Building approvals, live development applications and major projects across the
Murray and Mallee statistical area — covering Murray Bridge, Loxton Waikerie and Berri Barmera and 5 more.
SA3 40703Rest of SA75,482 residents12 statistical areas
The PipelineDevelopment Pipeline in Murray and Mallee
1 Proposed303applications in assessmentLeading · to July 2026See applications ↓
2 Approved578dwellings approved in 2024-25, or 0.75 per 100 existing dwellings a yearOfficial · ABS to June 2026See approvals ↓
3 Building17major projects committed or under construction, 8 of them already on siteForward · completions to 2028+See projects ↓
4 Delivered1,503new addresses verified since the 2021 Census, up 4.0% on the existing baseActual · to June 2026Where it landed ↓
In the 2024-25 financial year the ABS recorded 578 dwelling approvals across Murray and Mallee. Right now, 303 development applications are before the 8 councils covering the area. AreaSearch tracks 17 major projects here that are committed or under construction, the largest being Gifford Hill at an estimated $7.50bn. On the ground, 1,503 new addresses have been verified since the 2021 Census — growth of 4.0% on the existing address base.
These four figures are deliberately not added together. An application, an
approval and a project under construction are often the same building at three points in its life,
measured by three different bodies with three different lags. Read them as a sequence, not a total.
ApprovedBuilding Approvals in Murray and Mallee
What councils and certifiers have formally
permitted — the ABS series, published about four months in arrears.
Approvals are running at 0.75 per 100 existing dwellings a year, in line with the South Australia rate of 0.78. Development here remains overwhelmingly detached: houses account for 93% of recent approvals. The mix being approved closely matches what is already standing — 94% houses against 90% of existing homes. The average approved dwelling is valued at $348,000 in construction cost.
For its size, Murray and Mallee is adding 0.75 dwellings a year per 100 existing homes — in line with the South Australia rate of 0.78 and the national rate of 0.71. That is about 6.1 approvals a year for every 1,000 residents. Building intensity has risen by about 66% across the published series.
Measured against people rather than housing stock, Murray and Mallee is approving 7.26 dwellings a year per 1,000 residents — in line with the South Australia rate of 7.57. The two rate views differ by household size, which here averages 2.5 people per home. Housing the projection to 2041 would need about 2.27 per 1,000 residents a year.
Dwelling approvals a year per 100 existing
homes, with South Australia and Australia for comparison. This is the
same activity as the totals view, divided by the size of the area — which is the only
fair way to compare a large SA3 with a small one.
Dwelling approvals a year per 1,000
residents, each year divided by that year’s estimated resident
population (ABS ERP at 30 June), not by today’s — which matters most in fast-growing
areas, where a fixed denominator can understate the early years by half. The most recent periods use the latest published ERP, as the population series runs a year behind approvals. Read it alongside the per-100-homes view: the two differ wherever household size does.
Dwelling units approved each financial year. The dashed line is the five-year average of 457.
How intensively is it building?
Dwelling approvals a year per 100 existing dwellings.
Murray and Mallee0.75
South Australia0.78
Australia0.71
What is here, and what is coming
Detached houses as a share of existing homes,
against the share of recent approvals.
Existing homes (2021 Census)90%
Approved, last 5 years94%
Approved, latest year93%
Detached housesApartments, townhouses & other
Approvals mix by year
Share of each year’s approvals.
2022
2023
2024
2025
2024-25
$215m
Residential work approved
2024-25
$605m
Commercial work approved
construction cost
$348,000
Average value per approved dwelling
last two years
133
Residents per approval
Supply & DemandIs Murray and Mallee Building Enough Homes?
The same approvals, measured against the population
they have to house.
Murray and Mallee approves about 6.1 new dwellings a year for every 1,000 residents. Since the 2021 Census it has added 4,223 residents and 1,503 new addresses, roughly one new home per 2.8 extra residents — broadly in step with an average household of 2.5. Housing the population projected for 2041 implies roughly 171 new dwellings a year from here, which puts the recent approval rate of 457 a year comfortably ahead of what the projection needs.
Growth against supply since the Census
People added for every new address verified,
against the size of an average local household.
People added per new home2.8
Average household size2.5
A bar longer than the household average means
the area gained more residents than its new housing could hold, and the extra had to be
absorbed by existing homes.
