Dwelling approvals fall in August

Media Release

Released

1/10/2024

Source

Building Approvals, Australia, August 2024

The total number of dwellings approved fell 6.1 per cent in August to 13,991, after an 11.0 per cent rise in July, according to seasonally adjusted data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Daniel Rossi, ABS head of construction statistics, said: "The result was driven by a 16.5 per cent fall in approvals for private dwellings excluding houses, following a July increase. The movements in dwellings excluding houses continue to be the result of volatility in apartment approvals, with the broad environment around apartments remaining subdued."

"Private sector house approvals continued to slowly rise, up 0.5 per cent."

Dwelling units approved, by building type, seasonally adjusted
	Total dwellings	Private sector houses	Private sector dwellings excluding houses
Aug-09	12,878	9,408	2,741
Sep-09	13,939	9,521	3,793
Oct-09	13,640	9,922	2,953
Nov-09	14,997	9,897	3,586
Dec-09	15,145	10,007	3,629
Jan-10	15,018	9,984	3,258
Feb-10	15,512	9,984	3,526
Mar-10	16,858	9,944	4,635
Apr-10	16,016	9,573	4,792
May-10	15,078	9,299	4,475
Jun-10	14,513	9,133	4,594
Jul-10	15,466	8,915	5,508
Aug-10	15,162	8,687	5,431
Sep-10	13,644	8,490	4,443
Oct-10	15,452	8,564	6,214
Nov-10	14,205	8,390	5,198
Dec-10	14,877	8,484	5,678
Jan-11	13,258	8,339	4,586
Feb-11	12,980	8,294	4,346
Mar-11	13,968	8,188	5,311
Apr-11	13,915	8,145	5,515
May-11	12,818	8,010	4,518
Jun-11	12,704	8,017	4,316
Jul-11	13,181	7,667	4,991
Aug-11	14,756	7,774	6,564
Sep-11	12,340	7,764	4,330
Oct-11	11,438	7,277	3,960
Nov-11	11,703	7,620	3,870
Dec-11	11,755	7,693	3,925
Jan-12	11,249	7,792	3,243
Feb-12	11,702	7,362	4,184
Mar-12	11,768	7,507	4,081
Apr-12	10,979	6,824	4,055
May-12	13,976	7,302	6,542
Jun-12	14,994	7,282	7,495
Jul-12	11,809	7,681	3,877
Aug-12	13,204	7,700	5,371
Sep-12	15,436	7,934	7,334
Oct-12	14,137	7,826	5,844
Nov-12	13,956	7,711	5,999
Dec-12	14,019	7,767	6,041
Jan-13	12,640	7,811	4,639
Feb-13	13,809	7,774	5,379
Mar-13	13,318	7,959	5,122
Apr-13	15,064	8,152	6,604
May-13	14,292	8,373	5,429
Jun-13	13,846	8,277	5,182
Jul-13	15,111	8,545	6,229
Aug-13	14,921	8,414	6,318
Sep-13	18,576	8,671	9,632
Oct-13	17,501	8,722	8,517
Nov-13	17,303	9,243	7,767
Dec-13	17,030	9,062	7,712
Jan-14	17,667	10,196	7,163
Feb-14	16,907	9,748	6,942
Mar-14	16,048	9,384	6,407
Apr-14	16,300	9,772	6,171
May-14	16,814	9,786	6,801
Jun-14	16,746	9,662	6,753
Jul-14	16,980	9,785	6,952
Aug-14	18,576	9,686	8,636
Sep-14	16,489	9,541	6,715
Oct-14	18,008	9,857	7,962
Nov-14	20,308	9,848	10,241
Dec-14	20,127	9,727	9,953
Jan-15	19,877	9,944	9,609
Feb-15	19,799	9,713	9,739
Mar-15	20,823	9,625	10,877
Apr-15	18,950	9,522	9,111
May-15	20,838	9,553	10,995
Jun-15	19,461	9,908	9,209
Jul-15	19,709	9,740	9,067
Aug-15	19,406	10,081	9,168
Sep-15	20,251	9,818	10,162
Oct-15	21,611	9,740	11,635
Nov-15	18,783	9,646	9,057
Dec-15	20,118	10,284	9,666
Jan-16	18,758	9,844	8,622
Feb-16	19,866	9,817	9,695
Mar-16	20,577	10,245	10,126
Apr-16	20,830	9,999	10,629
May-16	20,321	10,054	9,959
Jun-16	18,662	9,679	8,783
Jul-16	21,454	9,578	11,619
Aug-16	21,857	9,684	11,779
Sep-16	19,324	9,791	9,363
Oct-16	16,559	9,549	6,701
Nov-16	18,297	9,631	8,417
Dec-16	18,437	9,401	8,893
Jan-17	17,085	9,235	7,654
Feb-17	19,026	9,435	9,355
Mar-17	16,416	9,264	6,927
Apr-17	18,234	9,490	8,531
May-17	16,941	9,840	6,940
Jun-17	18,833	9,959	8,659
Jul-17	19,343	10,207	8,669
Aug-17	19,355	10,255	8,922
Sep-17	19,641	10,088	9,301
Oct-17	19,693	10,142	9,228
Nov-17	23,033	10,080	12,792
Dec-17	17,913	10,162	7,593
Jan-18	19,367	9,922	9,175
Feb-18	19,204	10,267	8,628
Mar-18	19,712	10,440	9,117
Apr-18	18,439	10,588	7,654
May-18	17,945	10,027	7,759
Jun-18	19,592	10,199	9,065
Jul-18	18,619	10,154	8,201
Aug-18	16,370	9,906	6,318
Sep-18	16,775	9,639	6,814
Oct-18	17,093	10,033	6,883
Nov-18	15,172	9,358	5,686
Dec-18	14,309	9,072	5,107
Jan-19	14,619	9,410	5,014
Feb-19	16,594	8,922	7,568
Mar-19	15,092	8,462	6,412
Apr-19	14,418	8,614	5,671
May-19	14,423	8,815	5,385
Jun-19	15,055	8,881	5,792
Jul-19	13,504	8,621	4,580
Aug-19	13,845	8,484	5,244
Sep-19	14,690	8,791	5,748
Oct-19	14,264	8,247	5,806
Nov-19	14,885	8,445	6,264
Dec-19	16,093	8,674	7,238
Jan-20	13,401	8,646	4,610
Feb-20	16,309	8,702	7,430
Mar-20	15,390	8,580	6,602
Apr-20	14,924	8,792	5,744
May-20	13,368	8,811	4,264
Jun-20	12,942	8,432	4,127
Jul-20	15,194	9,204	5,662
Aug-20	14,430	9,514	4,743
Sep-20	16,065	10,558	5,122
Oct-20	17,447	11,133	5,973
Nov-20	17,796	11,518	5,946
Dec-20	19,276	13,256	5,775
Jan-21	17,060	12,087	4,640
Feb-21	19,990	13,938	5,651
Mar-21	22,821	14,058	8,315
Apr-21	20,114	13,461	6,399
May-21	20,703	13,719	6,727
Jun-21	19,734	12,471	6,847
Jul-21	18,302	11,949	6,066
Aug-21	18,990	11,779	6,953
Sep-21	18,358	10,525	7,623
Oct-21	16,021	10,337	5,370
Nov-21	16,410	10,354	5,844
Dec-21	17,141	9,930	6,949
Jan-22	13,296	8,746	4,321
Feb-22	18,766	9,829	7,656
Mar-22	15,101	9,722	5,083
Apr-22	15,393	9,747	5,498
May-22	16,498	9,689	6,479
Jun-22	16,666	9,734	6,475
Jul-22	14,376	9,863	4,294
Aug-22	17,480	10,045	7,161
Sep-22	16,763	9,590	6,983
Oct-22	15,310	9,290	5,841
Nov-22	14,992	9,015	5,640
Dec-22	17,358	8,837	7,923
Jan-23	12,205	7,869	4,175
Feb-23	13,587	8,707	4,655
Mar-23	13,153	8,317	4,618
Apr-23	12,888	8,237	4,454
May-23	15,332	8,170	6,958
Jun-23	13,850	8,197	5,120
Jul-23	12,931	8,169	4,513
Aug-23	13,508	8,618	4,704
Sep-23	13,795	8,429	5,115
Oct-23	14,635	8,935	5,538
Nov-23	14,657	8,710	5,766
Dec-23	13,626	8,816	4,515
Jan-24	12,926	7,713	4,990
Feb-24	13,179	8,895	3,936
Mar-24	13,277	9,051	4,068
Apr-24	13,521	8,994	4,225
May-24	14,319	9,205	4,948
Jun-24	13,414	9,200	3,981
Jul-24	14,893	9,287	5,293
Aug-24	13,991	9,338	4,418

