Building Approvals
Building approvals
Despite the acknowledged need for a significant increase in housing stock, there is still a lag in building approvals coming through (see figure below). The 2026 column covers January to July only, seven months, so it is not comparable with the full years beside it. Rather than annualise a part-year, which is unreliable for lumpy apartment approvals, the comparisons here are like-for-like: January to July 2026 against the same seven months of 2025, and the twelve months to July 2026 against the twelve before it. House approvals, the dominant type of building in the region, declined from a peak of around 4,600 homes in 2021 to around 3,100 in 2025, but have since turned up: 2,269 houses were approved between January and July 2026 against 1,810 in the same months of 2025, and 3,566 over the twelve months to July 2026 against 3,029 over the prior twelve, a rise of about 18%. Apartments are moving the other way, down to 291 for January to July 2026 from 502 a year earlier, and 511 over the twelve months to July against 705 over the prior twelve, a fall of about 28%. Semi-detached, row and terrace houses and townhouses are flat, at 1,654 over the twelve months to July 2026 against 1,653 over the prior twelve. Separately, the Committee for the Hunter has called for funding to enable 40,000 new homes for the region, a multi-year enabling-infrastructure proposal rather than an annual approvals target. This data is available at Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2), and thus the data presented here includes SA2 areas in the Mid-Coast LGA (see comment in footnotes).
Download the data behind this chart (CSV) Data source: ABS Building Approvals
The geographic spread of building approvals is reflected in the charts below. The figure shows the cumulative number of building approvals by type since 2016 for the whole of the Hunter. For housing, the dominance of approvals in the outer-middle regions of the Hunter is evident, with house approvals concentrated in the Branxton, Thornton and Morisset areas. The urban areas in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie see a concentration of apartment approvals, with few new house approvals. Mid-density housing (semi-detached, row and terrace houses) is spread over a combination of urban areas and the outer SA2s.
Houses
Apartments
Semi-detached
Download the data behind this chart (CSV)
The Institute for Regional Futures explored the issues surrounding housing in the region at Hunter Insight Series: Building a Healthy Housing Market.
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.