Dwelling approvals record sharp drop in January

Media Release

Released

3/03/2022

Source

Building Approvals, Australia, January 2022

The total number of dwellings approved fell 27.9 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms in January, following a 9.8 per cent rise in December, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Daniel Rossi, ABS Director of Construction Statistics, said: "The fall in the total number of dwellings approved in January was driven by a large fall for private sector dwellings excluding houses, which fell 43.6 per cent.

"Approvals for private sector houses also declined sharply, falling 17.5 per cent in January, following a 0.3 per cent decline in December. The series has now returned closer to historic levels, with the January result 0.8 per cent higher than the pre-pandemic level in January 2020.

Across Australia, the number of dwelling approvals fell in Victoria (-35.5 per cent), South Australia (-29.2 per cent), New South Wales (-25.9 per cent), Western Australia (-19.9 per cent) and Tasmania (-13.9 per cent). Dwelling approvals rose slightly in Queensland (0.5 per cent), in seasonally adjusted terms.

Approvals for private sector houses fell in all mainland states: South Australia (-19.9 per cent), Victoria (-18.6 per cent), Western Australia (-16.5 per cent), Queensland (-15.7 per cent), and New South Wales (-14.0 per cent), in seasonally adjusted terms.

The value of total building approved fell 27.7 per cent in January, in seasonally adjusted terms. The decrease was driven by a fall in the value of non-residential building approved (-36.8 per cent), following a 15.0 per cent decline in December.

The value of total residential building fell 22.8 per cent, comprised of a 24.9 per cent decline in the value of new residential building, and a 10.3 per cent fall in the value of alterations and additions.

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
Jan-07	12,627	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	4,399
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	12,779	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	14,203	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	14,437	8,354	5,593
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	8,622
Nov-13	17,287	9,247	7,746
Dec-13	16,999	9,050	7,694
Jan-14	17,830	10,182	7,337
Feb-14	16,753	9,733	6,803
Mar-14	15,950	9,362	6,332
Apr-14	16,408	9,680	6,374
May-14	16,820	9,759	6,832
Jun-14	16,533	9,655	6,549
Jul-14	17,037	9,732	7,065
Aug-14	18,583	9,729	8,594
Sep-14	16,383	9,548	6,604
Oct-14	18,127	9,843	8,096
Nov-14	20,109	9,828	10,061
Dec-14	20,346	9,695	10,208
Jan-15	19,984	9,908	9,745
Feb-15	19,624	9,703	9,573
Mar-15	20,758	9,647	10,789
Apr-15	19,256	9,774	9,166
May-15	20,906	9,549	11,063
Jun-15	19,305	9,922	9,043
Jul-15	19,776	9,711	9,166
Aug-15	19,305	10,109	9,035
Sep-15	20,304	9,781	10,256
Oct-15	21,520	9,724	11,560
Nov-15	18,712	9,681	8,951
Dec-15	20,211	10,182	9,863
Jan-16	18,995	9,851	8,850
Feb-16	19,875	9,868	9,651
Mar-16	20,577	10,162	10,212
Apr-16	20,833	9,985	10,645
May-16	20,189	10,006	9,871
Jun-16	18,492	9,583	8,714
Jul-16	21,493	9,593	11,641
Aug-16	21,762	9,734	11,630
Sep-16	19,215	9,765	9,283
Oct-16	16,468	9,570	6,596
Nov-16	18,445	9,622	8,574
Dec-16	18,339	9,364	8,831
Jan-17	17,086	9,180	7,705
Feb-17	19,111	9,447	9,419
Mar-17	16,580	9,322	7,039
Apr-17	18,106	9,399	8,488
May-17	16,936	9,769	7,011
Jun-17	18,636	9,928	8,497
Jul-17	19,114	10,174	8,474
Aug-17	19,150	10,142	8,826
Sep-17	19,704	10,137	9,322
Oct-17	19,571	10,158	9,095
Nov-17	23,104	10,013	12,931
Dec-17	18,021	10,263	7,593
Jan-18	19,621	9,881	9,473
Feb-18	19,301	10,281	8,702
Mar-18	19,683	10,516	9,015
Apr-18	18,394	10,588	7,603
May-18	17,877	9,731	7,989
Jun-18	19,409	10,273	8,810
Jul-18	18,338	10,043	8,030
Aug-18	16,419	9,950	6,318
Sep-18	16,677	9,535	6,826
Oct-18	17,155	10,082	6,906
Nov-18	15,181	9,421	5,627
Dec-18	14,315	9,173	5,008
Jan-19	14,572	9,156	5,221
Feb-19	16,714	8,939	7,663
Mar-19	15,148	8,692	6,237
Apr-19	14,352	8,529	5,689
May-19	14,545	8,710	5,616
Jun-19	14,697	8,773	5,543
Jul-19	13,353	8,599	4,461
Aug-19	13,749	8,467	5,155
Sep-19	14,550	8,622	5,780
Oct-19	14,211	8,074	5,940
Nov-19	14,899	8,667	6,049
Dec-19	15,896	8,674	7,031
Jan-20	13,563	8,641	4,782
Feb-20	16,250	8,715	7,353
Mar-20	15,257	8,653	6,374
Apr-20	15,187	8,868	5,948
May-20	13,217	8,755	4,159
Jun-20	12,724	8,339	3,964
Jul-20	14,516	9,116	5,085
Aug-20	14,286	9,704	4,395
Sep-20	15,994	10,424	5,215
Oct-20	17,296	11,199	5,770
Nov-20	17,831	11,852	5,633
Dec-20	19,138	13,276	5,620
Jan-21	17,011	12,278	4,377
Feb-21	20,245	14,105	5,723
Mar-21	23,544	14,662	8,417
Apr-21	22,058	15,250	6,549
May-21	20,507	13,715	6,531
Jun-21	19,465	12,364	6,707
Jul-21	17,921	11,690	5,941
Aug-21	19,205	12,237	6,692
Sep-21	18,601	10,536	7,871
Oct-21	16,028	10,834	4,881
Nov-21	16,299	10,592	5,478
Dec-21	17,904	10,556	7,101
Jan-22	12,916	8,712	4,007

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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.

APA

Citation

Dwelling approvals record sharp drop in January

APA

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'Dwelling units approved, by building type, seasonally adjusted

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