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 2024
Released
2/05/2024
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    Building Approvals, Australia, April 2024
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    Building Approvals, Australia, April 2024
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Key statistics

The March 2024 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Total dwellings approved rose 1.9%, to 12,947.
  • Private sector houses rose 3.8%, to 8,891, while private dwellings excluding houses rose 3.6%, to 3,936.
  • The value of new residential building rose 8.7%, to $6.35b.
  • The value of non-residential building rose 28.7%, to $5.28b. 

Dwellings approved

March key figures
 Mar 24 (no.)Monthly change (%)Yearly change (%)
Seasonally adjusted 
 Total dwelling units approved12,9471.9-2.2
 Private sector houses8,8913.87.3
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses3,9363.6-16.8
Trend 
 Total dwelling units approved12,510-1.1-7.3
 Private sector houses8,4540.62.9
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses3,839-4.5-23.7
  1. Trend break added to 'Total dwelling units approved' trend series for February 2021

The seasonally adjusted estimate for the number of dwellings approved rose 1.9%, after a 0.9% February fall.

The trend estimate for total dwellings approved fell 1.1%, following a 2.0% February decrease.

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

The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector house approvals rose 3.8%, following a 12.4% increase in February. Private sector dwellings excluding houses approved rose 3.6%, following a 24.7% February fall.

The trend estimate for private sector house approvals rose 0.6%, following a 0.1% February rise. Private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 4.5%, following a 6.2% February decrease.

Seasonally adjusted summary, by state

Approvals for total dwellings were mixed: Victoria (3.2%) and Western Australia (1.5%) rose. Tasmania (-18.1%), South Australia (-7.0%), Queensland (-5.2%), and New South Wales (-1.2%) decreased in March.

Approvals for private sector houses rose in most states: Victoria (6.0%), New South Wales (4.0%), Queensland (3.2%), and South Australia (1.1%), in seasonally adjusted terms.  Only Western Australia (-1.8%) fell in March.
 

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 Wales1,9114.03,591-1.2
Victoria2,9566.03,9803.2
Queensland1,7253.22,324-5.2
South Australia7351.1866-7.0
Western Australia1,273-1.81,5161.5
Tasmanianana221-18.1
Northern Territorynananana
Australian Capital Territorynananana
Australia8,8913.812,9471.9

Trend summary, by state

The number of dwellings approved fell in Northern Territory (-8.3%), Australian Capital Territory (-4.1%), Queensland (-3.1%), Victoria (-2.8%), and South Australia (-1.3%). Western Australia (3.0%), Tasmania (1.0%), and New South Wales (0.9%) rose in trend terms.


Approvals for private sector houses rose in Western Australia (2.6%), Victoria (0.8%), and New South Wales (0.3%). South Australia (-0.4%) and Queensland (-0.1%) 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 Wales1,7760.33,4320.9
Victoria2,7930.83,809-2.8
Queensland1,653-0.12,436-3.1
South Australia721-0.4856-1.3
Western Australia1,2442.61,4673.0
Tasmanianana2061.0
Northern Territorynana22-8.3
Australian Capital Territorynana284-4.1
Australia8,4540.612,510-1.1

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 15.9%, following a 16.8% February decrease. The value of total residential building rose 8.3%, comprised of a 8.7% increase in new residential building and a 6.1% rise in alterations and additions.

The value of non-residential building rose 28.7%, after a 16.8% fall in February.

Value of building approved, trend

The trend estimate for the value of total building approved fell 0.3%, after a 1.0% February decrease. The value of total residential building was flat, comprised of a 0.1% fall in new residential building and a 0.4% rise in alterations and additions.

The value of non-residential building fell 0.6%, following a 1.9% decrease in February.

Value of building approved, by building type
 Seasonally adjustedSeasonally adjustedTrendTrend
($m)Monthly change (%)($m)Monthly change (%)
New residential building6,3468.75,998-0.1
Alterations and additions to residential building1,0816.11,0380.4
Total residential building7,4278.37,0360.0
Non-residential building5,28228.74,588-0.6
Total building12,70915.911,624-0.3

Data downloads

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Dwellings approved

Data files
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Value of building approved

Data files
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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 [52.65 KB]

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

    Download xlsx [57.63 KB]

Data Explorer datasets

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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 2022 to February 2024. Further information about potential sources of revisions can be found in the feature article released with the with the January 2016 Building Approvals publication - "Revisions to Building Approval Statistics".

Revisions to the total number of dwelling units approved in this issue are:

Dwellings revised
  2022-232023-24
New South Wales3380
Victoria-1-3
Queensland6-29
South Australia--
Western Australia-53
Tasmania-1
Northern Territory--
Australian Capital Territory-13
Total3365

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

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