Building Approvals, Australia

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Provides the number of dwelling units and value of buildings approved

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Reference period
March 2025
Released
6/05/2025
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    Building Approvals, Australia, April 2025
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Key statistics

The March 2025 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Total dwellings approved fell 8.8%, to 15,220.
  • Private sector houses fell 4.5%, to 8,804, while private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 15.1%, to 6,104.
  • The value of total residential building fell 7.6%, to $8.98b.
  • The value of non-residential building rose 46.0%, to $6.61b.

Dwellings approved

March key figures
 Mar 25 (no.)Monthly change (%)Yearly change (%)
Seasonally adjusted 
 Total dwelling units approved15,220-8.813.4
 Private sector houses8,804-4.5-3.3
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses6,104-15.147.1
Trend 
 Total dwelling units approved15,286-0.514.7
 Private sector houses8,964-0.61.0
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses6,0450.443.9
  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 8.8%, after falling 0.2% in February. 

The trend estimate for total dwellings approved fell 0.5%, following a 0.1% fall in February.

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

The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector house approvals fell 4.5%, after rising 1.1% in February. Private sector dwellings excluding houses approved fell 15.1%, following a 1.3% fall in February.

The trend estimate for private sector house approvals fell 0.6%, after a 0.7% February fall. Private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 0.4%, following a 1.4% February increase.

Seasonally adjusted summary, by state

Approvals for total dwellings fell in most states: Tasmania (-42.2%), Victoria (-31.6%), Western Australia (-20.5%), and South Australia (-11.9%). New South Wales (19.6%) and Queensland (5.8%) rose in March.

Approvals for private sector houses were mixed: Victoria (-10.0%), Queensland (-8.0%), and New South Wales (-2.5%) fell, while Western Australia (10.3%) and South Australia (4.6%) rose.

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 Wales1,835-2.54,03219.6
Victoria2,426-10.04,147-31.6
Queensland1,815-8.03,1165.8
South Australia9024.61,227-11.9
Western Australia1,57910.31,813-20.5
Tasmanianana167-42.2
Northern Territorynananana
Australian Capital Territorynananana
Australia8,804-4.515,220-8.8

na not available
 

Trend summary, by state

In trend terms, approvals for total dwellings were varied across the states and territories: Tasmania (-3.4%), Western Australia (-2.2%), Queensland (-2.1%), New South Wales (-1.1%), and Victoria (-0.8%) fell. Australian Capital Territory (23.9%) and South Australia (2.1%) increased in March, and the result in Northern Territory was flat.

Approvals for private sector houses fell in Queensland (-1.8%), Victoria (-1.3%), South Australia (-0.3%), and Western Australia (-0.1%). New South Wales was the only state to rise (0.7%) 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 Wales1,8410.73,785-1.1
Victoria2,567-1.34,786-0.8
Queensland1,888-1.82,957-2.1
South Australia880-0.31,3112.1
Western Australia1,501-0.11,770-2.2
Tasmanianana173-3.4
Northern Territorynana520.0
Australian Capital Territorynana40923.9
Australia8,964-0.615,286-0.5

na not available
 

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 rose 9.4% (to $15.59b), following a 4.7% fall in February. The value of total residential building fell 7.6% (to $8.98b), comprised of a 8.6% decrease in new residential building (to $7.81b) and a 0.7% fall in alterations and additions (to $1.16b).

The value of non-residential building rose 46.0% (to $6.61b), after a 21.9% decrease in February.

Value of building approved, trend

The trend estimate of the value of total building approved rose 0.5% (to $15.23b), following a 0.7% rise in February. The value of total residential building rose 1.2% (to $9.35b), comprised of a 1.3% increase in new residential building (to $8.18b), and 0.1% rise in alterations and additions (to $1.17b).

The value of non-residential building fell 0.5% (to $5.89b), following a 0.5% decrease in February.

Value of building approved, by building type
 Seasonally adjustedSeasonally adjustedTrendTrend
($m)Monthly change (%)($m)Monthly change (%)
New residential building7,814-8.68,1801.3
Alterations and additions to residential building1,164-0.71,1660.1
Total residential building8,978-7.69,3461.2
Non-residential building6,61346.05,888-0.5
Total building15,5919.415,2340.5

Data downloads

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Dwellings approved

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Value of building approved

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Non-residential building approved

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Chain volume measures

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Demolitions

Data files

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

    Download xlsx [52.98 KB]

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

    Download xlsx [58.09 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 2023 to February 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 Wales258
Victoria-490
Queensland396
South Australia-10-
Western Australia-47
Tasmania37
Northern Territory--
Australian Capital Territory--
Total-6298

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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