Building approvals in Australia climbed 4.2% in October, totaling 15,498, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
This followed a 5.8% rise in September, with apartment developments in New South Wales and Victoria fueling the increase.
Daniel Rossi, ABS head of construction statistics, highlighted the impact.
“The overall rise this month was driven by an increase in apartment developments approved in New South Wales and Victoria, with private dwellings excluding houses rising 24.8%,” Rossi said.
Conversely, approvals for private sector houses dropped 5.2% after peaking at a two-year high in September.
The decline in private house approvals was widespread, except in South Australia, which posted a 1% increase, reaching its highest approval level since August 2021.
Nationally, house approvals remain 2.4% higher than last year, but this modest growth underscores the challenge of meeting housing demand, ABS figures showed.
Master Builders Australia sees the uptick in building approvals as a positive sign but warns more progress is necessary. Chief economist Shane Garrett (pictured above left) emphasised the stakes.
“New home building has clearly won momentum, but we need to see much more improvement or there is little hope of reaching our Accord’s target of 1.2 million new homes by July 2029,” Garett said.
Master Builders CEO Denita Wawn (pictured above centre) urged collaboration to sustain this growth.
“This increase is promising, but we need consistent output to address the housing crisis,” Wawn said. “Governments must take a ‘whole-of-government’ approach to deliver relief for Australians struggling with rising rents and inflation.”
Economist Peter Esho (pictured above right), of Esho Capital, noted the opportunity in state-level initiatives.
“Victoria’s recent stamp duty incentives are encouraging, but states like New South Wales need to move from talking about planning reforms to actually delivering them.” Esho said.
October saw significant activity in the high-rise apartment sector, with building approvals for buildings nine stories or higher jumping to 2,782 from 1,815 in September. This marked the highest level since January 2024.
While these gains signal progress, Esho warned: “One month doesn’t make a trend. Australia must build 150,000–200,000 homes annually to balance demand and supply.”
Despite the rise in overall building approvals, the value of total buildings approved fell 3.7% to $13.21 billion. The drop was driven by a sharp decline in non-residential building values (-13.4%), partially offset by a 3.2% increase in residential building values.
Further information is available in Building Approvals, Australia. For the latest ABS figures, click here.
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