Apartment Approvals Slump for Second Month

Home approvals fell 5.7 per cent in April to 14,633, according to seasonally adjusted data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

ABS head of construction statistics Daniel Rossi said a drop in apartment approvals had driven a 19.0 per cent fall in private homes excluding houses. 

“Meanwhile, private sector house approvals were up 3.1 per cent,” Rossi said.

The increase in private sector house approvals to 9349 homes followed a 1.9 per cent fall in March. The result is 4.6 per cent higher than the same month last year.

“New South Wales and Queensland were the main drivers of the overall rise in private sector house approvals, with both states up 7.3 per cent in April,” Rossi said.

“NSW had more than 2000 private sector houses approved for the first time since December of 2023.”

The 19.0 per cent fall in approvals for private sector homes excluding houses (to 4999 homes) followed a 14.4 per cent fall in March. The April result was 14.3 per cent higher than April of 2024.

Fewer apartment approvals drove the overall fall. In original terms, 5612 apartments were approved across March and April, compared to 8625 across January and February.

The value of total buildings approved rose 5.6 per cent in April to $16.82 billion, after an 11.5 per cent rise in March.

The value of total residential building fell 1.3 per cent to $8.91 billion, following a 7.3 per cent fall in March. This was comprised of a 1.2 per cent drop in the value of new residential building approved to $7.75 billion and a 2 per cent fall in alterations and additions to $1.16 billion.

Home approved by state, seasonally adjusted

▲ Source: ABS

“The value of non-residential buildings approved rose 14.7 per cent to $7.91 billion), the second highest result on record, and 39.6 per cent higher than April of 2024,” Rossi said. 

“A key driver of recent movements has been the increased value of non-residential projects rather than the number.”

Property Council Group executive policy and advocacy Matthew Kandelaars said the apartment market was still facing a challenging environment.

“While apartment approval numbers are volatile, this is two months in a row of significant falls,” he said.

“We will not meet our housing targets without the heavy lifting that needs to come from apartments that can deliver homes at scale close to transport, existing infrastructure and amenities.

“State and territory governments need to step up. Planning is key to delivering more homes, and our approvals data shows that the current systems are not working.

“More must be done to cut red tape and streamline our planning systems to remove uncertainty.”