Building Approvals, Australia

Latest release

Provides the number of dwelling units and value of buildings approved

Cite
Print
Reference period
April 2023
Released
30/05/2023
  • Next Release 6/06/2023
    Building Approvals, Australia, April 2023
  • Next Release 3/07/2023
    Building Approvals, Australia, May 2023
  • Next Release 10/07/2023
    Building Approvals, Australia, May 2023
  • View all releases

Key statistics

The April 2023 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Total dwellings approved fell 8.1%.
  • Private sector houses fell 3.8%, while private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 16.5%.
  • The value of new residential building fell 2.7%, while the value of non-residential buildings rose 13.5%.
  • The value of total building rose 4.7%.

Dwellings approved

April key figures
 Apr 23 (no.)Monthly change (%)Yearly change (%)
Seasonally adjusted
 Total dwelling units approved11,594-8.1-24.1
 Private sector houses7,939-3.8-18.6
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses3,469-16.5-35.4
Trend
 Total dwelling units approved11,850-4.2-25.5
 Private sector houses7,984-1.4-17.9
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses3,672-9.2-36.0
  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 8.1% in April, following a 1.0% decrease in March.

The trend estimate for total dwellings approved fell 4.2% in April, which follows a 4.9% March decrease.

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

The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector house approvals fell 3.8% in April, to 7,939, following a 3.7% decrease in March. Private sector dwellings excluding houses approved fell 16.5% in April, following a 5.0% rise in March.

The trend estimate for private sector house approvals fell 1.4% in April, after a 1.8% decrease in March. Private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 9.2%, following a 10.2% fall in March.

Seasonally adjusted summary, by state

By state, total dwelling approvals decreased in Queensland (-22.8%), Victoria (-18.6%), and Western Australia (-5.8%).  South Australia (19.8%), New South Wales (12.5%), and Tasmania (3.5%) rose in seasonally adjusted terms. 

Approvals for private sector houses fell in Victoria (-9.3%), Queensland (-6.0%), and New South Wales (-1.7%). South Australia (10.8%) and Western Australia (0.1%) increased.

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 Wales1,846-1.73,52212.5
Victoria2,433-9.33,209-18.6
Queensland1,578-6.02,223-22.8
South Australia84110.81,07319.8
Western Australia9430.11,111-5.8
Tasmanianana2053.5
Northern Territorynananana
Australian Capital Territorynananana
Australia7,939-3.811,594-8.1

Trend summary, by state

Across Australia, the number of dwelling approvals decreased in Australian Capital Territory (-15.1%), Victoria (-8.1%), Queensland (-4.9%), Tasmania (-3.1%), Northern Territory (-2.4%), and New South Wales (-1.0%). Western Australia (0.5%) and South Australia (0.4%) increased.

Approvals for private sector houses fell in most states: Victoria (-2.4%), New South Wales (-2.1%), Western Australia (-0.8%), and Queensland (-0.6%). South Australia (1.2%) was the only state with an April increase.

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 Wales1,820-2.13,121-1.0
Victoria2,555-2.43,401-8.1
Queensland1,626-0.62,750-4.9
South Australia7801.29850.4
Western Australia905-0.81,0930.5
Tasmanianana220-3.1
Northern Territorynana40-2.4
Australian Capital Territorynana242-15.1
Australia7,984-1.411,850-4.2

Value of building approved

Value of building approved, by building type
 Seasonally adjustedSeasonally adjustedTrendTrend
($m)Monthly change (%)($m)Monthly change (%)
New residential building5,532-2.75,615-2.6
Alterations and additions to residential building954-1.2966-1.0
Total residential building6,486-2.56,581-2.4
Non-residential building6,10113.55,5842.4
Total building12,5874.712,164-0.3
  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 4.7%, following a 5.7% decrease in March. The value of total residential building approvals fell 2.5%, comprised of a 2.7% decrease in new residential building and a 1.2% fall in alterations and additions.

The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of non-residential building increased 13.5%, following a 5.1% fall in March.

Value of building approved, trend

The trend estimate for the value of total building approved fell 0.3% April, following a 0.4% fall in March. The value of total residential building decreased 2.4%, comprised by a 2.6% decrease in the value of new residential building approved and a 1.0% fall in the value of alterations and additions.

The trend estimate for the value of non-residential building rose 2.4% in April, following a 2.1% increase in March.

Data downloads

Download all (2.75 MB)

Dwellings approved

Data files
Download all (2.42 MB)

Value of building approved

Data files
Download all (4.85 MB)

Non-residential building approved

Data files
Download all (475.11 KB)

Chain volume measures

Data files
Download all (98.07 KB)

Demolitions

Data files

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

    Download xlsx [52.08 KB]

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

    Download xlsx [56.81 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 March 2023. 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 Wales1160
Victoria756
Queensland37183
South Australia1-3
Western Australia-62
Tasmania339
Northern Territory--
Australian Capital Territory177
Total144354

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, April 2023

Media releases