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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
October 2022
Released
30/11/2022
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Key statistics

The October 2022 seasonally adjusted estimate:

  • Total dwellings approved fell 6.0%.
  • Private sector dwellings excluding houses approved fell 11.3%, while private sector houses decreased 2.2%.
  • The value of non-residential building rose 2.6%.
  • The value of total building fell 0.2%.

Dwellings approved

October key figures
 Oct 22 (no.)Monthly change (%)Yearly change (%)
Seasonally adjusted
 Total dwelling units approved15,382-6.0-6.4
 Private sector houses9,430-2.2-11.3
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses5,781-11.35.5
Trend
 Total dwelling units approved16,1590.0-6.9
 Private sector houses9,791-0.7-7.9
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses6,1581.4-5.0
  1. Trend break added to 'Total dwelling units approved' trend series for February 2021

The seasonally adjusted estimate for the number of dwellings approved in Australia fell 6.0% in October, following a 8.1% decrease in September.

The trend estimate for total dwellings approved was flat in October, following a 0.5% increase in September.

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

The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector house approvals fell 2.2% in October, to 9,430, following a 8.5% decrease in September. Private sector dwellings excluding houses approved fell 11.3%, to 5,781, following a 6.9% September decrease.

The trend estimate for private sector house approvals fell 0.7% in October, following a 0.5% fall in September. Private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 1.4%, following a 2.5% rise in September.

Seasonally adjusted summary, by state

Across Australia, total dwelling approvals fell in New South Wales (-18.8%), Queensland (-18.7%), and Tasmania (-10.5%).  South Australia (17.6%), Victoria (5.8%), and Western Australia (5.7%) increased.

Approvals for private sector houses fell in Queensland (-13.8%) and Western Australia (-0.4%). Victoria (1.1%), New South Wales  (0.2%), and South Australia (0.2%) rose, 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 Wales2,2940.24,304-18.8
Victoria3,1721.15,5855.8
Queensland1,685-13.82,500-18.7
South Australia8610.21,11817.6
Western Australia1,054-0.41,3105.7
Tasmanianana213-10.5
Northern Territorynananana
Australian Capital Territorynananana
Australia9,430-2.215,382-6.0

na not available

Trend summary, by state

The number of dwelling approvals increased in Northern Territory (3.0%), Victoria (2.2%), and New South Wales (0.9%). Total dwelling approvals decreased in Tasmania (-4.0%), the Australian Capital Territory (-3.8%), Western Australia (-3.6%), Queensland (-3.2%), and South Australia (-0.7%), in trend terms.

Approvals for private sector houses rose in South Australia (0.3%), Victoria (0.2%), and New South Wales (0.2%). Queensland (-2.5%) and Western Australia (-2.4%) decreased, 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 Wales2,3520.25,0590.9
Victoria3,2130.25,2952.2
Queensland1,880-2.52,895-3.2
South Australia8820.31,072-0.7
Western Australia1,077-2.41,273-3.6
Tasmanianana239-4.0
Northern Territorynana693.0
Australian Capital Territorynana255-3.8
Australia9,791-0.716,1590.0

na not available

Value of building approved

Value of building approved, by building type
 Seasonally adjustedSeasonally adjustedTrendTrend
($m)Monthly change (%)($m)Monthly change (%)
New residential building6,330-2.76,685-0.5
Alterations and additions to residential building1,0671.41,0620.8
Total residential building7,398-2.17,747-0.3
Non-residential building5,1492.64,9101.9
Total building12,547-0.212,6570.5
  1. Trend break added to 'Total residential' trend series for September 2020 and February 2021.

Value of building approved, seasonally adjusted

The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of total building approved fell 0.2% in October, following a 7.1% decrease in September. The value of total residential building fell 2.1%, comprising of a 2.7% decrease in new residential building, and a 1.4% rise in alterations and additions.

The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of non-residential building rose 2.6%, following a 6.9% increase in September.

Value of building approved, trend

The trend estimate for the value of total building approved rose 0.5% in October, following a 0.5% September increase. The value of total residential building decreased 0.3%, comprised of a 0.5% decrease in the value of new residential building and a 0.8% rise in the value of alterations and additions.

The trend estimate for the value of non-residential building rose 1.9% in October, following a 0.8% increase in September.

Interactive map

Building approvals data can be viewed on an interactive map.

Note that the interactive map will be offline soon after this publication release and will be refreshed with the current month's data within 24 hours.

How to use

Geographic areas

Data downloads

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Dwellings approved

Data files
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Value of building approved

Data files
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Non-residential building approved

Data files
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Chain volume measures

Data files
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Demolitions

Data files

  • Table 87. Number of dwellings approved for demolition, original, states and territories

    Download xlsx [51.74 KB]

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

    Download xlsx [56.76 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

Data files
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SA

Data files
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WA

Data files
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Tas.

Data files
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NT

Data files
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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.

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 onwards

Building Approvals by Local Government Area (LGA 2021) - Number and value of approvals, monthly, 2021/22

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

 

Geopackages

Data files

Data notes

New base year for chain volume estimates

A new base year, 2020-21, has been introduced into chain volume estimates which has resulted in revisions to growth rates in subsequent periods.  The chain volume estimates have been re-referenced to 2020-21, thereby preserving additivity in the quarters after the reference year. Re-referencing affects the levels of, but not the movements in, chain volume estimates.

Dwellings revised by state

In this release, revisions are provided for the time period from July 2021 to September 2022. Further information about potential sources of revisions can be found in the feature article released with the with the February 2016 Building Approvals publication - "Revisions to Building Approval Statistics".

Revisions to the total number of dwelling units approved in this issue are:

Dwellings revised
  2021-222022-23
New South Wales-39-41
Victoria293105
Queensland-191378
South Australia7-
Western Australia--
Tasmania--
Northern Territory--
Australian Capital Territory--
Total70442

Post release changes

07/12/2022 - As advertised in the ABS future releases calendar, this additional information release contains the small area excel data cubes and csv files for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 financial years. 

Article archive

Previous feature articles

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Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 8731.0.

Methodology

Building Approvals, Australia methodology, October 2022

Media releases