Building Approvals, Australia

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Provides the number of dwelling units and value of buildings approved

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Reference period
September 2025
Released
3/11/2025
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Release date and time
03/11/2025 11:30am AEDT

Key statistics

The September 2025 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Total dwellings approved rose 12.0% to 17,019.
  • Private sector houses rose 4.0%, to 9,547 and private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 26.0% to 7,219.
  • The value of total residential building rose 7.4% to $10.11b.
  • The value of total non-residential building fell 19.3% to $6.39b.

Dwellings approved

September key figures
 Sep 25 (no.)Monthly change (%)Yearly change (%)
Seasonally adjusted 
 Total dwelling units approved17,01912.015.3
 Private sector houses9,5474.00.0
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses7,21926.055.2
Trend 
 Total dwelling units approved16,3600.98.4
 Private sector houses9,3540.30.2
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses6,6651.825.6
  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 12.0%, after falling 3.6% in August.

The trend estimate for total dwellings approved rose 0.9%, after a 0.6% August rise. 

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

The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector house approvals rose 4.0%, after a 1.0% fall in the previous month. Private sector dwellings excluding houses approvals rose 26.0%, after an August decrease of 3.8%.

The trend estimate for private sector house approvals rose 0.3% in September, following a 0.2% August increase. Private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 1.8%, after a 1.3% August increase.

 

Seasonally adjusted summary, by state

Approvals for total dwellings were mixed in September: Victoria (41.3%), New South Wales (30.4%), and Tasmania (11.7%) rose, while Queensland (-11.3%), Western Australia (-5.1%) and South Australia (-0.9%) fell.

Approvals for private sector houses were higher across most states with rises in New South Wales (7.8%), South Australia (7.4%), Victoria (7.3%), and Western Australia (6.8%). Queensland was the only state to fall, down 6.9%

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 Wales1,9257.84,80030.4
Victoria2,8927.35,68541.3
Queensland1,937-6.93,270-11.3
South Australia8437.41,130-0.9
Western Australia1,6286.81,748-5.1
Tasmanianana23811.7
Northern Territorynananana
Australian Capital Territorynananana
Australia9,5474.017,01912.0

Trend summary, by state

In trend terms, approvals for total dwellings rose in Tasmania (5.7%), Victoria (5.3%), Northern Territory (4.1%), and Queensland (1.1%). Meanwhile Australian Capital Territory (-9.8%), Western Australia (-2.1%), South Australia (-2.1%), and New South Wales (-1.4%) fell.

Approvals for private sector houses rose in Victoria (0.8%), and Western Australia (0.6%), whilst South Australia (-1.1%), New South Wales (-0.2%), and Queensland (-0.2%) fell, 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 Wales1,842-0.24,462-1.4
Victoria2,8750.84,8435.3
Queensland1,998-0.23,4901.1
South Australia805-1.11,164-2.1
Western Australia1,5290.61,809-2.1
Tasmanianana2215.7
Northern Territorynana514.1
Australian Capital Territorynana322-9.8
Australia9,3540.316,3600.9

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 work approved fell 4.8% to $16.51b, after an 11.3% August rise. The value of total residential building rose 7.4% (to $10.11b), comprised of an 8.2% rise to new residential value (to $8.93b) and a 1.2% rise in alterations and additions (to $1.18b).

The value of non-residential building fell 19.3% (to $6.39b), after a 32.2% August rise. 

Value of building approved, trend

The trend estimate of the value of total building approved fell 0.5% to $16.58b, after a 0.1% rise in August. The value of total residential building rose 1.4% (to $9.83b) after a 1.2% rise in August. New residential building value rose 1.7% (to $8.62b) and alterations and additions fell 0.7% (to $1.20b).

The value of non-residential building fell 3.1% in trend terms (to $6.75b), following a 1.5% fall in August. 
 

Value of building approved, by building type
 Seasonally adjustedSeasonally adjustedTrendTrend
($m)Monthly change (%)($m)Monthly change (%)
New residential building8,9318.28,6241.7
Alterations and additions to residential building1,1831.21,202-0.7
Total residential building10,1147.49,8261.4
Non-residential building6,393-19.36,752-3.1
Total building16,507-4.816,578-0.5

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 [53.47 KB]

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

    Download xlsx [58.91 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 2024 to August 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
  2024-252025-26
New South Wales4866
Victoria12130
Queensland1661
South Australia3-
Western Australia-75
Tasmania--
Northern Territory--
Australian Capital Territory98194
Total608396

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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