Dwelling units approved, by building type, seasonally adjusted

["","Total dwellings","Private sector houses","Private sector dwellings excluding houses"]

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[]

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Private house approvals mixed across the states

Private sector house approvals rose 0.5 per cent (to 9,338 dwellings), to be 8.4 per cent higher than August 2023.

New South Wales recorded the largest rise of all the states, at 3.9 per cent. Western Australia continued to track higher, approving its highest number of private houses since June 2021.

Private dwellings excluding houses fall in August

Private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 16.5 per cent (to 4,418 dwellings), to be 6.1 per cent lower than one year ago.

The August result was driven by a decrease in approvals for high-density apartments. There were 1,214 apartments approved in nine or more storey blocks in August, in original terms, compared to 2,504 in July.

Dwellings approved, by state, seasonally adjusted (a)
	Private sector houses	Total dwelling units approved
New South Wales	1,829	3,387
Victoria	2,929	4,589
Queensland	1,999	2,944
South Australia	792	1,015
Western Australia	1,522	1,747

Dwellings approved, by state, seasonally adjusted (a)

["","Private sector houses","Total dwelling units approved"]

[["New South Wales","Victoria","Queensland","South Australia","Western Australia"],[[1829],[2929],[1999],[792],[1522]],[[3387],[4589],[2944],[1015],[1747]]]

[]

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Residential approvals drive value fall

The value of total building approved fell 0.2 per cent (to $13.25 billion), following a 6.9 per cent rise in July.

Total residential building value fell 6.7 per cent (to $7.96 billion), primarily driven by a fall of 7.9 per cent in the value of new residential building approved (to $6.81 billion). Alterations and additions rose 1.4 per cent (to $1.14 billion), in seasonally adjusted terms.

The value of approved non-residential building rose 11.5 per cent (to $5.30 billion), following a 2.8 per cent July increase.

More information is available in Building Approvals, Australia.

Media notes

"Private sector dwellings excluding houses" includes semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses and apartments.
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