Dwelling Approvals Rise In June: Australia

The total number of dwellings approved rose 11.9 per cent in June to 17,076, according to seasonally adjusted data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Daniel Rossi, ABS head of construction statistics, said: 'In June we saw total dwellings approved reach their highest level since August 2022. The movement was driven by a strong rise in private dwellings excluding houses, which rose 33.1 per cent'.

Approvals for private sector houses fell 2.0 per cent.

'There have been a total of 185,844 dwellings approved, in original terms over the last 12 months. This is 13.5 per cent higher than the 12 months before that, which had 163,692 dwellings approved,' Mr Rossi said.

Private sector houses down in June

The 2.0 per cent fall in private sector house approvals (to 9,142 dwellings), follows a 1.0 per cent fall in May.

Falls were recorded across the country, the largest being in Queensland, which fell 6.3 per cent. Victoria was the only state to rise in private sector house approvals, up 1.4 per cent.

'The average approval value for new private sector houses has continued to rise year-on-year, but has slowed during the 2024-25 financial year,' Mr Rossi said.

'The slowing average approval values for new houses is consistent with moderating building costs, as reflected in Producer Price Indexes (Input to the house construction industry).'

'The average approval value for a new house over the 2024-25 financial year was $493,185, representing a 4.8 per cent rise on the average of $470,558 in 2023-24. For comparison, the average approved value of a new house in 2023-24 was 6.4 per cent higher compared to the average in 2022-23'.

Private sector dwellings excluding houses rise in June

The 33.1 per cent rise in private sector dwellings excluding houses (to 7,594 dwellings) followed a 10.3 per cent May rise.

'The 7,594 private sector dwellings excluding houses, was the highest result for the series since December 2022,' Mr Rossi said.

In original terms, approvals for apartments rose 12.2 per cent, following a 30.9 per cent rise in May. There were 42,387 new apartment dwellings approved in the current financial year. This is a 42.1 per cent rise from 29,826 in 2023-24.

(a) Seasonally adjusted estimates are not published for NT and ACT for all dwelling types. Private sector houses are not published for Tasmania.