Approval rate against projected need
Dwellings a year: what is currently being
approved, against what the 2041 population projection implies.
Approved (5-yr average)457
Implied need to 2041171
Implied need assumes the average household stays
at today’s 2.5 people. Approvals are not
completions, and not every approval is built.
What is being asked for right now — applications
collected from council planning portals, before any of it reaches the ABS series above.
AreaSearch tracks applications of material scale; routine minor works such as signage and
fencing changes are not carried, so these are not counts of every application lodged. 70
of them carry an AreaSearch analyst assessment — look for the
Analysed marker in the search below.
AreaSearch tracks 1,436 development applications of material scale lodged with councils across Murray and Mallee, the most recent in July 2026. 303 of them are still in assessment. The most common types in the queue are industrial, multi-residential and commercial. Live applications account for about 175 proposed dwellings.
Number of applications by development type. This is the clearest
single picture of what kind of place Murray and Mallee is being asked to become. Councils in
South Australia do not publish an estimated cost of works in
their planning feeds, so applications here are counted rather than valued. A further 19 applications sit across
3 smaller categories,
too few to plot.
Where the applications stand
As reported by the council. Highlighted rows are
applications still in assessment.
Decision Made999
Under Assessment426
123 applications are still marked under
assessment but were lodged more than
18 months ago. Councils often leave determined or
abandoned applications open in their feeds, so
they are counted here but excluded
from the live queue above.
A further 11 applications carry no status in the council feed.
By local government area
Applications on record within each council area that
overlaps Murray and Mallee. This counts applications inside this
statistical area only — it is not a total for the council.
Murray Bridge384
Loxton Waikerie244
Mid Murray225
Berri Barmera173
Renmark Paringa170
Recent applications in Murray and Mallee
By the number of dwellings proposed, as lodged. Figures are the applicant’s own and are not verified by AreaSearch.
Residential park with 154 group dwellings, community clubhouse, and associated facilities.Mannum · Under Assessment · lodged Jul 2026
154 dwellings
Single storey semi-detached building comprising two dwellings with fencing and retaining wallsMannum · Under Assessment · lodged Jun 2026
2 dwellings
Two single-storey dwellings and associated fencing/retaining wallsBerri · Under Assessment · lodged Apr 2026
2 dwellings
Construction of a detached dwelling and outbuildingRenmark · Under Assessment · lodged Jun 2026
1 dwellings
Single-level group dwelling at Site 122Renmark · Under Assessment · lodged Jun 2026
1 dwellings
Construction of a single-storey group dwelling with a garageMannum · Under Assessment · lodged Jun 2026
1 dwellings
Single storey detached dwellingRenmark Surrounds · Under Assessment · lodged Jun 2026
1 dwellings
Construction of a single-storey detached dwelling with a UMR garageLoxton · Under Assessment · lodged Jun 2026
1 dwellings
BuildingFORWARDMajor Projects & Infrastructure in Murray and Mallee
What is funded and moving — the projects large enough
to change how Murray and Mallee works, ranked by committed value and how close
they are to delivery.
AreaSearch tracks 17 current projects across Murray and Mallee. The largest is Gifford Hill at an estimated $7.50bn. That breaks down as 8 under construction, 2 approved and awaiting a start and 7 still in planning. The pipeline is weighted toward communities, communities, precincts & urban renewal and transport & logistics.
Under construction$7.50bn
Gifford Hill
Gifford Hill is South Australia's largest masterplanned community, planned across 1,860 hectares at Murray Bridge. The precinct is intended to become a second city for South Australia, with about 17,100…
Gifford Hill is a 1,860-hectare masterplanned community on rural land south of Murray Bridge, positioned as South Australia's second city. The $7.5 billion precinct will deliver 17,100 dwellings ranging from…
A long term riverfront transformation of Sturt Reserve in Murray Bridge into a premier regional destination on Ngarrindjeri Country. The master plan, prepared by ASPECT Studios with TERROIR and Mulloway…
Pocket Galleries in LoxtonIn planning · Arts & Culture · by 2026 · Loxton
Big Orange RedevelopmentUnder construction · Tourism · by 2025 · Barmera
$2m
Summerfield BatteryUnder construction · Energy · Murray Bridge
William Street Staircase RepairUnder construction · Communities · by 2025 · Loxton
2 further projects in
Murray and Mallee are not listed here.
