Building Approvals, Australia

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Provides the number and value of dwelling units approved and the number and value of non-residential building jobs approved

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Reference period
February 2020
Released
1/04/2020
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Key statistics

  • The value of residential building rose 14.2% seasonally adjusted.
  • The trend estimate for total dwellings approved rose 1.0%.
  • The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector houses fell 0.8%.
  • The trend value of non-residential building rose 0.1%.

Main features

February key figures

  Feb 20Jan 20 to Feb 20Feb 19 to Feb 20
  no.%%
TREND
 Total dwelling units approved14 8231.0-2.5
 Private sector houses8 6330.6-3.8
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses6 0201.6-0.8
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED
 Total dwelling units approved15 69819.9-5.8
 Private sector houses8 577-0.8-4.9
 Private sector dwellings excluding houses6 94861.7-7.9


 

Number of dwelling units approved

Number of dwelling units approved

Line chart with 2 lines.
The chart has 1 X axis displaying .
The chart has 1 Y axis displaying no.. Data ranges from 13096 to 16668.
End of interactive chart.

Number of private sector houses approved

Number of private sector houses approved

Line chart with 2 lines.
The chart has 1 X axis displaying .
The chart has 1 Y axis displaying no.. Data ranges from 8100 to 9458.
End of interactive chart.

February key points

Total dwellings units

  • The trend estimate for total dwellings approved rose 1.0% in February.
  • The seasonally adjusted estimate for total dwellings approved rose 19.9% in February.
     

Private sector houses

  • The trend estimate for private sector houses approved rose 0.6% in February.
  • The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector houses fell 0.8% in February.
     

Private sector dwellings excluding houses

  • The trend estimate for private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 1.6% in February.
  • The seasonally adjusted estimate for private sector dwellings excluding houses rose 61.7% in February.
     

Value of building approved

  • The trend estimate of the value of total building approved rose 0.6% in February and has risen for three months. The value of residential building rose 0.9% and has risen for six months. The value of non-residential building rose 0.1% and has risen for two months.
  • The seasonally adjusted estimate of the value of total building approved rose 4.6% in February. The value of residential building rose 14.2%, while the value of non-residential building fell 6.1%.
     

Data notes

In this release, revisions are provided for the time period from July 2018 to January 2020. Further information about potential sources of revisions can be found in the feature article released with the January 2016 8731.0 publication - "Revisions to Building Approval Statistics".

Small area data cubes and CSV files will be made available in an “Additional Information” release five business days after the main publication. These will be for Statistical Area Level 2 and Local Government Areas. Release dates are published under the “Forthcoming Issues” section of the publication and in ABS Release Advice.

A number of time series spreadsheets contain ‘np’ (not available for publication) annotations. This is due to confidential data being contained in these series.

Bushfires and the coronavirus (COVID-19)

The recent bushfire events and COVID-19 did not result in significant impacts to Building Approval statistics in February 2020. Whilst it is expected that bushfire rebuilding and recovery activity will have some impact on future Building Approvals estimates, this activity is not yet present in the February estimates. The ABS is monitoring for potential impacts from COVID-19 on Building Approvals statistics.

Revisions this month

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

Dwellings2018-192019-20
NSW157112
Vic.-13888
Qld747
SA634
WA-84
Tas.3-
NT--
ACT-4
Total35369

Building approvals

Number of total dwelling units

Number of total dwelling units

Line chart with 2 lines.
The chart has 1 X axis displaying .
The chart has 1 Y axis displaying no.. Data ranges from 13096 to 23264.
End of interactive chart.

The trend estimate for Australia rose 1.0% in February.

Number of private sector houses

Number of private sector houses

Line chart with 2 lines.
The chart has 1 X axis displaying .
The chart has 1 Y axis displaying no.. Data ranges from 8100 to 10737.
End of interactive chart.

The trend estimate for private sector houses approved rose 0.6% in February.

Number of private sector dwellings excluding houses

Number of private sector dwellings excluding houses

Line chart with 2 lines.
The chart has 1 X axis displaying .
The chart has 1 Y axis displaying no.. Data ranges from 4298 to 13016.
End of interactive chart.

The trend estimate for private sector dwelling units excluding houses rose 1.6% in February.

Value of new residential building

Value of new residential building

Line chart with 2 lines.
The chart has 1 X axis displaying .
The chart has 1 Y axis displaying $m. Data ranges from 3981.701 to 7470.143.
End of interactive chart.

The trend estimate for the value of new residential building approved rose 1.0% in February and has risen for six months.

Value of alterations and additions to residential building

Value of alterations and additions to residential building

Line chart with 2 lines.
The chart has 1 X axis displaying .
The chart has 1 Y axis displaying $m. Data ranges from 583.88 to 785.776.
End of interactive chart.

The trend estimate for the value of alterations and additions to residential building rose 0.3% in February and has risen for three months.

Value of non-residential building

Value of non-residential building

Line chart with 2 lines.
The chart has 1 X axis displaying .
The chart has 1 Y axis displaying $m. Data ranges from 1759.372 to 6442.422.
End of interactive chart.

The trend estimate for the value of non-residential building approved rose 0.1% in February and has risen for two months.

