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 2025
Released
6/03/2025
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    Building Approvals, Australia, February 2025
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    Building Approvals, Australia, February 2025
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Key statistics

The January 2025 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Total dwellings approved rose 6.3%, to 16,579.
  • Private sector houses rose 1.1%, to 9,042, while private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 12.7%, to 7,213.
  • The value of total residential building rose 4.5%, to $9.04b.
  • The value of non-residential building fell 20.7%, to $5.69b.

Dwellings approved

January key figures
 Jan 25 (no.)Monthly change (%)Yearly change (%)
Seasonally adjusted 
 Total dwelling units approved16,5796.321.7
 Private sector houses9,0421.18.9
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses7,21312.741.6
Trend 
 Total dwelling units approved15,142-1.113.8
 Private sector houses9,045-0.83.7
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses5,685-1.131.1
  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 6.3%, after rising 1.7% in December. 

The trend estimate for total dwellings approved fell 1.1%, following a 0.3% December decrease.

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

The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector house approvals rose 1.1%, after falling 2.8% in December. Private sector dwellings excluding houses approved rose 12.7%, following a 17.4% December increase.

The trend estimate for private sector house approvals fell 0.8%, after a 0.8% December fall. Private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 1.1%, following a 0.7% December increase.
 

Seasonally adjusted summary, by state

Approvals for total dwellings were mixed across the states: New South Wales (39.6%), South Australia (17.0%), and Western Australia (5.6%) rose. Meanwhile, falls were recorded in Queensland (-25.7%), Tasmania (-6.3%), and Victoria (-1.5%).

Approvals for private sector houses were also mixed: Queensland (4.6%), Western Australia (3.3%), and South Australia (2.9%) rose. Victoria (-1.2%) and New South Wales (-0.8%) fell in January.

 

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 Wales1,763-0.86,04739.6
Victoria2,688-1.24,417-1.5
Queensland1,9464.62,558-25.7
South Australia8872.91,32317.0
Western Australia1,5163.31,8905.6
Tasmanianana180-6.3
Northern Territorynananana
Australian Capital Territorynananana
Australia9,0421.116,5796.3

Trend summary, by state

In trend terms, approvals for total dwellings were varied across the states and territories: Northern Territory (8.0%), Australian Capital Territory (3.6%), South Australia (2.5%), and New South Wales (0.3%) rose. Falls were recorded in Victoria (-2.9%), Queensland (-2.3%), Tasmania (-2.1%), and Western Australia (-0.1%).

Approvals for private sector houses fell in Queensland (-1.1%), Victoria (-0.9%), Western Australia (-0.9%), and New South Wales (-0.7%). South Australia (0.3%) was the only state to rise, 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 Wales1,769-0.73,9660.3
Victoria2,684-0.94,615-2.9
Queensland1,944-1.13,056-2.3
South Australia8910.31,2052.5
Western Australia1,502-0.91,907-0.1
Tasmanianana189-2.1
Northern Territorynana548.0
Australian Capital Territorynana1433.6
Australia9,045-0.815,142-1.1

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 fell 6.9% (to $14.73b), following an 8.9% rise in December. The value of total residential building rose 4.5% (to $9.04b), comprised of a 5.0% increase in new residential building (to $7.90b) and a 1.1% rise in alterations and additions (to $1.14b).

The value of non-residential building fell 20.7% (to $5.69b), after a 19.7% increase in December.

Value of building approved, trend

The trend estimate of the value of total building approved rose 1.6% (to $15.15b), following a 2.3% rise in December. The value of total residential building rose 1.1% (to $8.83b), comprised of a 1.4% increase in new residential building (to $7.69b), and 0.2% fall in alterations and additions (to $1.14b).

The value of non-residential building rose 2.2% (to $6.31b), following a 3.4% increase in December.
 

Value of building approved, by building type
 Seasonally adjustedSeasonally adjustedTrendTrend
($m)Monthly change (%)($m)Monthly change (%)
New residential building7,9025.07,6871.4
Alterations and additions to residential building1,1431.11,145-0.2
Total residential building9,0444.58,8321.1
Non-residential building5,686-20.76,3142.2
Total building14,730-6.915,1461.6

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 [53.03 KB]

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

    Download xlsx [58.28 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 December 2024. 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
  2021-232023-242024-25
New South Wales5751137
Victoria21743622
Queensland-52-363
South Australia49648
Western Australia123--2
Tasmania55--
Northern Territory6--
Australian Capital Territory-5--3
Total9681181025

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Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 8731.0.

Data notes

January seasonal outliers

Following a review into changes of seasonal behaviour in January, seasonal outlier corrections have been applied to some series. For further information refer to the Methodology section.

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