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 2022
Released
4/10/2022
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Key statistics

The August 2022 seasonally adjusted estimate:

  • Total dwellings approved rose 28.1%.
  • Private sector houses approved rose 4.1%, while private sector dwellings excluding houses increased 99.1%.
  • The value of non-residential building rose 15.1%.
  • The value of total building rose 23.5%.

Dwellings approved

August key figures
 Aug 22 (no.)Monthly change (%)Yearly change (%)
Seasonally adjusted
 Total dwelling units approved17,49728.1-9.5
 Private sector houses10,4594.1-14.4
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses6,76699.1-1.2
Trend
 Total dwelling units approved15,767-0.2-13.7
 Private sector houses10,1710.9-11.0
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses5,383-1.3-18.3
  1. Trend break added to 'Total dwelling units approved' trend series for February 2021

The seasonally adjusted estimate for the number of dwellings approved in Australia rose 28.1% in August, following a 18.2% fall in July.

The trend estimate for total dwellings approved fell 0.2% in August, following a 0.4% rise in July.

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

The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector house approvals rose 4.1% in August, to 10,459, following a 0.8% increase in July. Private sector dwellings excluding houses approved rose 99.1%, following a 45.8% fall in July - the lowest level recorded since January 2012.

The trend estimate for private sector house approvals rose 0.9% in August, following a 0.9% rise in July. Private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 1.3%, following a 0.3% rise in July.

Seasonally adjusted summary, by state

By state, the number of dwelling approvals rose in all states: New South Wales (70.6%), Victoria (19.4%), Western Australia (13.6%), Queensland (9.5%), Tasmania (3.9%) and South Australia (3.5%), in seasonally adjusted terms.

Approvals for private sector houses rose in New South Wales (12.7%), Western Australia (8.9%), and Victoria (1.2%). Declines were recorded in South Australia (-4.5%) and Queensland (-0.1%), in seasonally adjusted terms.

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 Wales2,53812.76,05670.6
Victoria3,2891.25,10919.4
Queensland2,069-0.13,1419.5
South Australia897-4.51,1813.5
Western Australia1,2188.91,38813.6
Tasmanianana2693.9
Northern Territorynananana
Australian Capital Territorynananana
Australia10,4594.117,49728.1

na not available

Trend summary, by state

Across Australia, the number of dwelling approvals decreased in Australian Capital Territory (-18.9%), Victoria (-3.4%), and Western Australia (-1.4%). Rises were recorded in Northern Territory (7.1%), New South Wales (3.7%), Tasmania (1.5%), South Australia (0.7%), Queensland (0.5%), in trend terms.

Approvals for private sector houses rose in South Australia (2.2%), Victoria (1.0%), New South Wales (0.4%), and Queensland (0.1%). Western Australia fell 0.6%, 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 Wales2,3620.44,7513.7
Victoria3,2361.04,635-3.4
Queensland2,0590.13,1520.5
South Australia8962.21,1160.7
Western Australia1,191-0.61,455-1.4
Tasmanianana2731.5
Northern Territorynana757.1
Australian Capital Territorynana314-18.9
Australia10,1710.915,767-0.2

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 building7,64432.66,8142.3
Alterations and additions to residential building1,0605.41,0370.8
Total residential building8,70428.57,8512.1
Non-residential building4,68515.14,510-2.4
Total building13,38923.512,3610.4
  1. Trend break added to 'Total residential' trend series for September 2020 and February 2021.

Value of building approved, seasonally adjusted

The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of total building approved rose 23.5% in August, following a 14.8% fall in July. The value of total residential building rose 28.5%, comprising of a 32.6% increase in new residential building, and a 5.4% rise in alterations and additions.

The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of non-residential building rose 15.1%, following a 21.5% fall in July.

Value of building approved, trend

The trend estimate for the value of total building approved rose 0.4% in August, following a 0.1% rise in July. The value of total residential building increased 2.1%, comprised of a 2.3% increase in the value of new residential building and a 0.8% rise in the value of alterations and additions.

The trend estimate for the value of non-residential building fell 2.4% in August, following a 3.0% decrease in July.

Data downloads

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Dwellings approved

Data files
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Value of building approved

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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 [51.59 KB]

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

    Download xlsx [56.54 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 2021 to July 2022. 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
  2021-222022-23
New South Wales177-7
Victoria52
Queensland-16318
South Australia4-
Western Australia15
Tasmania2-
Northern Territory--
Australian Capital Territory1-
Total2718

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

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Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 8731.0.

Methodology

Building Approvals, Australia methodology, August 2022

Media releases