Reinstatement of trend series
The trend series for Building Activity have been reviewed and reinstated.
Further details on the reinstatement of trend are available in the changes this release section below.
Building Activity, Australia
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Provides estimates of value of building work and number of dwellings commenced, completed, under construction and in the pipeline
Reference period
September 2022
Released
18/01/2023
Key statistics
In seasonally adjusted terms:
- Total dwelling commencements fell 5.2% to 45,489 dwellings.
- New private sector house commencements fell 4.9% to 28,895 dwellings.
- New private sector other residential commencements fell 5.2% to 15,618 dwellings.
- The value of building work done rose 1.5% to $30.6b.
Number of dwellings commenced
| Sep qtr 22 no. | Jun qtr 22 to Sep qtr 22 % change | Sep qtr 21 to Sep qtr 22 % change | |
|---|---|---|---|
Seasonally adjusted | |||
| Total dwelling units commenced | 45,489 | -5.2 | -21.2 |
| New private sector houses | 28,895 | -4.9 | -19.2 |
| New private sector other residential building | 15,618 | -5.2 | -25.0 |
| Trend | |||
| Total dwelling units commenced | 45,747 | -3.9 | -17.7 |
| New private sector houses | 28,896 | -3.6 | -18.3 |
| New private sector other residential building | 15,775 | -3.5 | -17.1 |
The total number of dwelling units commenced in Australia fell 5.2% to 45,489 dwellings in the September quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. The fall was driven by private sector other residential dwellings, which fell 5.2% to 15,618 dwellings and follows a fall of 4.5% in the June quarter. Private sector house commencements fell 4.9% to 28,895 dwellings and follows a fall of 1.0% in the June quarter.
The total number of dwellings under construction have reached record highs since December 2021. Dwellings under construction reached a new record of 244,479 in September, an additional 0.6% increase from the record in June of 243,078 dwellings. Private sector new houses have increased to record highs since March 2021, with 103,124 new private houses under construction in September 2022.
Value of work done
Reference year for Chain Volume Measures is 2020-2021
| Sep qtr 22 $m | Jun qtr 22 to Sep qtr 22 % change | Sep qtr 21 to Sep qtr 22 % change | |
|---|---|---|---|
Seasonally adjusted chain volume measures | |||
| Total value of work done | 30,621.2 | 1.5 | -1.7 |
| New residential building | 15,418.6 | 2.1 | -4.8 |
| Alterations and additions to residential building | 2,626.1 | -5.5 | -11.7 |
| Non-residential building | 12,576.5 | 2.3 | 4.9 |
| Trend | |||
| Total value of work done | 30,412.8 | -0.7 | -2.8 |
| New residential building | 15,242.5 | -1.7 | -6.4 |
| Alterations and additions to residential building | 2,677.6 | -2.7 | -7.7 |
| Non-residential building | 12,490.0 | 0.9 | 3.2 |
The value of total building work done rose 1.5% to $30.6b in the September quarter, in seasonally adjusted terms. The increase was driven by new residential building work done, which rose 2.1% to $15.4b and follows a fall of 6.5% in the June quarter. Non-residential building work done rose 2.3% to $12.6b. Work done on new houses rose 1.2% to $9.1b, while new other residential building rose 3.3% to $6.3b.
