Dwelling approvals decline in October

Media Release

Released

30/11/2021

Source

Building Approvals, Australia, October 2021

The seasonally adjusted number of dwellings approved fell 12.9 per cent in October, following a 3.9 per cent fall in September, but still remained above pre-pandemic levels, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Daniel Rossi, ABS Director of Construction Statistics, said: "The decline in the total number of dwellings approved in October was driven by a large fall in approvals for private sector dwellings excluding houses, which fell 37.5 per cent.

"Private sector houses stabilised, up 4.3 per cent in October, following a 14.8 per cent fall in September. The series has been at historically elevated levels over the past year, largely driven by Government stimulus and record low interest rates. The October result remains 34.3 per cent higher than the pre-pandemic level in October 2019, despite slowing in recent months."

Across Australia, the number of dwelling approvals fell in New South Wales (-29.4 per cent), South Australia (-8.1 per cent), Western Australia (-2.7 per cent), Victoria (-2.0 per cent) and Tasmania (-1.8 per cent). Queensland rose (2.2 per cent), in seasonally adjusted terms. The large fall in dwelling approvals for New South Wales was driven by a large decline in apartment developments approved in October.

Approvals for private sector houses rose in Western Australia (16.3 per cent), Victoria (6.4 per cent), Queensland (3.3 per cent) and New South Wales (0.7 per cent). South Australia fell (-3.3 per cent), in seasonally adjusted terms.

The value of total building approved fell 15.1 per cent in October, in seasonally adjusted terms. The value of non-residential building fell 20.9 per cent, having fallen 10.4 per cent in September.

The value of total residential building fell 11.4 per cent, comprising a 13.5 per cent decrease in new residential building, and a 2.6 per cent rise in alterations and additions.

