Building Approvals, Australia

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Provides the number of dwelling units and value of buildings approved

Reference period
June 2024
Released
30/07/2024

Key statistics

The June 2024 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Total dwellings approved fell 6.5%, to 13,237.
  • Private sector houses fell 0.5%, to 9,078, while private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 19.7%, to 3,918.
  • The value of total residential building fell 0.6%, to $7.61b.
  • The value of non-residential building fell 16.2%, to $4.46b.

Dwellings approved

June key figures
 Jun 24 (no.)Monthly change (%)Yearly change (%)
Seasonally adjusted 
 Total dwelling units approved13,237-6.5-3.7
 Private sector houses9,078-0.511.0
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses3,918-19.7-22.1
Trend 
 Total dwelling units approved13,5861.1-1.8
 Private sector houses9,1601.110.9
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses4,2201.3-20.3
  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 6.5%, after rising 5.7% in May. 

The trend estimate for total dwellings approved rose 1.1%, following a 1.1% May increase.

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

The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector house approvals fell 0.5%, after rising 1.9% in May. Private sector dwellings excluding houses approved fell 19.7%, following a 17.4% May increase.

The trend estimate for private sector house approvals rose 1.1%, following a 1.4% May rise. Private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 1.3%, after a 0.8% May rise.

Seasonally adjusted summary, by state

Approvals for total dwellings fell in New South Wales (-18.8%), Victoria (-13.5%), Western Australia (-8.5%) and South Australia (-1.6%). Meanwhile, Queensland (14.6%) and Tasmania (8.8%) both rose in June, in seasonally adjusted terms.

Approvals for private sector houses fell in New South Wales (-19.0%) and Western Australia (-5.1%). However, Queensland (16.1%), South Australia (7.1%) and Victoria (2.6%) all rose in June, 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 Wales1,597-19.03,014-18.8
Victoria2,8882.63,840-13.5
Queensland2,17716.13,17514.6
South Australia7677.11,016-1.6
Western Australia1,403-5.11,742-8.5
Tasmanianana1988.8
Northern Territorynananana
Australian Capital Territorynananana
Australia9,078-0.513,237-6.5

Trend summary, by state

Approvals for total dwellings rose in the Northern Territory (7.4%), South Australia (3.5%), Queensland (3.3%), Western Australia (3.1%), and Victoria (1.2%), while the Tasmania was flat. The trend estimate fell in the Australian Capital Territory (-5.5%) and New South Wales (-1.9%).

Approvals for private sector houses rose in Queensland (4.1%), Western Australia (2.7%), South Australia (1.2%) and Victoria (0.7%), while New South Wales (-2.1%) 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 Wales1,781-2.13,414-1.9
Victoria2,9150.74,1271.2
Queensland2,0074.12,8453.3
South Australia7461.21,0253.5
Western Australia1,4532.71,7503.1
Tasmanianana1930.0
Northern Territorynana297.4
Australian Capital Territorynana206-5.5
Australia9,1601.113,5861.1

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 7.0% (to $12.06b), following a 0.4% rise in May. The value of total residential building fell 0.6% (to $7.61b), comprised of an 2.3% decrease in new residential building (to $6.44b) and a 10.2% rise in alterations and additions (to $1.17b).

The value of non-residential building fell 16.2% (to $4.46b), following a 2.7% decrease in May.

Value of building approved, trend

The trend estimate of the value of total building approved rose 0.7%, following a 1.1% rise in May. The value of total residential building rose 1.4%, comprised of an 1.4% increase in new residential building and a 1.3% rise in alterations and additions.

The value of non-residential building fell 0.3%, following a 0.6% increase in May.
 

Value of building approved, by building type
 Seasonally adjustedSeasonally adjustedTrendTrend
($m)Monthly change (%)($m)Monthly change (%)
New residential building6,441-2.36,5301.4
Alterations and additions to residential building1,16810.21,1391.3
Total residential building7,609-0.67,6681.4
Non-residential building4,455-16.25,093-0.3
Total building12,064-7.012,7610.7

Data downloads

Dwellings approved

Data files

Value of building approved

Data files

Non-residential building approved

Data files

Chain volume measures

Data files
Data files

Small area datacubes

Data items

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

Data files
Data files
Data files
Data files
Data files
Data files
Data files
Data files

Validation table

Building Approvals: Data cube validation table

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 May 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 Wales3314
Victoria3056
Queensland128
South Australia--
Western Australia-6
Tasmania--
Northern Territory--
Australian Capital Territory--
Total64104

Post release changes

06/08/2024 - 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

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
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