Are Australians still a detached-house nation?

Separate houses still dominate Australia's housing stock, accounting for 72.3% of occupied private dwellings in 2021. But the share has been steadily declining, down from 76.6% in 2006. At the same time, non-house dwellings accounted for 42.2% of all residential building approvals in 2025, up from 36.2% a year earlier.

The existing housing stock remains overwhelmingly detached, but new construction is shifting more rapidly toward townhouses and apartments, reshaping affordability, density and urban growth patterns.

SECTION 01 · DWELLING STOCK

Separate houses still make up most Australian dwellings

Separate houses remain the dominant dwelling type in Australia, although their share has been gradually declining. In the 2021 Census, the ABS recorded 9,275,217 occupied private dwellings nationally. Around three in four were separate houses, while flats and apartments accounted for roughly one in seven.

When unoccupied dwellings are included, the ABS recorded 10,852,208 private dwellings in total. Separate houses made up 70% of all private dwellings, compared with 13% for townhouses and 16% for apartments.

SECTION 02 · CENSUS TRENDS

How the dwelling mix has changed since 2006

Census data shows a gradual shift away from separate houses, but not a broad move to apartment living. Separate houses fell from 76.6% of occupied private dwellings in 2006 to 72.3% in 2021. Over the same period, semi-detached homes and townhouses rose from 9.2% to 13.9%, while flats and apartments remained broadly stable before falling to 11.9% in 2021.

That matters because the change is not mainly being driven by apartments. It points to a broader middle-density shift, with more townhouses and semi-detached dwellings becoming part of Australia's housing mix.

Australia's housing mix is changing, but the shift is clearer in percentages than in total dwelling numbers. Separate houses are taking up a smaller share of the national housing stock, yet the actual number of separate houses has continued to grow.

In dwelling numbers, separate houses still increased, rising from 5.47 million in 2006 to 6.71 million in 2021, a gain of about 22.6%. Flats and apartments grew by 41.4%, while semi-detached homes and townhouses recorded the strongest growth at 77.4%, although from a smaller starting point.

Census dwelling stock by type, 2006–2021

Occupied private dwellings, absolute numbers and shares.

Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2006–2021 QuickStats, national totals for occupied private dwellings.

SECTION 03 · APARTMENTS

Where apartments are most common in Australia

Apartments make up a larger share of housing in some parts of Australia, but they are still not the main dwelling type in any state or territory. Apartment living is concentrated in a small number of jurisdictions, particularly those with larger urban centres and higher-density housing.

In 2021, the highest apartment shares were in New South Wales at 21.7%, the Australian Capital Territory at 19.4% and the Northern Territory at 17.9%. No jurisdiction had a separate-house share below 63.2%. Tasmania had the highest share of separate houses at 87.7%, while apartments accounted for just 5.3% of dwellings.

Dwelling type by state and territory, 2021

Share of occupied private dwellings (%); apartment change since 2016 shown.

Rows may not sum to 100% due to small "other dwelling" category. Source: ABS 2021 Census QuickStats, occupied private dwellings by state and territory.

In major cities, the contrast is clearer. Greater Sydney had the highest apartment share in 2021, with apartments accounting for 30.7% of dwellings. Greater Darwin followed at 25.0%, ahead of Greater Melbourne at 15.6% and Greater Brisbane at 14.7%. Even in Greater Sydney, separate houses remained the largest dwelling category, accounting for 55.8% of dwellings.

The capital-city figures show where apartment living is more common at a broad regional level. The pattern becomes much stronger when the data is narrowed to inner-city statistical areas.

The sharpest concentration is in Sydney's City and Inner South, where apartments accounted for 69.4% of occupied private dwellings in 2021. In that area, apartments are the main form of housing, not a niche.

SECTION 04 · NEW SUPPLY

What new housing approvals show about Australia's dwelling mix

New housing approvals suggest Australia's future housing supply is becoming less detached-house heavy, even though the existing stock is still mostly separate houses. In 2025, non-house dwellings made up 42.2% of all approvals, up from 36.2% in 2024.

Building approvals and construction data show the direction of change, not the homes Australians currently live in. They are best read as a pipeline signal rather than a measure of existing housing stock.

The long-run approvals data shows the non-house share has been volatile. It peaked at just over 50% in 2015 and 2016, then fell during the pandemic-era rise in detached-house approvals. Since then, the non-house share has been recovering. From 2024 to 2025, total approvals rose by about 12.4%, while non-house approvals rose by about 31.0%.

Source: ABS Building Activity, Australia, December Quarter 2025; ABS Building Approvals, Australia, February 2026.

Annual approvals, commencements and completions, 2011–2025

Original Australian series.

Non-house includes semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses, flats, units or apartments, and other attached dwellings. Source: ABS Building Approvals.

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