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 2026
Released
30/09/2026
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Release date and time
30/09/2026 11:30am AEST

Key statistics

The August 2026 seasonally adjusted estimate:

  • Total dwellings approved fell 6.1% to 16,953.
  • Private sector houses rose 3.7% to 10,885, while private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 21.2% to 5,674. 
  • The value of residential building fell 0.6% to $11.30b.
  • The value of non-residential building fell 44.8% to $5.53b.
     

Dwellings approved

August key figures
 Aug 26 (no.)Monthly change (%)Yearly change (%)
Seasonally adjusted 
 Total dwelling units approved16,953-6.110.3
 Private sector houses10,8853.718.4
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses5,674-21.2-2.1
Trend 
 Total dwelling units approved18,202-0.89.1
 Private sector houses10,7490.514.4
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses7,105-2.63.3
  1. Trend break added to 'Total dwelling units approved' trend series for February 2021

The seasonally adjusted estimate for the number of dwellings approved fell 6.1%, after decreasing 1.9% in July.

The trend estimate for total dwellings approved fell 0.8%, following a 0.5% July rise.

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

Private sector dwellings excluding houses approvals fell 21.2%, after a 0.8% July rise.

The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector house approvals rose 3.7%, after falling 1.9% in July.  

The trend estimate for private sector house approvals rose 0.5% after gaining 0.7% in July. Private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 2.6%, after a 0.6% July increase.
 

Seasonally adjusted summary, by state

Approvals for total dwellings were mixed: Queensland (-22.5%), New South Wales (-17.3%), and Tasmania (-1.5%) fell, while South Australia (24.0%), Victoria (8.9%), and Western Australia (3.2%) rose.

Approvals for private sector houses rose across most states: South Australia (27.7%), Western Australia (8.6%), Queensland (6.5%), and Victoria (0.5%) all saw increases. New South Wales (-4.5%) recorded the only decrease.

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 Wales2,167-4.53,896-17.3
Victoria3,0440.55,1638.9
Queensland2,4566.53,327-22.5
South Australia1,03627.71,70124.0
Western Australia1,8958.62,3953.2
Tasmanianana264-1.5
Northern Territorynananana
Australian Capital Territorynananana
Australia10,8853.716,953-6.1

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

Trend summary, by state

In trend terms, approvals for total dwellings varied across the states and territories: Australian Capital Territory (-12.2%), Northern Territory (-6.4%), New South Wales (-2.6%), Victoria (-1.8%), and Western Australia (-0.1%) fell, while South Australia (2.9%), Tasmania (2.5%), and Queensland (1.0%) rose.

Approvals for private sector houses rose across most states: Western Australia (2.1%), South Australia (1.8%), Victoria (0.5%), and Queensland (0.3%) all saw increases. New South Wales (-0.8%) recorded the only decrease.
 

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 Wales2,231-0.84,428-2.6
Victoria3,0550.54,942-1.8
Queensland2,3940.34,4621.0
South Australia9401.81,4902.9
Western Australia1,8082.12,285-0.1
Tasmanianana2872.5
Northern Territorynana73-6.4
Australian Capital Territorynana223-12.2
Australia10,7490.518,202-0.8

a.    Trend estimates are not published for Tasmania, NT and ACT for private sector houses.

Value of building approved

  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 work approved fell 21.3% to $16.82b, after a 4.2% July rise. The value of total residential building fell 0.6% (to $11.30b), comprised of a 0.5% fall in new residential work (to $10.02b) and a 2.1% fall in alterations and additions (to $1.28b).

The value of non-residential building fell 44.8% (to $5.53b), after rising 15.7% in July.

Value of building approved, trend

The trend estimate of the value of total building approved rose 1.2% (to $21.00b), after a 1.7% July rise. The value of total residential building rose 0.6% (to $11.44b), after a 1.1% July gain. New residential building value rose 0.8% (to $10.13b) and alterations and additions fell 1.2% (to $1.31b).

The value of non-residential building rose 2.0% (to $9.56b), after a 2.4% July rise.

Value of building approved, by building type
 Seasonally adjustedSeasonally adjustedTrendTrend
($m)Monthly change (%)($m)Monthly change (%)
New residential building10,018-0.510,1300.8
Alterations and additions to residential building1,279-2.11,305-1.2
Total residential building11,297-0.611,4350.6
Non-residential building5,528-44.89,5602.0
Total building16,825-21.320,9961.2

Data downloads

A supplementary release of small area data (for Statistical Area Level 2 and Local Government Areas) occurs five working days after the main publication is released. 

Small area data will be added in an ‘Additional Information’ release on the 7th of October 2026.

Building Approvals publishes Local Government Area (LGA) data using the LGA boundaries in effect at the time of approval. Boundary updates are implemented each July.

As 2026 LGA boundaries are not expected to be available until October 2026, LGA data for the period July to December 2026 will continue to be published using 2025 LGA boundaries. The 2026 LGA boundaries will be adopted in the January 2027 Building Approvals publication, and data for approvals from July to December 2026 will be updated accordingly.

Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 4 (2026) will also be adopted in the January 2027 Building Approvals publication. SA2 data will be re-published back to July 2021 using the updated geographic boundaries.

Dwellings approved

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Data files

Value of building approved

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Data files

Non-residential building approved

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Data files

Chain volume measures

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Data files

Demolitions

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Data files

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

    Download xlsx [53.89 KB]

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

    Download xlsx [59.54 KB]

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

Dwellings revised by state

In this release, revisions are provided for the time period from July 2025 to July 2026. Further information about potential sources of revisions can be found here: "Revisions to Building Approval Statistics".

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

Dwellings revised
  2025-262026-27
New South Wales-1173
Victoria274
Queensland1631
South Australia-1
Western Australia-11
Tasmania72
Northern Territory--
Australian Capital Territory--
Total24292

Article archive

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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 2 (SA2)
  • 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

A building approval is the official permit that allows construction to begin.

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