Dwelling units approved, by building type, seasonally adjusted
	Total dwellings	Private sector houses	Private sector dwellings excluding houses
Oct-06	12,304	8,463	3,583
Nov-06	12,752	8,957	3,493
Dec-06	12,549	8,836	3,365
Jan-07	12,628	8,617	3,716
Feb-07	13,743	8,542	4,836
Mar-07	12,375	8,681	3,441
Apr-07	13,038	9,097	3,563
May-07	12,745	8,742	3,758
Jun-07	13,287	8,640	4,265
Jul-07	13,389	8,849	3,947
Aug-07	12,999	8,805	3,790
Sep-07	14,045	9,172	4,398
Oct-07	14,107	9,091	4,733
Nov-07	14,647	9,434	4,883
Dec-07	14,364	9,177	4,755
Jan-08	14,351	9,325	4,638
Feb-08	13,704	9,251	4,110
Mar-08	12,453	8,813	3,451
Apr-08	13,791	9,154	4,329
May-08	13,119	8,748	4,004
Jun-08	13,436	8,742	4,211
Jul-08	13,186	8,315	4,431
Aug-08	12,361	8,116	3,888
Sep-08	11,702	7,674	3,672
Oct-08	11,516	7,570	3,688
Nov-08	10,323	7,188	2,813
Dec-08	10,210	6,989	2,572
Jan-09	9,436	7,206	2,032
Feb-09	10,712	7,403	3,075
Mar-09	10,764	7,571	2,876
Apr-09	11,362	7,802	3,099
May-09	10,866	8,230	2,009
Jun-09	11,991	8,764	2,503
Jul-09	13,239	8,918	3,586
Aug-09	12,778	9,407	2,648
Sep-09	14,095	9,515	3,916
Oct-09	13,626	9,921	2,944
Nov-09	14,867	9,878	3,481
Dec-09	15,336	9,969	3,861
Jan-10	14,993	9,978	3,226
Feb-10	15,412	9,977	3,429
Mar-10	16,985	9,929	4,771
Apr-10	16,014	9,601	4,769
May-10	14,930	9,286	4,341
Jun-10	14,615	9,116	4,716
Jul-10	15,410	8,900	5,463
Aug-10	14,991	8,674	5,277
Sep-10	13,902	8,483	4,666
Oct-10	15,310	8,557	6,084
Nov-10	14,077	8,380	5,095
Dec-10	15,146	8,452	5,979
Jan-11	13,118	8,326	4,458
Feb-11	12,870	8,284	4,244
Mar-11	14,169	8,174	5,526
Apr-11	13,788	8,098	5,436
May-11	12,756	8,002	4,465
Jun-11	12,772	7,989	4,413
Jul-11	13,105	7,651	4,929
Aug-11	14,816	7,768	6,630
Sep-11	12,319	7,762	4,311
Oct-11	11,331	7,263	3,868
Nov-11	11,850	7,613	4,025
Dec-11	11,778	7,676	3,965
Jan-12	11,221	7,798	3,207
Feb-12	11,789	7,343	4,289
Mar-12	11,718	7,492	4,045
Apr-12	10,786	6,768	3,917
May-12	14,204	7,290	6,782
Jun-12	14,827	7,273	7,337
Jul-12	11,742	7,674	3,818
Aug-12	13,393	7,694	5,565
Sep-12	15,222	7,916	7,137
Oct-12	14,249	7,824	5,958
Nov-12	13,877	7,703	5,928
Dec-12	13,895	7,735	5,949
Jan-13	12,757	7,797	4,768
Feb-13	13,681	7,763	5,261
Mar-13	13,288	7,960	5,090
Apr-13	14,928	8,097	6,524
May-13	14,436	8,354	5,592
Jun-13	13,696	8,252	5,058
Jul-13	15,263	8,533	6,395
Aug-13	14,856	8,413	6,251
Sep-13	18,319	8,658	9,388
Oct-13	17,589	8,706	8,623
Nov-13	17,286	9,247	7,746
Dec-13	17,000	9,050	7,694
Jan-14	17,829	10,182	7,337
Feb-14	16,753	9,733	6,803
Mar-14	15,950	9,362	6,332
Apr-14	16,409	9,680	6,374
May-14	16,820	9,759	6,831
Jun-14	16,533	9,655	6,549
Jul-14	17,038	9,732	7,065
Aug-14	18,583	9,729	8,593
Sep-14	16,384	9,548	6,605
Oct-14	18,125	9,843	8,095
Nov-14	20,109	9,828	10,061
Dec-14	20,347	9,695	10,209
Jan-15	19,982	9,908	9,742
Feb-15	19,624	9,703	9,573
Mar-15	20,761	9,647	10,793
Apr-15	19,255	9,774	9,165
May-15	20,905	9,549	11,063
Jun-15	19,307	9,922	9,044
Jul-15	19,775	9,711	9,164
Aug-15	19,305	10,109	9,035
Sep-15	20,306	9,781	10,258
Oct-15	21,518	9,724	11,558
Nov-15	18,713	9,681	8,951
Dec-15	20,211	10,182	9,863
Jan-16	18,995	9,851	8,850
Feb-16	19,876	9,868	9,653
Mar-16	20,578	10,162	10,212
Apr-16	20,832	9,985	10,644
May-16	20,189	10,006	9,872
Jun-16	18,493	9,583	8,715
Jul-16	21,489	9,589	11,641
Aug-16	21,761	9,732	11,631
Sep-16	19,212	9,763	9,282
Oct-16	16,468	9,569	6,597
Nov-16	18,441	9,620	8,573
Dec-16	18,335	9,362	8,829
Jan-17	17,086	9,178	7,707
Feb-17	19,105	9,443	9,417
Mar-17	16,548	9,309	7,021
Apr-17	18,105	9,383	8,503
May-17	16,922	9,749	7,017
Jun-17	18,904	9,917	8,776
Jul-17	19,119	10,192	8,460
Aug-17	19,150	10,142	8,826
Sep-17	19,636	10,133	9,258
Oct-17	19,563	10,157	9,088
Nov-17	23,118	10,022	12,936
Dec-17	18,019	10,252	7,602
Jan-18	19,623	9,882	9,474
Feb-18	19,282	10,254	8,711
Mar-18	19,678	10,514	9,011
Apr-18	18,387	10,585	7,600
May-18	17,868	9,718	7,994
Jun-18	19,405	10,270	8,809
Jul-18	18,335	10,029	8,041
Aug-18	16,410	9,938	6,322
Sep-18	16,664	9,534	6,814
Oct-18	17,144	9,998	6,978
Nov-18	15,151	9,402	5,615
Dec-18	14,291	9,149	5,007
Jan-19	14,544	9,145	5,204
Feb-19	16,681	8,919	7,650
Mar-19	15,114	8,668	6,226
Apr-19	14,324	8,496	5,694
May-19	14,513	8,655	5,639
Jun-19	14,672	8,745	5,542
Jul-19	13,327	8,579	4,454
Aug-19	13,719	8,458	5,135
Sep-19	14,539	8,602	5,786
Oct-19	14,209	8,040	5,967
Nov-19	14,853	8,656	6,013
Dec-19	15,871	8,668	7,012
Jan-20	13,555	8,635	4,777
Feb-20	16,208	8,704	7,321
Mar-20	15,237	8,639	6,369
Apr-20	15,239	8,850	6,018
May-20	13,198	8,741	4,154
Jun-20	12,697	8,341	3,930
Jul-20	14,498	9,126	5,056
Aug-20	14,273	9,705	4,381
Sep-20	16,027	10,455	5,217
Oct-20	17,307	11,209	5,771
Nov-20	17,827	11,857	5,624
Dec-20	19,121	13,267	5,612
Jan-21	16,984	12,280	4,349
Feb-21	20,237	14,115	5,706
Mar-21	23,536	14,659	8,413
Apr-21	22,019	15,275	6,481
May-21	20,508	13,737	6,510
Jun-21	19,430	12,346	6,678
Jul-21	17,603	11,603	5,711
Aug-21	18,998	12,153	6,562
Sep-21	18,266	10,349	7,717
Oct-21	15,911	10,799	4,821

Dwelling units approved, by building type, seasonally adjusted

["","Total dwellings","Private sector houses","Private sector dwellings excluding houses"]

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[]

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Further information is available in Building Approvals, Australia.

Media notes

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).
Subscribe to our media release notification service to get notified of ABS media releases or publications upon their release.
"Private sector dwellings excluding houses" includes semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses and apartments.

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Dwelling approvals decline in October

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