Decline in apartment approvals drive December fall

Media Release

Released

1/02/2024

Source

Building Approvals, Australia, December 2023

The total number of dwellings approved fell 9.5 per cent in December (seasonally adjusted), after a 0.3 per cent rise in November, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Daniel Rossi, ABS head of construction statistics, said: "Approvals for private sector dwellings excluding houses drove the December decline, falling 25.3 per cent. In 2023, there were 59,174 private other dwellings approved, compared to 73,041 in 2022. This reflects a 19.0 per cent annual fall.

"Approvals in less volatile, private sector houses, fell 0.5 per cent in December."

Total dwelling approvals fell in Victoria (-18.4 per cent), South Australia (-11.8 per cent), and Tasmania (-2.7 per cent). Meanwhile, Queensland (8.2 per cent), Western Australia (7.9 per cent), and New South Wales (2.0 per cent) rose.

Approvals for private sector houses were driven lower by South Australia (-5.3 per cent), New South Wales (-2.6 per cent), and Queensland (-0.4 per cent), while rises were seen in Western Australia (2.2 per cent) and Victoria (1.2 per cent) in December.

The value of total building approved fell 6.4 per cent, following a 10.4 per cent drop in November. The value of total residential building fell 3.7 per cent, with a 3.8 per cent decrease in new residential building and a 2.8 per cent fall in alterations and additions.

The value of non-residential building fell 10.6 per cent, after a 19.8 per cent fall in November.

Further information is available in Building Approvals, Australia.

