Building Approvals, Australia

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Provides the number of dwelling units and value of buildings approved

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Reference period
April 2024
Released
30/05/2024
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Key statistics

The April 2024 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Total dwellings approved fell 0.3%, to 13,078.
  • Private sector houses fell 1.6%, to 8,822, while private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 1.1%, to 3,981.
  • The value of new residential building fell 3.8%, to $6.16b.
  • The value of non-residential building fell 4.6%, to $5.12b.

Dwellings approved

April key figures
 Apr 24 (no.)Monthly change (%)Yearly change (%)
Seasonally adjusted 
 Total dwelling units approved13,078-0.33.5
 Private sector houses8,822-1.69.0
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses3,981-1.1-8.5
Trend 
 Total dwelling units approved12,628-0.6-6.7
 Private sector houses8,6781.06.2
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses3,703-4.3-27.6
  1. Trend break added to 'Total dwelling units approved' trend series for February 2021

The seasonally adjusted estimate for the number of dwellings approved fell 0.3%, after a 2.7% March rise. 

The trend estimate for total dwellings approved fell 0.6%, following a 0.6% March decrease.

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

The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector house approvals fell 1.6%, after rising 4.0% March. Private sector dwellings excluding houses approved fell 1.1%, following a 5.7% March increase. 

The trend estimate for private sector house approvals rose 1.0%, following a 1.1% March rise. Private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 4.3%, following a 4.4% March decrease.

Seasonally adjusted summary, by state

Approvals for total dwellings were mixed: South Australia (13.9%) and Queensland (5.0%) rose, Victoria was flat, while Tasmania (-16.1%), New South Wales (-4.5%) and Western Australia (-0.9%) fell, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Approvals for private sector houses fell in New South Wales (-5.0%), Victoria (-2.0%), Queensland (-0.2%) and South Australia (-0.1%). Only Western Australia (3.5%) rose in April, in seasonally adjusted terms.
 

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 Wales1,822-5.03,467-4.5
Victoria2,927-2.04,0350.0
Queensland1,715-0.22,4705.0
South Australia737-0.199113.9
Western Australia1,3553.51,550-0.9
Tasmanianana183-16.1
Northern Territorynananana
Australian Capital Territorynananana
Australia8,822-1.613,078-0.3

Trend summary, by state

Approvals for total dwellings fell in the Australian Capital Territory (-13.8%), Queensland (-2.5%) and Victoria (-1.4%), and the Northern Territory was flat. The trend estimate rose in Western Australia (2.7%), South Australia (2.1%), Tasmania (1.0%), and New South Wales (0.5%).

Approvals for private sector houses rose in Western Australia (2.7%), New South Wales (1.1%), Victoria (1.0%) and Queensland (0.5%), while South Australia was flat, 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 Wales1,8161.13,4710.5
Victoria2,8651.03,846-1.4
Queensland1,6890.52,414-2.5
South Australia7270.09162.1
Western Australia1,3202.71,5452.7
Tasmanianana2021.0
Northern Territorynana250.0
Australian Capital Territorynana213-13.8
Australia8,6781.012,628-0.6

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 3.8% (to $12.4b), following a 13.8% rise in March. The value of total residential building fell 3.2% (to $7.28b), comprised of an 3.8% decrease in new residential building and a 0.4% rise in alterations and additions.

The value of non-residential building fell 4.6%, after a 21.7% March increase.

Value of building approved, trend

The trend estimate of the value of total building approved rose 0.7%, following a 0.7% rise in March. The value of total residential building rose 0.4%, comprised of a 0.2% rise in new residential building and a 1.6% rise in alterations and additions.

The value of non-residential building rose 1.2%, following a 0.9% increase in March.

Value of building approved, by building type
 Seasonally adjustedSeasonally adjustedTrendTrend
($m)Monthly change (%)($m)Monthly change (%)
New residential building6,162-3.86,0820.2
Alterations and additions to residential building1,1190.41,0931.6
Total residential building7,281-3.27,1740.4
Non-residential building5,120-4.64,9141.2
Total building12,401-3.812,0880.7

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 [52.64 KB]

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

    Download xlsx [57.63 KB]

Small area datacubes

Data items

Building Approvals: Data items available by Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS)

Data files
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NSW

Data files
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Vic.

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Qld

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SA

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WA

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Tas.

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NT

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ACT

Data files

Validation table

Building Approvals: Data cube validation table

Data files
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Small area approvals (.csv)

Statistical Area Level 2

Data files

Local Government Area

Data files

Demolition approvals (.csv)

Data files

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

Building Approvals by Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) and above - Number and value of approvals, monthly, July 2016 - June 2021

Building Approvals by Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) and above - Number and value of approvals, monthly, July 2021 onwards

Building Approvals by Local Government Area (LGA 2022) - Number and value of approvals, monthly, 2022/23

Building Approvals by Local Government Area (LGA 2023) - Number and value of approvals, monthly, 2023/24

Dwellings revised by state

In this release, revisions are provided for the time period from July 2022 to March 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 Wales3780
Victoria4361
Queensland30210
South Australia--
Western Australia-1143
Tasmania--
Northern Territory--
Australian Capital Territory-1
Total99395

Post release changes

06/06/2024 - As advertised in the ABS future releases calendar, this additional information release contains all Building Approvals small area data components. This is comprised of the small area excel data cubes, csv files and additional Data Explorer links for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 financial years. 

Article archive

Previous feature articles

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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.

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Media releases