Building Approvals, Australia

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Provides the number of dwelling units and value of buildings approved

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Reference period
August 2023
Released
3/10/2023
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Key statistics

The August 2023 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • The total number of dwellings approved rose 7.0%.
  • Private sector houses rose 5.8%, while private sector dwellings excluding houses increased 9.4%.
  • The value of total building approved rose 0.5%.
  • The value of new residential building rose 3.2%, while the value of non-residential building fell 1.5%.

Dwellings approved

August key figures
 Aug 23 (no.)Monthly change (%)Yearly change (%)
Seasonally adjusted
 Total dwelling units approved 13,6477.0-22.9
 Private sector houses 8,6355.8-15.2
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses 4,7799.4-34.1
Trend
 Total dwelling units approved 13,603-0.4-15.8
 Private sector houses 8,3040.2-14.9
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses 4,996-1.4-18.8
  1. Trend break added to 'Total dwelling units approved' trend series for February 2021

The seasonally adjusted estimate for the number of dwellings approved rose 7.0%, after a 7.4% July decrease.

The trend estimate for total dwellings approved fell 0.4%, following a 0.7% July increase.

  1. Trend break added to 'Private sector houses' trend series for February 2021

The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector house approvals rose 5.8%, following a 0.4% rise in July. Private sector dwellings excluding houses approved rose 9.4%, following a 14.6% decrease in July.

The trend estimate for private sector house approvals rose 0.2%, following a 0.6% increase in July. Private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 1.4%, following a 0.4% rise in July.

Seasonally adjusted summary, by state

Approvals for total dwellings were mixed with rises recorded in Victoria (22.2%), New South Wales (12.5%), and Western Australia (12.3%). Falls were recorded in Queensland (-26.9%), Tasmania (-10.1%), and South Australia (-6.9%).

Approvals for private sector houses rose in all states: Western Australia (13.0%), Victoria (9.9%), South Australia (4.7%), Queensland (3.1%), and New South Wales (2.4%).

Dwellings approved, states and territories, seasonally adjusted
 Private sector housesPrivate sector housesTotal dwelling units approvedTotal dwelling units approved
(no.)Monthly change (%)(no.)Monthly change (%)
New South Wales1,8642.43,80212.5
Victoria2,8079.94,84222.2
Queensland1,7703.12,004-26.9
South Australia7734.7922-6.9
Western Australia1,10413.01,24212.3
Tasmanianana232-10.1
Northern Territorynananana
Australian Capital Territorynananana
Australia8,6355.813,6477.0

na not available

Trend summary, by state

The number of dwellings approved declined in Northern Territory (-5.4%), New South Wales (-4.7%),  South Australia (-3.0%), Tasmania (-2.5%), and Queensland (-2.2%). Rises were recorded in Australian Capital Territory (18.4%), Victoria (3.6%), and Western Australia (1.9%).

Approvals for private sector houses rose in Western Australia (2.6%), Victoria (0.3%), and Queensland (0.2%). Falls were recorded in South Australia (-0.9%) and New South Wales (-0.5%), in trend terms. 

Dwellings approved, states and territories, trend
 Private sector housesPrivate sector housesTotal dwelling units approvedTotal dwelling units approved
(no.)Monthly change (%)(no.)Monthly change (%)
New South Wales1,837-0.53,970-4.7
Victoria2,6590.34,5093.6
Queensland1,7000.22,374-2.2
South Australia774-0.9972-3.0
Western Australia1,0162.61,1551.9
Tasmanianana230-2.5
Northern Territorynana35-5.4
Australian Capital Territorynana36118.4
Australia8,3040.213,603-0.4

na not available

Value of building approved

Value of building approved, by building type
 Seasonally adjustedSeasonally adjustedTrendTrend
($m)Monthly change (%)($m)Monthly change (%)
New residential building6,0583.26,098-1.0
Alterations and additions to residential building1,030-2.41,0460.1
Total residential building7,0872.37,144-0.9
Non-residential building6,001-1.55,800-1.4
Total building13,0890.512,944-1.1
  1. Trend break added to 'Total residential' trend series for September 2020 and February 2021.

Value of building approved, seasonally adjusted

The value of total building approved rose 0.5%, following a 16.0% fall in July. The value of total residential building rose 2.3%, comprised of a 3.2% increase in new residential building and a 2.4% fall in alterations and additions. 

The value of non-residential building fell 1.5%, after a 26.9% July decrease.

Value of building approved, trend

The trend estimate for the value of total building approved fell 1.1%, after a flat July result. The value of total residential building fell 0.9%, comprised of a 1.0% fall in new residential building and a 0.1% rise in alterations and additions.

The value of non-residential building fell 1.4%, following a flat result in July.

Interactive map

Building approvals data can be viewed on an interactive map.

Note that the interactive map will be offline soon after this publication release and will be refreshed with the current month's data within 24 hours.

How to use

  • Navigating topics: maps can be selected via the drop-down menu (mobile devices) or the tabs (larger screens).
  • Search: the search icon opens the search function. It is set to look for locations such as addresses, suburbs and postcodes contained within an SA2 or LGA.
  • Data: on each map, an SA2 or LGA region can be selected to view the underlying data. Data for all SA2s and LGAs can be found in the Download section of this publication.
  • If the maps do not load successfully, please try refreshing this page.