Dwelling units approved, state trends

New South Wales

New South Wales

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The chart has 1 X axis displaying .
The chart has 1 Y axis displaying no.. Data ranges from 1784 to 6794.
End of interactive chart.

The trend estimate for total number of dwelling units approved in New South Wales fell 0.1% in February. The trend estimate for the number of private sector houses rose 0.2% in February.

Victoria

Victoria

Line chart with 2 lines.
The chart has 1 X axis displaying .
The chart has 1 Y axis displaying no.. Data ranges from 2658 to 6885.
End of interactive chart.

The trend estimate for total number of dwelling units approved in Victoria rose 3.9% in February. The trend estimate for the number of private sector houses rose 0.9% in February.

Queensland

Queensland

Line chart with 2 lines.
The chart has 1 X axis displaying .
The chart has 1 Y axis displaying no.. Data ranges from 1645 to 4566.
End of interactive chart.

The trend estimate for total number of dwelling units approved in Queensland rose 0.4% in February. The trend estimate for the number of private sector houses rose 0.6% in February.

South Australia

South Australia

Line chart with 2 lines.
The chart has 1 X axis displaying .
The chart has 1 Y axis displaying no.. Data ranges from 627 to 1132.
End of interactive chart.

The trend estimate for total number of dwelling units approved in South Australia fell 2.6% in February. The trend estimate for the number of private sector houses was flat in February.

Western Australia

Western Australia

Line chart with 2 lines.
The chart has 1 X axis displaying .
The chart has 1 Y axis displaying no.. Data ranges from 867 to 2868.
End of interactive chart.

The trend estimate for total number of dwelling units approved in Western Australia fell 2.0% in February. The trend estimate for the number of private sector houses rose 1.0% in February.

Article archive

Characteristics of apartment approvals, September 2019 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Growth in approvals, December 2018 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Change in composition of dwelling approvals, July 2016 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Implementation of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard in ABS Building Approvals collection, April 2011 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Average floor area of new residential dwellings, February 2010 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Average quarterly completion times for new houses, July 2008 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Changes in the mix of dwelling types, April 2008 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Average floor area of new residential dwellings, February 2008 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Are we building on smaller blocks?, July 2004 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Focus on the South Australian Construction Industry, June 2004 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Focus on the Tasmanian Construction Industry, June 2004 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Focus on the Queensland Construction Industry, May 2004 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Focus on the Victorian Construction Industry, April 2004 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Engineering Construction, March 2004 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Focus on the New South Wales Construction Industry, February 2004 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Average floor area of new dwellings, December 2003 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Work done on housing jobs each quarter, March 2003 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Inner city development, December 2002 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Functional classification of buildings, August 2002 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Building activity in Sydney and Melbourne, July 2002 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Changes in the mix of dwelling types, May 2002 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Construction Industry information, April 2002 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Average value of new houses, March 2002 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Largest and fastest growing areas in Australia, November 2001 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Functional classification of buildings, August 2001 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Average floor area of new dwellings, July 2001 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Identifying growth areas, May 2001 (cat. no. 8731.0)

Additional Building and Construction feature articles can be found in Feature Articles by Catalogue Number.

Interactive map

To view the interactive map, click here

How to use

  • Navigating topics: maps can be selected via the drop-down menu (mobile devices) or the tabs (larger screens).
  • Search: the search icon opens the search function. It is set to look for locations such as addresses, suburbs and postcodes contained within an SA2 or LGA.
  • Data: on each map, an SA2 or LGA region can be selected to view the underlying data. Data for all SA2s and LGAs can be found in the Data downloads section of this publication.
  • If the maps do not load successfully, please try refreshing this page.
     

More information

Inquiries

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070. The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to us

Data downloads - time series spreadsheets

Table 01. Number of dwelling units approved, by sector, all series - New South Wales

Data files
Download xls [107 KB]

Table 02. Number of dwelling units approved, by sector, all series - Victoria

Data files
Download xls [103 KB]

Table 03. Number of dwelling units approved, by sector, all series - Queensland

Data files
Download xls [103 KB]

Table 04. Number of dwelling units approved, by sector, all series - South Australia

Data files
Download xls [364 KB]

Table 05. Number of dwelling units approved, by sector, all series - Western Australia

Data files
Download xls [103 KB]

Table 06. Number of dwelling units approved, by sector, all series - Australia

Data files
Download xls [118.5 KB]

Data downloads - data cubes

Building approvals: data items available by Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS)

Data files
Download xls [79 KB]

NSW, SA2 Excel datacube, 2018-2019

Data files
Download xls [328.5 KB]

NSW, SA2 Excel datacube, 2019-2020 FYTD

Data files
Download xls [380 KB]

NSW, LGA Excel datacube, 2018-2019

Data files
Download xls [92 KB]

NSW, LGA Excel datacube, 2019-2020 FYTD

Data files
Download xls [108.5 KB]

Vic., SA2 Excel datacube, 2018-2019

Data files
Download xls [251.5 KB]

ABS.Stat datasets

Help for: ABS.Stat Datasets

Building Approvals by Greater Capital Cities Statistical Area (GCCSA) and above 
Building Approvals by Statistical Area (SA2 and above)
Building Approvals by Local Government Area (LGA 2018)
Building Approvals by Local Government Area (LGA 2019)

History of changes

Methodology

Building Approvals, Australia methodology, February 2020

Articles