Another month, another gaping deficit in housing construction

Wednesday 3 December 2025

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released dwelling approvals statistics for October, reporting 15,844 trend approvals, down 0.6% from September.

Approvals in October were 4,168 (21%) behind the National Housing Accord’s five-year target of 20,000 dwellings per month.

In the year to October, 192,100 dwellings were approved for construction, which was 47,900 (20%) fewer than the National Housing Accord’s aim of 240,000 homes each year.

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About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.