Combined values on this page exclude
1 record that appear to be
separate stages of a project already counted. Both are still listed
above with their own values.
Denotes AI-based impression for illustrative purposes only, not to be taken as
definitive under any circumstances. Please follow links and conduct other
investigations from the project’s source for actual imagery. Developers and
project owners wishing us to use original imagery please Contact
Us and we will do so.
Beyond 2030:
a further $225m across
2 projects with completion dates further out — mostly precinct-scale programs whose dates are
indicative. Kept out of the chart so the years you can act on stay readable.
Estimated value of tracked projects by the year they are due to
complete, stacked by how certain they are. The dark band is money already being spent;
the pale band is still an intention. Estimates are indicative and mix infrastructure
cost with whole-of-precinct development value, so read the shape rather than the totals.
Approvals PipelineDevelopment Applications in Murray and Mallee
Development applications around
Murray and Mallee
Development approvals is a new addition to AreaSearch.
We’re actively expanding council coverage and refining the dataset — details and statuses for some councils may be partial. Check back regularly for the latest pipeline.
Applications
—
In the local catchment
Est. Value
—
Where disclosed
Under Assessment
—
Awaiting determination
Determined
—
Approved or decided
Approvals pipelineStatus, location, timing and project scale
Loading development applications…
Lodged
Address
Description
Type
Distance
Status
SOURCE: Planning portals and council registers, compiled by AreaSearch. Distance & bearing measured from the suburb midpoint.
ProfessionalPRODevelopment Map for Murray and Mallee
Applications and major projects plotted where
they are actually proposed, with the
35 projects AreaSearch tracks here on their own tab — filterable by type, delivery stage,
area and committed value. To search every application on record rather
than this sample, use the section above.
DistributionWhere Development Is Happening in Murray and Mallee
Murray and Mallee covers 12 statistical areas. Follow any of them through for a full profile of population, housing, sales and amenity at local scale.
Map builder
Each area below opens a map builder on its own page — a tool for
putting a map and a table into a report. Pick the place types you want plotted
(schools, supermarkets, medical, child care, transport and the rest of what
AreaSearch holds), add development applications as their own layer, drop your own
points, then recolour, renumber and export the result as a table or CSV.
A this area only toggle clips everything to the boundary you are looking at.
Searches are charged against your credit balance — 1 credit per 40
results from AreaSearch data — and setting filters costs nothing until
you search. The builder works on one suburb-sized area at a time, which is why it
opens per area rather than across the whole of
Murray and Mallee.
Planning AuthoritiesCouncils Covering Murray and Mallee
Murray and Mallee spans 8 local government areas — Murray Bridge, Loxton Waikerie, Berri Barmera, Renmark Paringa, Mid Murray, Coorong, Southern Mallee and Karoonda East Murray. Applications here are assessed by whichever of those councils the site falls within. AreaSearch publishes development
figures at ABS statistical boundaries rather than council boundaries. That is deliberate: the ABS
issues a separate official building-approvals series for local government areas, and totals
built up from statistical areas would not match it. Reporting at SA3 keeps every figure on this page
reconcilable with the published ABS series.
Local government area
Share of Murray and Mallee
Applications on record
Register read to
Murray Bridge
30% of residents
384
July 2026
Loxton Waikerie
16% of residents
244
July 2026
Berri Barmera
15% of residents
173
July 2026
Renmark Paringa
14% of residents
170
July 2026
Mid Murray
13% of residents
225
July 2026
Coorong
7.7% of residents
159
July 2026
Southern Mallee
2.8% of residents
60
March 2026
Karoonda East Murray
1.4% of residents
20
July 2026
CompareNearby Development Hubs
The same view of building approvals, applications and
major projects for areas neighbouring Murray and Mallee.
