Queensland has become the only state or territory to reach an all-time high for new residential construction spending, with a surge in apartment building driving annual investment to a record $20.3 billion.
Queensland’s residential construction sector has broken a 52-year record, with the value of new home building reaching $20.3 billion over the past year as apartment construction accelerates across the state.
New research from HomeLoanRates.com.au, conducted by Primara Research using ABS construction data, shows new residential construction spending in Queensland climbed 19.3 per cent over the year.
The result was 4.1 per cent above the previous record, set in the year to December 2016, representing an additional $801 million in new building spending.
It makes Queensland the only Australian state or territory currently sitting at an all-time high for new home construction spending.
The result stands in contrast to the national market, where new residential construction spending remains 2.6 per cent below its June 2018 peak despite growing 8.4 per cent over the past year.
Six of Australia’s eight states and territories remain below their historic highs, with four sitting more than 30 per cent below peak levels.
The Northern Territory is 72.5 per cent below its 1976 peak, while Tasmania remains 39.4 per cent below the record it reached in 2021.
“New South Wales and Victoria still put more dollars into new housing than Queensland does,” said Peter Drennan, Head of Research and Data at Primara Research.
“Queensland is growing faster than either of them, while both sit below their own peaks.”
The shift towards higher-density housing has been a major factor behind Queensland’s record result.
Apartments accounted for 62 per cent of the state’s entire increase in new home building over the year and now represent 42.9 per cent of Queensland’s new residential construction.
That is the highest share since 2017, although it remains below the state’s historic record.
House building also increased, rising 10 per cent over the year to $2.94 billion, but remains well short of previous highs.
The latest result ranks as only the 27th-highest quarter for house construction across 208 quarters of Queensland records and remains 22.8 per cent below the state’s peak, recorded in September 2008.
Queensland’s overall residential construction spending reached $5.293 billion in the June quarter, narrowly eclipsing the previous quarterly high of $5.278 billion set in September 2025 by 0.3 per cent.
The state also generated almost half of the country’s quarterly growth in new residential construction spending.
Queensland contributed $897 million of Australia’s $1.88 billion quarterly increase, accounting for 47.7 per cent of the national uplift.
“New home construction spending nationally is still short of where it stood in 2018,” Mr Drennan said.
“Queensland looks like the exception because of timing: Brisbane’s Olympic infrastructure build and continued interstate migration into the south-east are both landing in the same window as this apartment surge.”