20	16,132	10,559	5,167
Oct-20	17,472	11,188	5,940
Nov-20	17,566	11,510	5,729
Dec-20	19,348	13,350	5,759
Jan-21	17,010	12,172	4,506
Feb-21	19,858	13,970	5,489
Mar-21	23,152	14,095	8,550
Apr-21	20,131	13,548	6,331
May-21	20,719	13,682	6,784
Jun-21	19,860	12,553	6,885
Jul-21	18,217	11,976	5,954
Aug-21	19,114	12,050	6,798
Sep-21	18,395	10,480	7,700
Oct-21	16,099	10,470	5,313
Nov-21	16,169	10,387	5,567
Dec-21	17,207	9,982	6,981
Jan-22	13,264	8,630	4,408
Feb-22	18,349	9,823	7,247
Mar-22	15,260	9,745	5,221
Apr-22	15,340	9,761	5,431
May-22	16,656	9,602	6,732
Jun-22	16,658	9,741	6,453
Jul-22	14,034	9,755	4,061
Aug-22	17,855	10,307	7,271
Sep-22	16,407	9,504	6,690
Oct-22	15,438	9,338	5,921
Nov-22	14,839	9,107	5,394
Dec-22	16,646	8,863	7,223
Jan-23	12,301	7,714	4,420
Feb-23	12,729	8,571	3,949
Mar-23	13,375	8,312	4,857
Apr-23	12,465	8,064	4,217
May-23	15,032	8,135	6,722

Dwelling units approved, by building type, seasonally adjusted

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Media notes

"Private sector dwellings excluding houses" includes semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses and apartments.
When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
For media requests and interviews, contact the ABS Media Team via media@abs.gov.au (8.30am-5pm Mon-Fri).
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