Two states drive home building declines

It’s hoped that with the federal election now in the past, new policies for home building will be expedited to reverse the declining level of approvals.

According to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the total number of dwellings approved across the country took a tumble over the month of March. In seasonally adjusted terms, new home approvals decreased by 8.8% over February’s figures, to 15,220 in March. 

To meet the nation’s national accord targets Australia should be approving and completing roughly 20,000 homes per month to build 1.2 million new homes over five years. 

The decline in approvals was not limited to one type of housing, with multi-dwelling constructions (such as townhomes and apartments) down 15.1% and detached houses down 5.4%. 

Victoria and Queensland report largest declines 

The largest drop in approvals came from Victoria, where houses fell back 10%. In apartments, the state approved 671 dwellings in new apartment buildings, down from 2294 in February. 

Queensland also had a softer month, with an 8% drop in detached house approvals contributing to the fall. 

Apartments and houses on different paths 

While detached house approvals did not fall back as sharply as apartments, industry advocates were discouraged to see these figures fluctuate, particularly in annual terms. 

After rising 1.1% in February, houses fell 4.5% to 8,804 approvals, which is 3.3% lower than March 2024. 

Apartments had the opposite trajectory. While this housing type can be more volatile in terms of approvals, with major developments often swaying the figures, industry analysts still hope to see a level of consistency in multi-dwelling approvals, which is what February delivered with a 1.3% decline. 

The 15.1% drop in March was then a sharp dip. But as evidence of how much this figure has fluctuated in recent history, March 2025 still stood a whopping 47.1% higher than the approvals in March 2024. 

The Property Council’s group executive of policy and advocacy, Matthew Kandelaars, said that while apartment approval numbers were often variable, it was important that this pipeline had some level of consistency for the nation to have a chance of meeting its goal of building 1.2 million new homes. 

To help bring consistency into this sector, Mr Kandelaars stressed the importance of “stable tax and planning policies”. 

“Certainty is critical when these projects take years to build,” he said. 

Federal government urged to act quickly post-election 

“With the election behind us, now it is time to shift to the delivery phase,” Mr Kandelaars noted. 

The latest approvals figures set a clear mandate for new and returning lawmakers, coming just days after the 2025 federal election that returned the Labor party to power.  

Housing – and particularly home building – had become a flashpoint during the campaign, with Australian voters asking major parties what they intended to do about the nation’s current housing shortage. 

Labor put forward a $10 billion dollar plan to build up to 100,000 new homes for first-home buyers. The party says it will partner with state developers and the construction industry to build these new homes, which will be reserved for purchase by first-home buyers.    

It apparently proved more compelling to voters than the Coalition’s pledge, which involved allowing first-home buyers of newly built homes to claim a tax deduction on mortgage interest payments.  

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