Building Approvals, Australia

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Provides the number of dwelling units and value of buildings approved

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Reference period
January 2023
Released
2/03/2023
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    Building Approvals, Australia, February 2023
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    Building Approvals, Australia, February 2023
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    Building Approvals, Australia, March 2023
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Key statistics

The January 2023 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Total dwellings approved fell 27.6%.
  • Private sector houses approved fell 13.8%, while private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 40.8%.
  • The value of total building fell 18.6%.
  • The value of non-residential building fell 25.6%.

Dwellings approved

January key figures
 Jan 23 (no.)Monthly change (%)Yearly change (%)
Seasonally adjusted
 Total dwelling units approved12,065-27.6-8.4
 Private sector houses7,560-13.8-12.0
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses4,340-40.8-0.3
Trend
 Total dwelling units approved14,177-3.0-13.4
 Private sector houses8,192-4.1-17.6
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses5,647-2.1-5.7
  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 fell 27.6% in January, which follows a 15.3% rise in December.

The trend estimate for total dwellings approved fell 3.0% in January, which follows a 3.3% decrease in December.

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

The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector house approvals fell 13.8% in January, to 7,560, following a 2.1% decrease in December. Private sector dwellings excluding houses approved fell 40.8% in January, following an 41.9% rise in December.

The trend estimate for private sector house approvals fell 4.1% in January, which follows a 4.1% decrease in December. Private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 2.1%, following a 2.5% fall in December.

Seasonally adjusted summary, by state

By state, total dwelling approvals decreased in New South Wales (-49.0%), Victoria (-38.6%), Tasmania (-31.7%), Western Australia (-7.9%), and South Australia (-6.5%). Only Queensland recorded an increase (25.6%), driven by a number of apartment developments approved in January.

Approvals for private sector houses fell in all states:  Western Australia (-18.7%), New South Wales (-17.3%), Queensland (-16.6%), Victoria (-9.9%) and South Australia (-2.8%), 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 Wales1,749-17.32,599-49.0
Victoria2,570-9.93,586-38.6
Queensland1,406-16.63,52525.6
South Australia731-2.8845-6.5
Western Australia867-18.71,050-7.9
Tasmanianana151-31.7
Northern Territorynananana
Australian Capital Territorynananana
Australia7,560-13.812,065-27.6

Trend summary, by state

Across Australia, the number of dwellings approved decreased in Northern Territory (-17.5%), New South Wales (-7.7%), Tasmania (-5.9%), South Australia (-5.1%), Victoria (-3.2%), and Western Australia (-1.9%). Rises were recorded in Australian Capital Territory (4.4%), and Queensland (2.6%).

Approvals for private sector houses fell in all states: Queensland (-5.4%), New South Wales (-3.8%), South Australia (-3.7%), Victoria (-3.5%), and Western Australia (-2.9%), 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 Wales1,969-3.83,541-7.7
Victoria2,703-3.54,780-3.2
Queensland1,536-5.43,1542.6
South Australia746-3.7914-5.1
Western Australia940-2.91,074-1.9
Tasmanianana209-5.9
Northern Territorynana33-17.5
Australian Capital Territorynana4554.4
Australia8,192-4.114,177-3.0

Value of building approved

Value of building approved, by building type
 Seasonally adjustedSeasonally adjustedTrendTrend
($m)Monthly change (%)($m)Monthly change (%)
New residential building5,588-15.16,085-2.5
Alterations and additions to residential building970-4.0994-1.1
Total residential building6,558-13.67,078-2.3
Non-residential building4,048-25.65,016-0.9
Total building10,606-18.612,094-1.7
  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 fell 18.6% in January, following a 1.0% rise in December. The value of total residential building fell 13.6%, comprising of a 15.1% decrease in new residential building, and a 4.0% fall in alterations and additions.

The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of non-residential building fell 25.6%, following a 1.6% decrease in December.

Value of building approved, trend

The trend estimate for the value of total building approved fell 1.7% January, following a 1.7% fall in December. The value of total residential building decreased 2.3%, comprised by a 2.5% decrease in the value of new residential building approved and a 1.1% fall in the value of alterations and additions.

The trend estimate for the value of non-residential building fell 0.9% in January, following a 0.8% decrease in December.

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
Download all (2.41 MB)

Value of building approved

Data files
Download all (4.81 MB)

Non-residential building approved

Data files
Download all (474.37 KB)

Chain volume measures

Data files
Download all (97.78 KB)

Demolitions

Data files

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

    Download xlsx [51.93 KB]

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

    Download xlsx [56.59 KB]

Small area datacubes

Data items

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

Data files
Download xlsx [64.42 KB]
Download all (257.12 KB)

NSW

Data files
Download all (220.21 KB)

Vic.

Data files
Download all (225.4 KB)

Qld

Data files
Download all (144.49 KB)

SA

Data files
Download all (170.34 KB)

WA

Data files
Download all (121.09 KB)

Tas.

Data files
Download all (119.72 KB)

NT

Data files
Download all (115.89 KB)

ACT

Data files

Validation table

Building Approvals: Data cube validation table

Data files
Download xlsx [46.59 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 onwards

Building Approvals by Local Government Area (LGA 2021) - Number and value of approvals, monthly, 2021/22

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

GeoPackages

Data files

Dwellings revised by state

In this release, revisions are provided for the time period from July 2019 to December 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
  2019-212021-222022-23
New South Wales-631839
Victoria3141417
Queensland-116827
South Australia-10-19-6
Western Australia1-58
Tasmania--127
Northern Territory--3
Australian Capital Territory-2--
Total22918965

Post release changes

09/03/2023 - As advertised in the main release of this publication on 02 March 2023, this additional information release contains the small area Excel datacubes and CSV files for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 financial years, along with CSV files for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 financial years. 

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

Building Approvals, Australia methodology, January 2023

Media releases