Data & MethodSources & Method for Murray and Mallee
The four tenses, and what each one can tell you
Proposed — development applications
Collected from council planning portals. The
earliest signal available, but the least certain: many applications are amended,
withdrawn or refused, values are the applicant’s own estimate, and coverage
varies by council. This is a curated set, not the full council feed:
AreaSearch carries applications of material scale and does not track routine minor
works such as signage, fencing or small alterations, so the counts here are lower
than a council’s own total lodgement figure and should not be compared with it. Applications still shown as under assessment more than
18 months after lodgement are reported separately
and kept out of the live-queue figures: the age profile of open applications is
sharply split between a genuine queue under a year old and a long tail of records
councils never closed. Not every state publishes a cost of works — Queensland,
the Northern Territory and the ACT publish none at all — so on those pages
applications are counted rather than valued and no dollar figure is shown
rather than a partial one. Treated here as a snapshot of the current queue only —
AreaSearch does not chart application counts over time, because the history
reflects when each portal was collected rather than when development happened.
Approved — ABS building approvals
The official series, aggregated to SA3 from
ABS building approvals data, currently published to June 2026.
Counts dwelling units approved, not buildings and not completions. The most recent
financial year is annualised from nine months of data wherever it appears and is
labelled as such.
Building — major projects
Projects tracked individually by AreaSearch
from Infrastructure Australia, state infrastructure agencies, developer disclosures
and council records. Values are estimates and delivery dates are targets. Ranked on
this page by committed value and delivery stage rather than by distance.
Delivered — verified new addresses
New residential addresses verified in the national
address register since the 2021 Census. This is the closest available measure of what has
actually been built, though address creation can lead occupation and lags
construction. It is not a completions count.
Boundaries
Murray and Mallee is Statistical Area Level 3 40703 in the ABS Australian Statistical Geography Standard (2021 edition), made up of 12 Statistical Areas Level 2.
It has an estimated 75,482 residents, +5.9% since the 2021 Census.
Currency
Measure
Source
To
Dwelling approvals, five-year average
ABS / AreaSearch
June 2026
House share of approvals
ABS / AreaSearch
June 2026
Residents per approval
ABS / AreaSearch
June 2026
Value per approved dwelling
ABS / AreaSearch
June 2026
Commercial work approved
ABS / AreaSearch
June 2026
Verified new addresses since the Census
Address register / AreaSearch
May 2026
Development applications
Council planning portals
July 2026
Major projects
Infrastructure Australia / state agencies / AreaSearch
Ongoing
Figures on this page are read live from the
AreaSearch database each time it loads, so they update as soon as a source does.
Development in Murray and Mallee — common questions
How many new dwellings were approved in Murray and Mallee?
The ABS recorded 578 dwelling approvals across Murray and Mallee in the 2024-25 financial year, against a five-year average of 457 a year.
How many development applications are lodged in Murray and Mallee?
AreaSearch tracks 1,436 development applications of material scale across Murray and Mallee — routine minor works such as signage and fencing are not included, so this is not a count of every application lodged, of which 303 remain in assessment. Applications are assessed within the Murray Bridge, Loxton Waikerie and Berri Barmera local government areas. The most recent application in our data was lodged in July 2026.
What major projects are planned for Murray and Mallee?
AreaSearch tracks 17 current major projects in Murray and Mallee, 8 of them under construction. The largest include Gifford Hill, Gifford Hill and Sturt Reserve Master Plan.
Which council covers Murray and Mallee?
Murray and Mallee is an ABS Statistical Area Level 3. It is covered by parts of 8 local government areas — Murray Bridge, Loxton Waikerie, Berri Barmera, Renmark Paringa, Mid Murray, Coorong, Southern Mallee and Karoonda East Murray. AreaSearch publishes development figures at ABS statistical boundaries rather than council boundaries, so they reconcile with the official ABS series.
Is Murray and Mallee growing faster than the rest of South Australia?
On development approvals, Murray and Mallee is adding new dwellings at about the same rate as South Australia as a whole — 0.75 approvals per 100 existing dwellings a year against the state figure of 0.78.
How current is this development data?
ABS building approvals are published with a lag of roughly four months; this page carries the series to June 2026. Development applications are collected from council planning portals and refresh continuously, with the most recent application here lodged in July 2026. Major project records are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Each section carries its own currency label so the four are never confused.
Development data is provided for general information.
Estimated values, dwelling counts and delivery dates come from the lodging or delivering party and
are not independently verified by AreaSearch. Confirm anything material with the relevant council
or agency before relying on it.
Denotes AI-based impression for illustrative purposes only, not to be taken as
definitive under any circumstances. Please follow links and conduct other
investigations from the project’s source for actual imagery. Developers and
project owners wishing us to use original imagery please Contact
Us and we will do so.