Dwelling units approved, by building type, seasonally adjusted
	Total dwellings	Private sector houses	Private sector dwellings excluding houses
Dec-08	10,206	7,000	2,557
Jan-09	9,416	7,204	2,015
Feb-09	10,710	7,402	3,074
Mar-09	10,840	7,618	2,906
Apr-09	11,502	7,954	3,085
May-09	10,852	8,235	1,990
Jun-09	12,017	8,772	2,518
Jul-09	13,219	8,912	3,572
Aug-09	12,800	9,401	2,670
Sep-09	14,038	9,513	3,901
Oct-09	13,632	9,925	2,942
Nov-09	14,894	9,893	3,488
Dec-09	15,323	9,986	3,828
Jan-10	14,964	9,988	3,200
Feb-10	15,417	9,985	3,428
Mar-10	17,053	9,963	4,811
Apr-10	15,848	9,450	4,746
May-10	14,942	9,293	4,345
Jun-10	14,656	9,112	4,758
Jul-10	15,392	8,896	5,452
Aug-10	15,048	8,689	5,315
Sep-10	13,839	8,480	4,648
Oct-10	15,318	8,568	6,076
Nov-10	14,105	8,391	5,097
Dec-10	15,100	8,469	5,916
Jan-11	13,126	8,337	4,456
Feb-11	12,881	8,296	4,244
Mar-11	14,214	8,199	5,546
Apr-11	13,845	8,178	5,413
May-11	12,763	8,015	4,459
Jun-11	12,825	7,999	4,456
Jul-11	13,092	7,648	4,920
Aug-11	14,901	7,766	6,717
Sep-11	12,302	7,774	4,282
Oct-11	11,353	7,275	3,878
Nov-11	11,848	7,613	4,022
Dec-11	11,727	7,692	3,898
Jan-12	11,219	7,803	3,201
Feb-12	11,799	7,355	4,288
Mar-12	11,741	7,513	4,047
Apr-12	10,858	6,843	3,915
May-12	14,216	7,301	6,783
Jun-12	14,875	7,274	7,384
Jul-12	11,751	7,672	3,827
Aug-12	13,413	7,699	5,582
Sep-12	15,223	7,925	7,129
Oct-12	14,275	7,825	5,983
Nov-12	13,879	7,723	5,910
Dec-12	13,877	7,761	5,906
Jan-13	12,748	7,815	4,744
Feb-13	13,679	7,777	5,247
Mar-13	13,291	7,956	5,098
Apr-13	14,992	8,169	6,516
May-13	14,426	8,375	5,561
Jun-13	13,770	8,265	5,119
Jul-13	15,272	8,530	6,406
Aug-13	14,890	8,413	6,287
Sep-13	18,358	8,675	9,409
Oct-13	17,650	8,726	8,663
Nov-13	17,263	9,241	7,729
Dec-13	16,965	9,069	7,640
Jan-14	17,775	10,205	7,264
Feb-14	16,720	9,751	6,753
Mar-14	15,984	9,375	6,351
Apr-14	16,496	9,771	6,368
May-14	16,795	9,787	6,781
Jun-14	16,608	9,663	6,614
Jul-14	17,116	9,777	7,097
Aug-14	18,560	9,680	8,625
Sep-14	16,404	9,546	6,625
Oct-14	18,187	9,863	8,135
Nov-14	20,144	9,843	10,082
Dec-14	20,338	9,726	10,165
Jan-15	19,883	9,942	9,616
Feb-15	19,482	9,716	9,419
Mar-15	20,774	9,621	10,832
Apr-15	19,007	9,532	9,156
May-15	20,875	9,551	11,034
Jun-15	19,380	9,912	9,125
Jul-15	19,845	9,744	9,199
Aug-15	19,350	10,074	9,119
Sep-15	20,406	9,818	10,317
Oct-15	21,558	9,741	11,582
Nov-15	18,724	9,652	8,993
Dec-15	20,267	10,279	9,821
Jan-16	18,844	9,836	8,716
Feb-16	19,648	9,828	9,465
Mar-16	20,681	10,236	10,238
Apr-16	20,746	10,012	10,532
May-16	20,305	10,042	9,955
Jun-16	18,685	9,675	8,811
Jul-16	21,532	9,586	11,689
Aug-16	22,000	9,689	11,916
Sep-16	19,192	9,789	9,233
Oct-16	16,549	9,549	6,692
Nov-16	18,456	9,635	8,571
Dec-16	18,341	9,399	8,800
Jan-17	17,076	9,206	7,673
Feb-17	18,763	9,438	9,088
Mar-17	16,506	9,286	6,995
Apr-17	18,183	9,487	8,482
May-17	17,039	9,832	7,046
Jun-17	18,690	9,967	8,511
Jul-17	19,352	10,206	8,677
Aug-17	19,444	10,238	9,027
Sep-17	19,610	10,098	9,260
Oct-17	19,684	10,135	9,225
Nov-17	23,143	10,078	12,905
Dec-17	17,957	10,175	7,625
Jan-18	19,576	9,884	9,421
Feb-18	18,950	10,270	8,371
Mar-18	19,649	10,457	9,038
Apr-18	18,276	10,594	7,482
May-18	18,099	9,995	7,944
Jun-18	19,560	10,227	9,007
Jul-18	18,625	10,152	8,208
Aug-18	16,403	9,923	6,337
Sep-18	16,773	9,628	6,819
Oct-18	17,228	10,028	7,024
Nov-18	15,061	9,368	5,566
Dec-18	14,287	9,060	5,096
Jan-19	14,654	9,361	5,099
Feb-19	16,346	8,921	7,319
Mar-19	15,105	8,513	6,374
Apr-19	14,318	8,595	5,587
May-19	14,510	8,825	5,465
Jun-19	15,013	8,893	5,736
Jul-19	13,621	8,621	4,697
Aug-19	13,764	8,481	5,168
Sep-19	14,627	8,782	5,692
Oct-19	14,384	8,232	5,943
Nov-19	14,876	8,461	6,239
Dec-19	16,057	8,667	7,207
Jan-20	13,425	8,633	4,653
Feb-20	16,069	8,670	7,223
Mar-20	15,394	8,595	6,586
Apr-20	14,938	8,783	5,773
May-20	13,375	8,854	4,227
Jun-20	12,914	8,428	4,098
Jul-20	15,234	9,303	5,609
Aug-20	14,277	9,534	4,570
Sep-20	16,180	10,599	5,191
Oct-20	17,306	11,145	5,827
Nov-20	17,692	11,512	5,844
Dec-20	19,373	13,324	5,805
Jan-21	17,017	12,158	4,526
Feb-21	19,916	13,987	5,528
Mar-21	23,167	14,157	8,508
Apr-21	19,989	13,579	6,158
May-21	20,697	13,739	6,700
Jun-21	19,897	12,570	6,910
Jul-21	18,303	12,000	6,018
Aug-21	18,874	11,864	6,748
Sep-21	18,514	10,526	7,778
Oct-21	15,943	10,416	5,213
Nov-21	16,228	10,384	5,628
Dec-21	17,371	9,980	7,139
Jan-22	13,229	8,668	4,327
Feb-22	18,431	9,824	7,326
Mar-22	15,213	9,728	5,189
Apr-22	15,281	9,769	5,366
May-22	16,589	9,679	6,585
Jun-22	16,765	9,751	6,560
Jul-22	14,306	9,837	4,252
Aug-22	17,568	10,075	7,223
Sep-22	16,663	9,597	6,861
Oct-22	15,110	9,236	5,694
Nov-22	15,246	9,060	5,849
Dec-22	17,208	8,804	7,809
Jan-23	12,217	7,787	4,262
Feb-23	13,263	8,594	4,445
Mar-23	13,273	8,413	4,650
Apr-23	12,628	8,133	4,293
May-23	15,156	8,194	6,760
Jun-23	13,830	8,115	5,187
Jul-23	12,909	8,178	4,493
Aug-23	13,637	8,598	4,805
Sep-23	13,311	8,386	4,670
Oct-23	14,422	8,839	5,425
Nov-23	14,463	8,457	5,830
Dec-23	13,085	8,416	4,354

Dwelling units approved, by building type, seasonally adjusted

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Media notes

"Private sector dwellings excluding houses" includes semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses and apartments.
When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
For media requests and interviews, contact the ABS Media Team via media@abs.gov.au (8.30am-5pm Mon-Fri).
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Decline in apartment approvals drive December fall

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