April key figures
| Apr 20 | Mar 20 to Apr 20 | Apr 19 to Apr 20 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| no. | % | % | ||
| TREND | ||||
| Total dwelling units approved | 15 400 | 1.0 | 3.9 | |
| Private sector houses | 8 846 | 0.8 | 1.9 | |
| Private sector dwellings excluding houses | 6 316 | 1.0 | 6.6 | |
| SEASONALLY ADJUSTED | ||||
| Total dwelling units approved | 15 294 | -1.8 | 5.7 | |
| Private sector houses | 8 912 | 2.7 | 4.9 | |
| Private sector dwellings excluding houses | 6 079 | -8.9 | 4.0 | |
April key points
Total dwelling units
- The trend estimate for total dwellings approved rose 1.0% in April.
- The seasonally adjusted estimate for total dwellings approved fell 1.8% in April.
Private sector houses
- The trend estimate for private sector houses approved rose 0.8% in April.
- The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector houses rose 2.7% in April.
Private sector dwellings excluding houses
- The trend estimate for private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 1.0% in April.
- The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 8.9% in April.
Value of building approved
- The trend estimate of the value of total building approved fell 0.6% in April and has fallen for two months. The value of residential building rose 1.3% and has risen for eight months. The value of non-residential building fell 3.1% and has fallen for nine months.
- The seasonally adjusted estimate of the value of total building approved fell 2.5% in April. The value of residential building rose 4.4%, while the value of non-residential building fell 11.9%.
Data notes
In this release, revisions are provided for the time period from July 2018 to March 2020. Further information about potential sources of revisions can be found in the feature article released with the January 2016 8731.0 publication - "Revisions to Building Approval Statistics".
Small area data cubes and CSV files will be made available in an “Additional Information” release five business days after the main publication. These will be for Statistical Area Level 2 and Local Government Areas. Release dates are published under the “Forthcoming Issues” section of the publication and in ABS Release Advice.
A number of time series spreadsheets contain ‘np’ (not available for publication) annotations. This is due to confidential data being contained in these series.
In this release, the method for calculating seasonally adjusted estimates was updated for some series, to better reflect the observance of the ANZAC day holiday when it falls on a weekend.
Managing the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) on building approvals statistics
The ABS is currently monitoring for potential impacts from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) on building approvals statistics and will continue to do so for the period of the pandemic.
Quality assurance of April data did not identify any major impact to headline statistics. Since it takes some time to approve an application for building construction work, there will be a lag between any change in the number of applications, and the statistics presented in this publication.
The ABS is actively managing the potential risks from COVID-19 to data collection operations. The ABS appreciates the support of federal, state and local government in continuing to provide the data to compile this publication.
Revisions this month
Revisions to the total number of dwelling units approved in this issue are:
| Dwellings | 2018-19 | 2019-20 |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | -21 | 307 |
| Vic. | - | 49 |
| Qld | - | 160 |
| SA | -17 | 13 |
| WA | - | 8 |
| Tas. | - | - |
| NT | - | - |
| ACT | -255 | 11 |
| Total | -293 | 548 |