Data downloads
Time series spreadsheets
Data files
TABLE 01. Value of Building Work Done by Sector, Australia - Chain Volume Measures
TABLE 02. Value of Building Work Done by Sector, States and Territories - Chain Volume Measures
TABLE 03. Value of Residential Building Work Done by Sector, Australia - Chain Volume Measures
TABLE 04. Value of Residential Building Work Done, States and Territories - Chain Volume Measures
TABLE 05. Value of Building Work Commenced by Sector, Australia - Chain Volume Measures
TABLE 06. Value of Building Work Commenced by Sector, States and Territories - Chain Volume Measures
TABLE 07. Value of Residential Building Work Commenced by Sector, Australia - Chain Volume Measures
TABLE 08. Value of Residential Building Work Commenced, States and Territories - Chain Volume Measures
TABLE 09. Value of Building Work Done, States and Territories - Chain Volume Measures
TABLE 10. Value of Building Work Done, States and Territories - Chain Volume Measures: Original
TABLE 11. Value of Building Work Commenced, States and Territories - Chain Volume Measures: Original
TABLE 12. Value of Building Work Done by Sector, Australia
TABLE 13. Value of Building Work Done by Sector, New South Wales
TABLE 14. Value of Building Work Done by Sector, Victoria
TABLE 15. Value of Building Work Done by Sector, Queensland
TABLE 16. Value of Building Work Done by Sector, South Australia
TABLE 17. Value of Building Work Done by Sector, Western Australia
TABLE 18. Value of Building Work Done by Sector, Tasmania
TABLE 19. Value of Building Work Done by Sector, Northern Territory
TABLE 20. Value of Building Work Done by Sector, Australian Capital Territory
TABLE 21. Value of Residential Building Work Done by Sector, Australia
TABLE 22. Value of Residential Building Work Done by Sector, New South Wales
TABLE 23. Value of Residential Building Work Done by Sector, Victoria
TABLE 24. Value of Residential Building Work Done by Sector, Queensland
TABLE 25. Value of Residential Building Work Done by Sector, South Australia
TABLE 26. Value of Residential Building Work Done by Sector, Western Australia
TABLE 27. Value of Residential Building Work Done by Sector, Tasmania
TABLE 28. Value of Residential Building Work Done by Sector, Northern Territory
TABLE 29. Value of Residential Building Work Done by Sector, Australian Capital Territory
TABLE 30. Value of Building Work Commenced by Sector, Australia
TABLE 31. Value of Residential Building Work Commenced by Sector, Australia
TABLE 32. Value of Total Building Work Done, States and Territories
TABLE 33. Number of Dwelling Unit Commencements by Sector, Australia
TABLE 34. Number of Dwelling Unit Commencements by Sector, States and Territories
TABLE 35. Number of Dwelling Unit Commencements, States and Territories
TABLE 36. Number of Dwelling Unit Commencements by Sector, States and Territories: Original
TABLE 37. Number of Dwelling Unit Completions by Sector, Australia
TABLE 38. Number of Dwelling Unit Completions by Sector, States and Territories
TABLE 39. Number of Dwelling Unit Completions by Sector, States and Territories: Original
TABLE 40. Value of Building Work by Sector, Australia: Original
TABLE 41. Value of Building Work by Sector, New South Wales: Original
TABLE 42. Value of Building Work by Sector, Victoria: Original
TABLE 43. Value of Building Work by Sector, Queensland: Original
TABLE 44. Value of Building Work by Sector, South Australia: Original
TABLE 45. Value of Building Work by Sector, Western Australia: Original
TABLE 46. Value of Building Work by Sector, Tasmania: Original
TABLE 47. Value of Building Work by Sector, Northern Territory: Original
TABLE 48. Value of Building Work by Sector, Australian Capital Territory: Original
TABLE 49. Value of Building Work Under Construction, by Sector, States and Territories: Original
TABLE 50. Value of Building Work Yet to be Done, by Sector, States and Territories: Original
TABLE 51. Value of Non-residential Building Work Done, by Sector, Australia: Original
TABLE 52. Value of Non-residential Building Work Done, by Sector, New South Wales: Original
TABLE 53. Value of Non-residential Building Work Done, by Sector, Victoria: Original
TABLE 54. Value of Non-residential Building Work Done, by Sector, Queensland: Original
TABLE 55. Value of Non-residential Building Work Done, by Sector, South Australia: Original
TABLE 56. Value of Non-residential Building Work Done, by Sector, Western Australia: Original
TABLE 57. Value of Non-residential Building Work Done, by Sector, Tasmania: Original
TABLE 58. Value of Non-residential Building Work Done, by Sector, Northern Territory: Original
TABLE 59. Value of Non-residential Building Work Done, by Sector, Australian Capital Territory: Original
TABLE 60. Value of Non-residential Building Work Commenced, by Sector, Australia: Original
TABLE 61. Value of Non-residential Building Work Commenced, by Sector, New South Wales: Original
