Dwelling approvals boom before the crash

Wednesday 4 November 2026

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released dwelling approvals data for September, which showed that approvals nationally were tracking at their highest level since July 2021, with 18,700 homes approved:

Annual approvals were tracking at 208,300:

Despite the upswing, dwelling approvals were still tracking 93,500 (17%) below the National Housing Accord’s target, which requires 240,000 homes to be built annually:

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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.