Geographic areas

The boundaries used in this map are:

Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) and Local Government Area (LGA) boundaries according to the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 3

 

Data downloads

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Dwellings approved

Data files
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Value of building approved

Data files
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Non-residential building approved

Data files
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Chain volume measures

Data files
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Demolitions

Data files

  • Table 87. Number of dwellings approved for demolition, original, states and territories

    Download xlsx [52.22 KB]

  • Table 88. Number of dwellings approved for demolition, by Greater Capital City Statistical Area - original

    Download xlsx [57.02 KB]

Small area datacubes

Data items

Building Approvals: Data items available by Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS)

Data files
Download xlsx [64.43 KB]
Download all (257.23 KB)

NSW

Data files
Download all (215.48 KB)

Vic.

Data files
Download all (220.14 KB)

Qld

Data files
Download all (142.55 KB)

SA

Data files
Download all (167.48 KB)

WA

Data files
Download all (120.17 KB)

Tas.

Data files
Download all (118.73 KB)

NT

Data files
Download all (114.81 KB)

ACT

Data files

Validation table

Building Approvals: Data cube validation table

Data files
Download xlsx [43.02 KB]

Small area approvals (.csv)

Statistical Area Level 2

Data files

Local Government Area

Data files

Demolition approvals

Data files

Data Explorer datasets

Caution: Data in the Data Explorer is currently released after the 11:30am release on the ABS website. Please check the time period when using Data Explorer.

Help for: Data Explorer Datasets

Building Approvals by Greater Capital Cities Statistical Area (GCCSA) and above - Number and value of approvals, monthly, July 2001 onwards

Building Approvals by Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) and above - Number and value of approvals, monthly, July 2016 onwards

Building Approvals by Local Government Area (LGA 2022) - Number and value of approvals, monthly, 2022/23

Building Approvals by Local Government Area (LGA 2023) - Number and value of approvals, monthly, 2023/24

GeoPackages

Data files

Dwellings revised by state

In this release, revisions are provided for the time period from July 2022 to July 2023. Further information about potential sources of revisions can be found in the feature article released with the with the February 2016 Building Approvals publication - "Revisions to Building Approval Statistics".

Revisions to the total number of dwelling units approved in this issue are:

Dwellings revised
  2022-232023-24
New South Wales-472
Victoria-2227
Queensland55-10
South Australia-7-4
Western Australia-1425
Tasmania31
Northern Territory--
Australian Capital Territory-1-
Total-3341

Post release changes

12/10/2023 - Building Approvals by LGA, July 2022 - August 2023, GeoPackage did not contain August 2023 data in the initial small area release. This has now been corrected.

10/10/2023 - As advertised in the ABS future releases calendar, this additional information release contains all Building Approvals small area data components. This is comprised of the small area excel data cubes, csv files, additional Data Explorer links, and GeoPackages for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 financial years. In addition, a small area interactive story map has been added to illustrate building approvals data by SA2 and LGA, for the current financial year.

Article archive

Previous feature articles

New houses being built on smaller blocks, April 2022

Small Area Dwelling Stock Removals, September 2021

National, state & territory level dwelling demolition approvals, June 2021

Residential Construction and the Finance Process, September 2020

Small area demolition approvals, August 2020

Australians building houses on smaller blocks, July 2020

Characteristics of apartment approvals, September 2019

Growth in approvals, December 2018

Change in composition of dwelling approvals, July 2016

Implementation of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard in ABS Building Approvals collection, April 2011

Average floor area of new residential dwellings, February 2010

Average quarterly completion times for new houses, July 2008

Changes in the mix of dwelling types, April 2008

Average floor area of new residential dwellings, February 2008

Are we building on smaller blocks?, July 2004

Focus on the South Australian Construction Industry, June 2004

Focus on the Tasmanian Construction Industry, June 2004

Focus on the Queensland Construction Industry, May 2004

Focus on the Victorian Construction Industry, April 2004

Engineering Construction, March 2004

Focus on the New South Wales Construction Industry, February 2004

Average floor area of new dwellings, December 2003

Work done on housing jobs each quarter, March 2003

Inner city development, December 2002

Functional classification of buildings, August 2002

Building activity in Sydney and Melbourne, July 2002

Changes in the mix of dwelling types, May 2002

Construction Industry information, April 2002

Average value of new houses, March 2002

Largest and fastest growing areas in Australia, November 2001

Functional classification of buildings, August 2001

Average floor area of new dwellings, July 2001

Identifying growth areas, May 2001

Additional Building and Construction feature articles can be found in Feature Articles by Catalogue Number.

Enquiries

For enquiries 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.

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 8731.0.

Methodology

Scope

Approvals included:

  • construction of new buildings
  • alterations and additions to existing buildings
  • non-structural renovation and refurbishment
  • installation of integral building fixtures
  • full demolitions of existing dwellings.

Geography

Data available for:

  • Australia
  • States and territories
  • Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA)
  • Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4)
  • Local Government Areas.

Source

Administrative data collection from local government or other approving authorities.

Collection method

Statistics of building work approved are compiled from:

  • local government authorities and other principal certifying authorities
  • contracts authorised by government authorities
  • media reports and the Building Activity Survey.

Concepts, sources and methods

Buildings are classified according to the ABS Functional Classification of Buildings, January 2021.

History of changes

Concurrent seasonal adjustment was reinstated from the May 2022 release.

View full methodology

Media releases