TABLE 62. Value of Non-residential Building Work Commenced, by Sector, Victoria: Original
TABLE 63. Value of Non-residential Building Work Commenced, by Sector, Queensland: Original
TABLE 64. Value of Non-residential Building Work Commenced, by Sector, South Australia: Original
TABLE 65. Value of Non-residential Building Work Commenced, by Sector, Western Australia: Original
TABLE 66. Value of Non-residential Building Work Commenced, by Sector, Tasmania: Original
TABLE 67. Value of Non-residential Building Work Commenced, by Sector, Northern Territory: Original
TABLE 68. Value of Non-residential Building Work Commenced, by Sector, Australian Capital Territory: Original
TABLE 69. Value of Non-residential Building Work Under Construction, by Sector, Australia: Original
TABLE 70. Value of Non-residential Building Work Under Construction, States and Territories: Original
TABLE 71. Value of Non-residential Building Work Completed, by Sector, Australia: Original
TABLE 72. Value of Non-residential Building Work Completed, States and Territories: Original
TABLE 73. Value of Non-residential Building Work Yet to be Done, by Sector, Australia: Original
TABLE 74. Value of Non-residential Building Work Yet to be Done, States and Territories: Original
TABLE 75. Value of Building Work Completed by Sector, Australia
TABLE 76. Number of Dwelling Units Under Construction, by Sector, Australia: Original
TABLE 77. Number of Dwelling Units Under Construction, by Sector, States and Territories: Original
TABLE 78. Value of Work in the Pipeline, Current Prices, Original, Australia
TABLE 79. Value of Work in the Pipeline, States and Territories, Current Prices, Original
TABLE 80. Number of Dwellings Approved but Not Yet Commenced at End of Quarter, States and Territories, Original
File contents
The Building Activity: Australia data cube contains original current price data at finer levels of building type than is available in the time series spreadsheets.
| The Building Activity: Australia pivot table contains the following data items | |
|---|---|
| Data item | Classification |
| State/Territory | All States and Territories |
| Reference quarter | Quarterly (September 2001 to current) |
| Sector of ownership | Private, Public, Total |
| Type of building | Houses |
| Semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses - One storey | |
| Semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses - Two or more storeys | |
| Semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses - Total | |
| Apartments - In a one or two storey block | |
| Apartments - In a three storey block | |
| Apartments - In a four to eight storey block | |
| Apartments - Nine or more storeys | |
| Apartments - Total including those attached to a house | |
| Total other residential | |
| Total residential | |
| Retail and wholesale trade buildings | |
| Transport buildings | |
| Offices | |
| Commercial buildings n.e.c | |
| Commercial buildings - Total | |
| Factories and other secondary production buildings | |
| Warehouses | |
| Agricultural and aquacultural buildings | |
| Other industrial buildings n.e.c. | |
| Industrial buildings - Total | |
| Education buildings | |
| Religious buildings | |
| Aged care facilities | |
| Health buildings | |
| Entertainment and recreation buildings | |
| Short term accommodation buildings | |
| Other non-residential n.e.c. | |
| Other non-residential - Total | |
| Total non-residential | |
| Dwellings excluding new residential | |
| Dwellings excluding houses | |
| Total | |
| Type of work | New |
| Total alterations and additions (incl. refurbishment and conversion) | |
| Total | |
| Data items | Value of work done during quarter ($m) |
| Value of work yet to be done ($m) | |
| Value of work in pipeline ($m) | |
| Value of work not yet commenced ($m) | |
| Value of work commenced ($m) | |
| Value of work completed ($m) | |
| Value of work under construction ($m) | |
| Dwelling units not yet commenced (no.) | |
| Dwelling units commenced (no.) | |
| Dwelling units completed (no.) | |
| Dwelling units under construction (no.) | |
Data cubes
Data files
Relative standard errors, value by sector, stage and type of construction; state and Australia
Relative standard errors, dwellings by sector, stage and type of construction; state and Australia
Relative standard errors; non-residential building by sector and stage of construction, state and Australia
Relative standard errors; value of work in pipeline; state and Australia
Building activity: validation table for data cube
Data items available by Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS)
Building activity: Australia
Data Explorer datasets
Caution: Data in the Data Explorer is currently released after the 11:30am release on the ABS website. Please check the reference period when using Data Explorer.
Building Activity by state - value of building work and number of dwellings commenced, completed, under construction and in the pipeline.
