Apartment Approvals Surge

Apartment approvals have hit a five-year high with new analysis showing the sector makes up a quarter of new home approvals.

Analysis from OurTop10.com.au South Australia is leading the apartment trend with annual growth in approvals of 171%, followed by New South Wales (62%), Queensland (48%), Western Australia (36%) and  Victoria (27%).

Smaller apartment buildings are the current favourite, with an 86% increase in approvals for three-storey apartment buildings in the past year.

Although apartment approvals are rising, the figures remain below levels from a decade ago. ABS commencements data showswork began on 18,996 apartments or townhouses in the September 2025 quarter.

New property value data shows that apartments offer a much more affordable option. Most of Australia’s capital city apartment markets had a median of about two-thirds that of the house median.

The difference between the median house and median unit value in Sydney is more than $695,000, in Melbourne it is $350,000, Brisbane is $325,000,  Adelaide is $305,000 and Perth is $304,000.

Apartment markets are offering much stronger yields than house markets according to Cotality data for the 12 months to February 2026.

Yields in capital city apartment markets sit in the 4% to 5% range, led by Darwin with a yield of 7.3%. While Perth is 4.9% and both Melbourne and Hobart are 4.8%.