Building Approvals, Australia

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Provides the number of dwelling units and value of buildings approved

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Reference period
July 2023
Released
30/08/2023
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Key statistics

The July 2023 seasonally adjusted estimate: 

  • Total dwellings approved decreased 8.1%.
  • Private sector houses rose 0.1%, while private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 15.8%.
  • The value of total building fell 16.9%.
  • The value of non-residential building fell 27.8%, while the value of new residential building fell 5.1%.

Dwellings approved

July key figures
 Jul 23 (no.)Monthly change (%)Yearly change (%)
Seasonally adjusted
 Total dwelling units approved12,668-8.1-10.6
 Private sector houses8,0840.1-16.9
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses4,367-15.83.4
Trend
 Total dwelling units approved13,6181.6-15.1
 Private sector houses8,1050.0-17.4
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses5,1903.4-13.1
  1. Trend break added to 'Total dwelling units approved' trend series for February 2021

The seasonally adjusted estimate for total dwellings approved fell 8.1%, following a 7.9% decrease in June.

The trend estimate for total dwellings approved rose 1.6%, after a 0.2% increase in June.

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

The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector house approvals rose 0.1%, to 8,084, following a 1.0% fall in June. Private sector dwellings excluding houses approved fell 15.8%, following a 21.9% decrease in June.

The trend estimate for private sector house approvals was flat, following a 0.5% fall in June. Private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 3.4%, following a 0.9% June increase.

Seasonally adjusted summary, by state

Total dwelling approvals fell in Victoria (-18.3%), Queensland (-5.5%), Western Australia (-5.2%), New South Wales (-4.7%), and South Australia (-2.6%).  Tasmania rose 39.5% in seasonally adjusted terms. 

Approvals for private sector houses rose in Western Australia (6.0%) and Queensland (5.0%). South Australia (-9.1%), Victoria (-4.0%), and New South Wales (-3.0%) fell in July.

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 Wales1,812-3.03,361-4.7
Victoria2,491-4.03,889-18.3
Queensland1,7465.02,789-5.5
South Australia736-9.1998-2.6
Western Australia9416.01,050-5.2
Tasmanianana25839.5
Northern Territorynananana
Australian Capital Territorynananana
Australia8,0840.112,668-8.1

Trend summary, by state

Across Australia, the number of dwelling approvals rose in Australian Capital Territory (8.4%), Victoria (4.5%), New South Wales (1.5%), and Tasmania (0.4%). Northern Territory (-5.3%), Queensland (-1.5%), Western Australia (-0.4%), and South Australia (-0.2%) decreased.

Approvals for private sector houses decreased in Victoria (-0.8%), South Australia (-0.5%), and New South Wales (-0.1%). Western Australia (1.0%) and Queensland (0.8%) rose in July.

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 Wales1,840-0.14,3251.5
Victoria2,548-0.84,1214.5
Queensland1,6780.82,588-1.5
South Australia783-0.51,038-0.2
Western Australia9291.01,069-0.4
Tasmanianana2380.4
Northern Territorynana36-5.3
Australian Capital Territorynana2068.4
Australia8,1050.013,6181.6

Value of building approved

Value of building approved, by building type
 Seasonally adjustedSeasonally adjustedTrendTrend
($m)Monthly change (%)($m)Monthly change (%)
New residential building5,847-5.16,2100.7
Alterations and additions to residential building1,023-0.41,0380.5
Total residential building6,870-4.47,2480.7
Non-residential building5,988-27.85,8380.3
Total building12,858-16.913,0860.5
  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 16.9%, following a 7.2% rise in June. The value of total residential building approvals fell 4.4%, comprised of a 5.1% decrease in new residential building and a 0.4% fall in alterations and additions. 

The seasonally adjusted estimate for the value of non-residential building fell 27.8%, following a 28.6% rise in June.

Value of building approved, trend

The trend estimate for the value of total building approved rose 0.5%, following a flat result in June. The value of total residential building rose 0.7%, comprised of a 0.7% rise in new residential building and a 0.5% increase in alterations and additions.

The trend estimate for the value of non-residential building rose 0.3%, following a 0.1% decrease in June.

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 [52.23 KB]

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

    Download xlsx [57.02 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
Download xlsx [41.8 KB]

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 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

GeoPackages

Data files

Dwellings revised by state

In this release, revisions are provided for the time period from July 2022 to June 2023. 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
  2022-23
New South Wales-343
Victoria13
Queensland151
South Australia93
Western Australia-23
Tasmania4
Northern Territory-2
Australian Capital Territory1
Total-106

Post release changes

07/09/2023 - 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, additional Data Explorer links, and GeoPackages for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 financial years. In addition, a small area interactive story map has been added to illustrate building approvals data by SA2 and LGA, for the current financial year.

Article archive

Previous feature articles

Enquiries

For enquiries about these and related statistics, contact the Customer Assistance Service via the ABS website Contact Us page. The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to us.

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

Media releases