Total dwelling approvals across Australia rose 5.1% in September 2026 to 17,948, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said in its Building Approvals, Australia release on November 2. The gain was driven entirely by apartments and other multi-unit dwellings, not standalone houses.
Private sector houses fell 5.3% to 10,432 — the fourth monthly decline this year — while private sector dwellings excluding houses, a category dominated by apartments and townhouses, rose 16.6% to 6,579. On a yearly basis, total approvals were still down 0.8% from September 2025, even after the monthly jump.
The split matters for buyers of new-build apartments, a category that includes most off-the-plan purchases by overseas buyers under Australia’s foreign investment rules (which generally restrict non-residents to new dwellings rather than established homes). More apartment approvals today points to more off-the-plan stock reaching the market over the next one to two years, concentrated where approvals rose fastest: New South Wales (+37.3% for total dwellings) and Queensland (+28.0%), while Victoria (-28.9%), Tasmania (-25.7%) and Western Australia (-8.7%) fell.
House approvals fell in every state that reports the figure — South Australia (-7.8%), Victoria (-6.0%), New South Wales (-5.5%), Queensland (-5.1%) and Western Australia (-4.6%) — a sign that the construction pipeline for standalone houses, a category largely closed to foreign buyers already, continues to tighten.
Separately, the value of non-residential building approved rose 45.9% to $7.96 billion, after a 45.5% fall in August, while residential building value fell 2.8% to $11.06 billion. ABS attributed the swing in the monthly residential figures to the pickup in apartment approvals offsetting a fall in new house approvals.
References
Australian Bureau of Statistics – Building Approvals, Australia, September 2026
