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Building Approvals, Australia

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Provides the number of dwelling units and value of buildings approved

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Reference period
March 2024
Released
2/05/2024
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Key statistics

The March 2024 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Total dwellings approved rose 1.9%, to 12,947.
  • Private sector houses rose 3.8%, to 8,891, while private dwellings excluding houses rose 3.6%, to 3,936.
  • The value of new residential building rose 8.7%, to $6.35b.
  • The value of non-residential building rose 28.7%, to $5.28b. 

Dwellings approved

March key figures
 Mar 24 (no.)Monthly change (%)Yearly change (%)
Seasonally adjusted 
 Total dwelling units approved12,9471.9-2.2
 Private sector houses8,8913.87.3
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses3,9363.6-16.8
Trend 
 Total dwelling units approved12,510-1.1-7.3
 Private sector houses8,4540.62.9
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses3,839-4.5-23.7
  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 1.9%, after a 0.9% February fall.

The trend estimate for total dwellings approved fell 1.1%, following a 2.0% February decrease.

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

The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector house approvals rose 3.8%, following a 12.4% increase in February. Private sector dwellings excluding houses approved rose 3.6%, following a 24.7% February fall.

The trend estimate for private sector house approvals rose 0.6%, following a 0.1% February rise. Private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 4.5%, following a 6.2% February decrease.

Seasonally adjusted summary, by state

Approvals for total dwellings were mixed: Victoria (3.2%) and Western Australia (1.5%) rose. Tasmania (-18.1%), South Australia (-7.0%), Queensland (-5.2%), and New South Wales (-1.2%) decreased in March.

Approvals for private sector houses rose in most states: Victoria (6.0%), New South Wales (4.0%), Queensland (3.2%), and South Australia (1.1%), in seasonally adjusted terms.  Only Western Australia (-1.8%) fell in March.
 

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 Wales1,9114.03,591-1.2
Victoria2,9566.03,9803.2
Queensland1,7253.22,324-5.2
South Australia7351.1866-7.0
Western Australia1,273-1.81,5161.5
Tasmanianana221-18.1
Northern Territorynananana
Australian Capital Territorynananana
Australia8,8913.812,9471.9

Trend summary, by state

The number of dwellings approved fell in Northern Territory (-8.3%), Australian Capital Territory (-4.1%), Queensland (-3.1%), Victoria (-2.8%), and South Australia (-1.3%). Western Australia (3.0%), Tasmania (1.0%), and New South Wales (0.9%) rose in trend terms.


Approvals for private sector houses rose in Western Australia (2.6%), Victoria (0.8%), and New South Wales (0.3%). South Australia (-0.4%) and Queensland (-0.1%) 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 Wales1,7760.33,4320.9
Victoria2,7930.83,809-2.8
Queensland1,653-0.12,436-3.1
South Australia721-0.4856-1.3
Western Australia1,2442.61,4673.0
Tasmanianana2061.0
Northern Territorynana22-8.3
Australian Capital Territorynana284-4.1
Australia8,4540.612,510-1.1

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 rose 15.9%, following a 16.8% February decrease. The value of total residential building rose 8.3%, comprised of a 8.7% increase in new residential building and a 6.1% rise in alterations and additions.

The value of non-residential building rose 28.7%, after a 16.8% fall in February.

Value of building approved, trend

The trend estimate for the value of total building approved fell 0.3%, after a 1.0% February decrease. The value of total residential building was flat, comprised of a 0.1% fall in new residential building and a 0.4% rise in alterations and additions.

The value of non-residential building fell 0.6%, following a 1.9% decrease in February.

Value of building approved, by building type
 Seasonally adjustedSeasonally adjustedTrendTrend
($m)Monthly change (%)($m)Monthly change (%)
New residential building6,3468.75,998-0.1
Alterations and additions to residential building1,0816.11,0380.4
Total residential building7,4278.37,0360.0
Non-residential building5,28228.74,588-0.6
Total building12,70915.911,624-0.3

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 [52.65 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.

Data files
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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

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 February 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 Wales3380
Victoria-1-3
Queensland6-29
South Australia--
Western Australia-53
Tasmania-1
Northern Territory--
Australian Capital Territory-13
Total3365

Post release changes

09/05/2024 - 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