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{{propApi.successMessage}} {{region}} Change locationApprovals fall in December, but 2025 finishes on a high note
Approvals fall in December, but 2025 finishes on a high note
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The Australian Bureau of Statistics today released its monthly building approvals data for December 2025 for detached houses and multi-units covering all states and territories.
“This brought the total number of dwellings approved in 2025 to 195,730, which is 12.8 per cent higher compared to 2024,” added Mr Reardon.
“This month’s decline was driven by a 31.4 per cent fall in multi-unit approvals, which was barely offset by the 0.3 per cent increase in detached approvals.
“Multi-unit approvals, which include semi-detached homes and apartments, are volatile on a month-to-month basis.
“The December month’s volatility does not detract from the clear upwards trend in approvals, including for units, over the previous 12 months.
“In the 2025 calendar year, there were 82,330 multi-unit dwellings approved for construction. This is 31.4 per cent higher compared to 2024.
“Detached house approvals have been slowly but steadily picking up. In the 2025 calendar year, there were 113,410 detached homes approved for construction, which is 2.4 per cent higher compared to 2024.
“Approvals data for both segments indicate that market confidence continues to pick-up, as demand for housing remains elevated and buyers return to building a new home.
“Interest rate cuts in 2025 have helped bring more households back to the market. Many households remain in employment, which provides them with certainty of income.
“As such, established home prices have continued to grow above the rate of inflation, which suggests that demand far exceeds housing supply.
“This imbalance has seen more buyers of different types turn to new housing as a means of securing home ownership.
“The other sign of this imbalance has played out in the renovations market. Council-approved renovation work increased by 5.3 per cent in 2025, to $14.3 billion.
“This suggests that some households are turning to renovating their existing homes as opposed to moving out.
“The pickup in approvals data in 2025 is positive but remains below the 240,000 new homes required each year to reach the National Housing Accord’s 1.2 million homes target.
“Households cannot live in an approval, and these projects can only materialise if there are sufficient investment, infrastructure and incentive to bring them to market.
“Governments need to remove the additional costs imposed on land development and new home building if we are to achieve housing sufficiency,” concluded Mr Reardon.
South Australia saw the largest increase in dwelling approvals in the 2025 calendar year, up by 22.3 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms. This was followed by New South Wales (+21.0 per cent), Western Australia (+13.4 per cent), Queensland (+10.5 per cent) and Victoria (+2.1 per cent). Tasmania recorded a decline of 2.5 per cent in 2025. In trend terms, the Australian Capital Territory recorded an 86.1 per cent increase in approvals, while the Northern Territory increased by 51.6 per cent.
Monthly Building Approvals - Australia
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