What is being approved to build — every council in Australia

Residential building approvals for 526 local government areas across all eight states and territories, over the 12 months to 2025-06. 187,896 dwellings, $108bn of work.

This is the one layer here that covers the whole country. Development applications, heritage and zoning on this site are New South Wales only, because NSW is the only state publishing those on terms that allow reuse. Building approvals come from the ABS on identical definitions for every council in Australia, so this is the fair way to compare states.
187,896Dwellings approved
$108bnValue of work
526Councils
12 monthsTo 2025-06

By state and territory

StateDwellings approvedValue of workShare of dwellings
Victoria56,649$33bn30.1%
New South Wales49,488$30bn26.3%
Queensland38,411$24bn20.4%
Western Australia22,944$12bn12.2%
South Australia14,524$6.6bn7.7%
Australian Capital Territory2,838$1.1bn1.5%
Tasmania2,340$1.2bn1.2%
Northern Territory702$513M0.4%

By council

#CouncilDwellings approved ▾Value of work
301Parkes37$20M
302West Arnhem37$36M
303Plantagenet37$14M
304Port Lincoln36$21M
305Break O'Day35$17M
306Forbes35$18M
307Northern Peninsula Area34$33M
308Berrigan34$22M
309York33$9.91M
310Clare and Gilbert Valleys33$19M
311Cowra33$19M
312North Burnett33$13M
313Southern Grampians33$27M
314Katherine32$13M
315Tasman32$12M
316Dandaragan32$16M
317Lithgow32$23M
318Northampton31$13M
319Hunters Hill31$76M
320Collie31$13M
321Naracoorte Lucindale31$16M
322Cabonne31$23M
323Tenterfield31$15M
324Broken Hill30$15M
325Wattle Range29$14M
326Whyalla29$13M
327Cherbourg29$15M
328Coorong29$12M
329Exmouth29$21M
330Gunnedah29$17M
331Blayney29$15M
332Loddon28$17M
333Bridgetown-Greenbushes28$16M
334Dorset28$12M
335Robe28$16M
336Narromine27$12M
337Snowy Valleys26$16M
338Central Highlands (Qld)26$16M
339Kyogle25$17M
340Lockhart River25$12M
341Pyrenees25$20M
342Charters Towers25$14M
343Leeton24$16M
344Inverell23$18M
345Derby-West Kimberley23$27M
346Queenscliffe22$49M
347Irwin22$15M
348Edward River22$14M
349Gannawarra22$18M
350Mornington22$13M
351Jerramungup21$11M
352Banana21$14M
353Kingston (SA)21$9.63M
354Yarriambiack21$11M
355Nannup20$6.42M
356Coolamon20$12M
357Wakefield20$9.23M
358Alice Springs20$22M
359Oberon20$15M
360Mapoon20$11M

A building approval is not a development application — it is one step further along, after planning consent. Values are the ABS figure converted from the $’000 the API returns. Source: ABS Building Approvals by Local Government Area (BA_LGA2024), Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.