Total Dwelling Approvals Fall In December: Australia

The total number of dwellings approved fell 14.9 per cent in December to 15,542, according to seasonally adjusted data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Daniel Rossi, ABS head of construction statistics, said: 'The drop in total dwellings was driven by a 29.8 per cent fall in approvals for private dwellings excluding houses. This follows a 29.6 per cent rise in this series in November.'

Private sector house approvals rose 0.4 per cent.

Private sector house approvals mixed across the states

Private sector house approvals rose 0.4 per cent to 9,487 dwellings, after a 0.8 per cent rise in November. This is 5.7 per cent higher than one year ago.

'South Australia recorded the largest rise, up 13.1 per cent, to the highest level since April 2023. Western Australia rose 0.4 per cent, to the highest level since July 2021,' Mr Rossi said. 'In contrast, New South Wales had the largest fall in December, down 5.5 per cent.'

Apartment approvals fall in December

Private sector dwellings excluding houses fell 29.8 per cent to 5,855 dwellings in December, after a 29.6 per cent rise in November.

'While the fall in December was large, it came off the back of last month which had the highest number of private sector dwellings excluding houses approved since June 2018,' said Mr Rossi.

In original terms, the volatile apartment series fell 37.6 per cent to 3,470 dwellings, after a 63.7 per cent rise in November. This is 14.0 per cent lower than the average over the past twelve months.

'Victoria led the fall in apartment approvals in December,' Mr Rossi said. 'Victoria saw only 339 apartments approved this month compared with 1,496 in November.'

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

Residential building drives fall in value

The value of total building approved fell 12.3 per cent in December to $16.32 billion, after a 12.9 per cent rise last month.

Driving the fall was total residential building which fell 16.0 per cent (to $9.49 billion), coming off last month's record high. The result was comprised of a 17.8 per cent fall in new residential building (to $8.30 billion) and a 1.4 per cent drop in alterations and additions (to $1.20 billion).

The value of non-residential building fell 6.4 per cent to $6.83 billion, after a 1.8 per cent fall in November.