Building Approvals, Australia

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Provides the number of dwelling units and value of buildings approved

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Reference period
October 2024
Released
2/12/2024
  • Next Release 7/01/2025
    Building Approvals, Australia, November 2024
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    Building Approvals, Australia, November 2024
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    Building Approvals, Australia, December 2024
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Key statistics

The October 2024 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Total dwellings approved rose 4.2%, to 15,498.
  • Private sector houses fell 5.2%, to 9,191, while private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 24.8%, to 5,859.
  • The value of total residential building rose 3.2%, to $8.33b.
  • The value of non-residential building fell 13.4%, to $4.89b.

Dwellings approved

October key figures
 Oct 24 (no.)Monthly change (%)Yearly change (%)
Seasonally adjusted 
 Total dwelling units approved15,4984.26.1
 Private sector houses9,191-5.22.4
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses5,85924.87.1
Trend 
 Total dwelling units approved15,0691.78.4
 Private sector houses9,4230.39.5
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses5,2203.62.8
  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 4.2%, after rising 5.8% in September.

The trend estimate for total dwellings approved rose 1.7%, following a 1.9% September increase.

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

The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector house approvals fell 5.2%, after rising 4.1% in September. Private sector dwellings excluding houses approved rose 24.8%, following a 4.5% September increase.

The trend estimate for private sector house approvals rose 0.3%, after a 0.5% September rise. Private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 3.6%, following a 3.9% September increase.
 

Seasonally adjusted summary, by state

Approvals for total dwellings were mixed across the states: New South Wales (34.8%), Victoria (8.9%), and Tasmania (3.9%) rose. Meanwhile, Queensland (-14.1%), Western Australia (-11.9%), and South Australia (-0.3%) fell, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Approvals for private sector houses fell across most states: Queensland (-12.3%), Western Australia (-6.1%), Victoria (-4.5%), and New South Wales (-1.0%). South Australia was the only state to rise in October (1.0%).

 

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 Wales1,823-1.03,93934.8
Victoria2,659-4.55,2828.9
Queensland1,950-12.33,001-14.1
South Australia9051.01,129-0.3
Western Australia1,560-6.11,776-11.9
Tasmanianana2153.9
Northern Territorynananana
Australian Capital Territorynananana
Australia9,191-5.215,4984.2

Trend summary, by state

Approvals for total dwellings rose across most states and territories: Australian Capital Territory (3.6%), Victoria (3.3%), Tasmania (2.9%), New South Wales (1.0%), Western Australia (0.8%), Queensland (0.6%), and South Australia (0.5%). The Northern Territory result was flat in trend terms.

Approvals for private sector houses rose in South Australia (3.0%), Western Australia (1.4%), and New South Wales (0.6%). Falls were recorded in Victoria (-1.1%) and Queensland (-0.3%).
 

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 Wales1,8070.63,4611.0
Victoria2,756-1.15,0223.3
Queensland2,082-0.33,2200.6
South Australia8913.01,1250.5
Western Australia1,6011.41,8770.8
Tasmanianana2122.9
Northern Territorynana370.0
Australian Capital Territorynana1143.6
Australia9,4230.315,0691.7

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 approved fell 3.7% (to $13.21b), following a 1.2% rise in September. The value of total residential building rose 3.2% ($8.33b), comprised of a 4.4% increase in new residential building ($7.21b) and a 4.2% fall in alterations and additions ($1.12b).

The value of non-residential building fell 13.4% (to $4.89b), after a 3.7% September increase.

Value of building approved, trend

The trend estimate of the value of total building approved rose 0.4% (to $13.45b), following a 0.3% rise in September. The value of total residential building rose 0.7% ($8.28b), comprised of a 0.8% increase in new residential building ($7.12b) and a 0.2% fall in alterations and additions ($1.15b).

The value of non-residential building fell 0.1% (to $5.18b), following a 0.5% decrease in September.

Value of building approved, by building type
 Seasonally adjustedSeasonally adjustedTrendTrend
($m)Monthly change (%)($m)Monthly change (%)
New residential building7,2054.47,1240.8
Alterations and additions to residential building1,120-4.21,151-0.2
Total residential building8,3263.28,2750.7
Non-residential building4,888-13.45,179-0.1
Total building13,214-3.713,4540.4

Data downloads

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Dwellings approved

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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 [52.9 KB]

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

    Download xlsx [58.04 KB]

Small area datacubes

Data items

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

Data files
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NSW

Data files
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Vic.

Data files
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Qld

Data files
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SA

Data files
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WA

Data files
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Tas.

Data files
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NT

Data files
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ACT

Data files

Validation table

Building Approvals: Data cube validation table

Data files
Download xlsx [38.93 KB]

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

Data notes

Feature article

Home building through the pandemic was released on 19 November 2024, providing insights into residential building approvals and activity in Australia from 2019-2024. 

New base year for chain volume estimates

A new base year, 2022-23, has been introduced into chain volume estimates which has resulted in revisions to growth rates in subsequent periods.  The chain volume estimates have been re-referenced to 2022-23, thereby preserving additivity in the quarters after the reference year. Re-referencing affects the levels of, but not the movements in, chain volume estimates.

Dwellings revised by state

In this release, revisions are provided for the time period from July 2023 to September 2024. 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 Wales212
Victoria36-81
Queensland-8071
South Australia-21-11
Western Australia2032
Tasmania1-
Northern Territory--
Australian Capital Territory-2-
Total-4423

Post release changes

03/12/2024 - Annotations re-applied to time series spreadsheets July 2022 to April 2024.

09/12/2024 - 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 2022-23 and 2023-24 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.

View full methodology

Media releases