About this issue
This publication updates the preliminary estimates released in Construction Work Done, Australia. The data in this publication are based on a response rate of approximately 85% of the value of building work done during the quarter. This is lower than the average response rate due to difficulties collecting data as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The data are subject to revision when returns from the following quarter are processed. Final data for the September 2022 quarter will be released in the next release of this publication, Building Activity, Australia on 12 April 2023.
Several time series spreadsheets contain 'np' (not available for publication) annotations from the September quarter 2012 onwards. This is due to confidential data being contained in these series.
Inquiries
For inquiries about these and related statistics, contact the Customer Assistance Service via the ABS website Contact Us page. The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to us.
Changes this release
Revisions
Compared to the estimate published in Building Activity, Australia June 2022 released on 19 October 2022:
- the total value of work done in Australia during the June 2022 quarter has been revised downwards by $326.6m or -0.9% (original, current price).
- the total value of work commenced in Australia during the June 2022 quarter has been revised downwards $48.5m or -0.1% (original, current price). This was driven by a downward revision to total residential commencements of $101.3m or -0.5%, and an upward revision to total non-residential commencements of $52.8m or 0.4%.
- the number of dwelling unit commencements in the June 2022 quarter has been revised downwards by 165 dwellings or -0.3% (original).
Review of seasonal adjustment
In early 2020 the ABS advised that the method used to produce seasonally adjusted estimates would be changed from the ‘concurrent adjustment’ method to the ‘forward factors’ method for series with significant and prolonged impacts from COVID-19. Given the ongoing disruption during the COVID-19 period and continuing use of forward factors, extraordinary annual reviews of seasonally adjusted series are progressively being undertaken across the ABS statistics programs.
The extraordinary annual review process assesses each series individually to determine how observations from 2020 and 2021 should be treated and determine the most appropriate approach (concurrent adjustment or forward factors) for estimating seasonal adjustment factors in the immediate future. Revisions arising from the annual review are relatively minor for most series; but are likely to be larger for series which have used forward factors, because the seasonal factor estimates are updated annually to incorporate observations from the previous year.
The outcome of the review for Construction statistics concluded that COVID-19 is no longer having significant and prolonged impacts on the series, resulting in the following outcomes:
- continue concurrent seasonal adjustment for all Construction Work Done statistics
- reinstate concurrent seasonal adjustment for Building Activity Commencement and Completion statistics, from September quarter 2022.
Further information can be found in method changes during COVID-19 period.
Review of trend suspension
In early 2020 the ABS suspended trend series, in addition to adopting forward factors to produce seasonally adjusted series. The trend estimate indicates the medium to long direction of a time series. To estimate the trend, the effect of significant events like disruptions associated with COVID-19 are assigned to either the trend or irregular components of a time series. The trend series was suspended from June quarter 2020 until the length of the impacts from COVID-19 were known.
The trend series for Building Activity have been reviewed and been reinstated from September quarter 2022.
Over the last two years, the impacts of COVID-19 on series published in Building Activity have not caused multiple abrupt changes in the series level in short succession, and so it is appropriate to describe a trend level through the past two years. As a result, Building Activity will also be publishing a trend over the previous two years for relevant series.
Chain volume reference year updated
A new base year, 2020-21, has been introduced in the chain volume estimates resulting in revisions to growth rates in subsequent periods. In addition, the chain volume estimates have been re-referenced to 2020-21, preserving additivity in the quarters after the reference year. Re-referencing affects the levels of, but not the movements in, chain volume estimates. For further information, see the methodology
Article archive
Building a New Home: Construction Cost Changes, June quarter 2020
Small Area Dwelling Completions, June quarter 2020
Telling storeys - Apartment building heights, December quarter 2019
Characteristics of new residential dwellings - A 15 year summary, December quarter 2019
Abandonment rates for new dwellings, June quarter 2019
Average dwelling commencement times, June quarter 2019
Average dwelling completion times, June quarter 2019
Revisions to building activity statistics, December quarter 2015
Average floor area of new residential dwellings, June quarter 2013
A twenty year history of the cost of building a new house, December quarter 2008
Additional Building and Construction feature articles can be found in Feature Articles by Catalogue Number
Previous catalogue number
This release previously used catalogue number 8752.0.