Dwelling approvals fall in March

Media Release
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Released
6/05/2025
Source
Building Approvals, Australia, March 2025

The total number of dwellings approved fell 8.8 per cent in March, to 15,220, according to seasonally adjusted data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Brock Hermans, ABS head of construction statistics, said: 'Falls were seen across all dwelling types in March with private dwellings excluding houses down 15.1 per cent, and private sector houses 4.5 per cent lower.' 

Falls in Victoria and Queensland drive private sector houses lower

Across Australia, the number of private sector house approvals fell 4.5 per cent (to 8,804 dwellings), following a 1.1 per cent rise in February. The result is 3.3 per cent lower than March 2024.

Victoria and Queensland were the main drivers of the fall, dropping 10.0 per cent and 8.0 per cent, respectively.

Apartment approvals drop in March

Private sector dwellings approvals excluding houses fell 15.1 per cent (to 6,104 dwellings), following a 1.3 per cent fall in February. Despite the drop, the series was 47.1 per cent higher than March 2024.

Fewer new apartment approvals drove the overall fall in the series, with Victoria approving only 671 apartments in March compared with 2,294 in February (in original terms). 

(a) Seasonally adjusted estimates are not published for NT and ACT for all dwelling types. Private sector houses are not published for Tasmania.

Rise in non-residential approvals offsets residential value fall

The value of total buildings approved rose 9.4 per cent in March (to $15.59 billion), after a 4.7 per cent February fall.

The value of total residential buildings fell 7.6 per cent (to $8.98 billion), following an all-time high value ($9.72 billion) in February. The result was made up of an 8.6 per cent drop in the value of new residential building approved (to $7.81 billion) and a 0.7 per cent fall in the value of alterations and additions (to $1.16 billion).

The value of approved non-residential buildings rose 46.0 per cent (to $6.61 billion), after falling 21.9 per cent in February, driving the overall rise in total building value. The result was 17.8 per cent higher than March 2024. Approvals in Victoria made up 58.6 per cent of this series in March.

More information is available in Building Approvals, Australia.

Media notes

  • "Private sector dwellings excluding houses" includes semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses and apartments.
  • All numbers in this media release are in seasonally adjusted terms, unless otherwise stated.
  • When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
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