The total number of dwellings approved rose 4.2 per cent in October to 15,498, after a 5.8 per cent rise in September, according to seasonally adjusted data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The October result was boosted by a rise in approvals for high-rise apartments, mainly in New South Wales and Victoria.
Approvals for private dwellings excluding houses (which includes townhouses and apartments) rose 24.8 per cent to 5,859, to the highest level since May 2023. Single family housing approvals fell by 5.2 per cent in October, after reaching a two-year high in September.
A total of 2,782 high-rise apartments were approved, up from 1,815 in September, the highest since January.
While up for the month of October, over the last 12 months, only 56,797 apartments and townhouses were approved. This is fewer than in the preceding 12 months at 63,307 and over the same period in 2017-18 when approvals were just under 100,000.
Property Council Group Executive Policy and Advocacy Matthew Kandelaars said while pleasing to see apartment approvals on the rise, they are still close to half of what we were building over the same period in 2017-18.
"Apartment approvals are historically volatile and so we need more consistency to identify a trend, but the increase is positive," Mr Kandelaars said.
"Apartments are an integral part of our housing ecosystem and can positively tip the supply equation at scale, and we need to get back to the construction levels seen nearly 10 years ago.
"We are now six months into the National Housing Accord's ambitious target of delivering 1.2 million new homes and we cannot allow the target to slowly fade into the background over the next four and a half years.
"Housing targets offer our best opportunity to move past decades of blame-shifting between federal, state and local governments. We need a grand housing partnership between all levels of government to publicly commit their treasuries and planning systems to delivering improved housing supply and choice.
"We commend the federal government for passing its housing bills, particularly the build-to-rent bills that will create 80,000 homes over the next decade.
"Sadly, the undersupply of housing has been allowed to fester for decades and will require action to address rising construction prices and labour shortage, alongside planning delays, slow approval processes and shifting state property taxes," he said.
