Building Approvals, Australia

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Provides the number of dwelling units and value of buildings approved

Reference period
June 2025
Released
31/07/2025
Release date and time
07/08/2025 11:30am AEST

Key statistics

The June 2025 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Total dwellings approved rose 11.9% to 17,076.
  • Private sector houses fell 2.0% to 9,142 and private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 33.1%, to 7,594.
  • The value of total residential building rose 0.3%, to $9.41b.
  • The value of total non-residential building rose 15.0%, to $7.23b.
     

Dwellings approved

June key figures
 Jun 25 (no.)Monthly change (%)Yearly change (%)
Seasonally adjusted 
 Total dwelling units approved17,07611.927.4
 Private sector houses9,142-2.00.2
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses7,59433.187.1
Trend 
 Total dwelling units approved15,9841.513.8
 Private sector houses9,2580.30.6
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses6,4253.039.6
  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 11.9%, after rising 2.2% in May.

The trend estimate for total dwellings approved rose 1.5%, after rising 1.4% in May. 

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

The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector house approvals fell 2.0%, after a 1.0% May fall.  Private sector dwellings excluding houses approvals rose 33.1% after gaining 10.3% in May.

The trend estimate for private sector house approvals rose 0.3%, following a 0.3% May rise. Private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 3.0%, after a 3.2% May increase.

Seasonally adjusted summary, by state

In seasonally adjusted terms, approvals for total dwellings were mixed: New South Wales (31.5%), Queensland (7.3%), and South Australia (2.5%) rose, while Western Australia (-6.4%) and Victoria (-6.1%) fell.

Approvals for private sector houses were mostly lower: Queensland (-6.3%), South Australia (-2.6%), New South Wales (-2.4%), and Western Australia (-1.5%) fell. Victoria was the only state to rise in June, up 1.4%. 

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 Wales1,813-2.45,61631.5
Victoria2,8691.44,295-6.1
Queensland1,933-6.33,2057.3
South Australia857-2.61,2902.5
Western Australia1,421-1.51,747-6.4
Tasmanianana1787.2
Northern Territorynananana
Australian Capital Territorynananana
Australia9,142-2.017,07611.9

Trend summary, by state

In trend terms, approvals for total dwellings rose in the Australian Capital Territory (9.8%), New South Wales (6.1%), Queensland (0.7%) and Western Australia (0.4%). Meanwhile, falls were recorded in the Northern Territory (-4.3%), Victoria (-1.9%), and South Australia (-0.8%). Tasmania was flat.

Approvals for private sector houses were mixed: Victoria (1.6%) and Queensland (0.5%) recorded rises. Meanwhile, Western Australia (-1.0%) and New South Wales (-0.3%) fell, while South Australia was flat, 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 Wales1,872-0.34,7426.1
Victoria2,7631.64,320-1.9
Queensland2,0100.53,1260.7
South Australia8710.01,296-0.8
Western Australia1,489-1.01,8700.4
Tasmanianana1720.0
Northern Territorynana44-4.3
Australian Capital Territorynana4149.8
Australia9,2580.315,9841.5

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 rose 6.2% to $16.65b, after an 8.4% fall in May. The value of total residential building rose 0.3% (to $9.41b), comprised of a 0.7% rise in new residential work (to $8.22b) and a 2.2% fall in residential alterations and additions (to $1.19b).

The value of non-residential building gained 15.0% (to $7.23b), after a 22.2% fall in May.

Value of building approved, trend

The trend estimate of the value of total building approved rose 1.0% to $16.45b, after a 1.4% rise in May. The value of total residential building ($9.32b) was flat, after rising 0.2% last month. New residential building value was flat ($8.12b) and alterations and additions rose 0.2% (to $1.20b).

The value of non-residential building rose 2.4% (to $7.13b), following a 3.1% rise in May.

Value of building approved, by building type
 Seasonally adjustedSeasonally adjustedTrendTrend
($m)Monthly change (%)($m)Monthly change (%)
New residential building8,2240.78,1170.0
Alterations and additions to residential building1,191-2.21,2030.2
Total residential building9,4150.39,3200.0
Non-residential building7,23115.07,1252.4
Total building16,6456.216,4451.0

Data downloads

Dwellings approved

Data files

Value of building approved

Data files

Non-residential building approved

Data files

Chain volume measures

Data files
Data files

Small area datacubes

Data items

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

Data files
Data files
Data files
Data files
Data files
Data files
Data files
Data files

Validation table

Building Approvals: Data cube validation table

Small area approvals (.csv)

Statistical Area Level 2

Data files

Local Government Area

Data files

Demolition approvals (.csv)

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 - June 2021

Building Approvals by Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) and above - Number and value of approvals, monthly, July 2021 onwards

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

Building Approvals by Local Government Area (LGA 2024) - Number and value of approvals, monthly, 2024/25

Dwellings revised by state

In this release, revisions are provided for the time period from July 2023 to May 2025. 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
  2023-242024-25
New South Wales-269
Victoria-277
Queensland-120
South Australia-3
Western Australia-67
Tasmania-8
Northern Territory--14
Australian Capital Territory--
Total-730

Post release changes

07/08/2025 - 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 and additional Data Explorer links for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 financial years. 

Article archive

Previous feature articles

Enquiries

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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.

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