Building approvals, live development applications and major projects across the
Upper Hunter statistical area — covering Muswellbrook and Upper Hunter Shire.
SA3 10604Rest of NSW31,309 residents4 statistical areas
1 Proposed59applications in assessmentLeading · to June 2026See applications ↓
2 Approved112dwellings approved in 2024-25, or 0.33 per 100 existing dwellings a yearOfficial · ABS to June 2026See approvals ↓
3 Building25major projects committed or under construction, 7 of them already on siteForward · completions to 2030+See projects ↓
4 Delivered568new 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 112 dwelling approvals across Upper Hunter. Right now, 59 development applications are before the 2 councils covering the area. AreaSearch tracks 25 major projects here that are committed or under construction, the largest being Merriwa Energy Hub at an estimated $1.60bn. On the ground, 568 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 Upper Hunter
What councils and certifiers have formally
permitted — the ABS series, published about four months in arrears.
Approvals are running at 0.33 per 100 existing dwellings a year, below the New South Wales rate of 0.59. Development here remains overwhelmingly detached: houses account for 89% of recent approvals. The mix being approved closely matches what is already standing — 90% houses against 90% of existing homes. The average approved dwelling is valued at $454,000 in construction cost.
For its size, Upper Hunter is adding 0.33 dwellings a year per 100 existing homes — below the New South Wales rate of 0.59 and the national rate of 0.71. That is about 3.1 approvals a year for every 1,000 residents. Building intensity has risen by about 121% across the published series.
Measured against people rather than housing stock, Upper Hunter is approving 3.07 dwellings a year per 1,000 residents — below the New South Wales rate of 5.61. The two rate views differ by household size, which here averages 2.7 people per home. Housing the projection to 2041 would need about 1.41 per 1,000 residents a year.
Dwelling approvals a year per 100 existing
homes, with New South Wales 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 96.
How intensively is it building?
Dwelling approvals a year per 100 existing dwellings.
Upper Hunter0.33
New South Wales0.59
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 years90%
Approved, latest year89%
Detached housesApartments, townhouses & other
Approvals mix by year
Share of each year’s approvals.
2022
2023
2024
2025
2024-25
$57.5m
Residential work approved
2024-25
$56.5m
Commercial work approved
construction cost
$454,000
Average value per approved dwelling
last two years
302
Residents per approval
Supply & DemandIs Upper Hunter Building Enough Homes?
The same approvals, measured against the population
they have to house.
Upper Hunter approves about 3.1 new dwellings a year for every 1,000 residents. Since the 2021 Census it has added 725 residents and 568 new addresses — about 1.3 extra people per home built, below the 2.7-person average household, so building has run ahead of population growth. Housing the population projected for 2041 implies roughly 44 new dwellings a year from here, which puts the recent approval rate of 96 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 home1.3
Average household size2.7
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)96
Implied need to 204144
Implied need assumes the average household stays
at today’s 2.7 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. 16
of them carry an AreaSearch analyst assessment — look for the
Analysed marker in the search below.
AreaSearch tracks 373 development applications of material scale lodged with councils across Upper Hunter, the most recent in June 2026. 59 of them are still in assessment. The biggest categories in the queue by value are commercial, mixed-use and retail. Live applications account for about 35 proposed dwellings.
Estimated value of applications by development type. This is the clearest
single picture of what kind of place Upper Hunter is being asked to become. A further 1 application sit across
1 smaller category,
too few to plot.
Where the applications stand
As reported by the council. Highlighted rows are
applications still in assessment.
Determined215
Under Assessment51
Approved40
Additional Information Requested26
Withdrawn18
Rejected5
27 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 1 application carry no status in the council feed.
By local government area
Applications on record within each council area that
overlaps Upper Hunter. This counts applications inside this
statistical area only — it is not a total for the council.
Upper Hunter Shire191
Muswellbrook182
Recent applications in Upper Hunter
By estimated cost of works, as lodged. Estimates are the applicant’s own figures and are not verified by AreaSearch.
Aged Care / Retirement developmentMuswellbrook Surrounds · Additional Information Requested · lodged Oct 2025 · 30 dwellings
$26.0m
Commercial / Office and Mixed-Use Precincts and Industrial / Warehousing developmentMuswellbrook · Additional Information Requested · lodged Apr 2025
$16.1m
Mixed-Use Precincts developmentMuswellbrook Surrounds · Under Assessment · lodged Oct 2025
$5.5m
Construction of five detached single-story dwellings and strata subdivisionMuswellbrook Surrounds · Under Assessment · lodged Mar 2026 · 5 dwellings
$1.7m
Industrial / Warehousing developmentMuswellbrook · Under Assessment · lodged Oct 2025
$998k
Demolition, alterations, and additions to an existing building for a function centre and outdoor recreation facilityMuswellbrook · Under Assessment · lodged Mar 2026
$500k
BuildingFORWARDMajor Projects & Infrastructure in Upper Hunter
What is funded and moving — the projects large enough
to change how Upper Hunter works, ranked by committed value and how close
they are to delivery.
AreaSearch tracks 25 current projects across Upper Hunter. The largest is Merriwa Energy Hub at an estimated $1.60bn, due by 2028. That breaks down as 7 under construction, 4 approved and awaiting a start and 14 still in planning. The pipeline is weighted toward energy, residential development and retail.
Under construction$260mby 2026
Hunter Energy Hub
Redevelopment of the former Liddell Power Station into the Hunter Energy Hub. Construction of the 500MW/1000MWh Liddell Battery is finished, with the first 250MW phase currently undergoing commissioning. Full…
A master-planned residential community spanning 230 hectares at the eastern gateway of Muswellbrook. The development comprises approximately 1,100 to 1,500 lots across 32 stages, featuring open space, walking…
135MW solar farm and 135MW/270MWh battery energy storage facility (BESS) on the former Muswellbrook Coal Mine site. Approved by the NSW IPC in May 2025 and the Federal Government in August 2025. It will…
Maxwell Underground ProjectUnder construction · Energy · by 2048 · Muswellbrook
$509m
Merriwa Energy HubIn planning · Energy · by 2028 · Scone Surrounds
$1.60bn
Muswellbrook Hospital Redevelopment - Stage 3Under construction · Health & Medical · by 2027 · Muswellbrook
$45m
Muswellbrook Marketplace RedevelopmentUnder construction · Retail · by 2028 · Muswellbrook
$45m
Muswellbrook Pumped Hydro Energy Storage (Bells Mountain)In planning · Energy · by 2029 · Muswellbrook
$675m
Muswellbrook Clean Industries Precinct (MCIP)In planning · Business Parks & Technology Hubs · by 2030 · Muswellbrook
$700m
New England Highway - Muswellbrook BypassIn planning · Transport & Logistics · by 2030 · Muswellbrook
$452m
Muswellbrook Thermal Storage FacilityIn planning · Energy · by 2029 · Muswellbrook
$50m
Northview EstateUnder construction · Residential Development · by 2026 · Muswellbrook
$6m
Goulburn River Solar Farm And BatteryUnder construction · Energy · Scone Surrounds
Denman to Sandy Hollow Pipeline and Denman Water Treatment Plant upgradeApproved · Environmental & Disaster Management · Muswellbrook Surrounds
Aberdeen Valley Fair Commercial DevelopmentApproved · Retail · Scone Surrounds
10 further projects in
Upper Hunter are not listed here.
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 $509m across
1 project 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 Upper Hunter
Development applications around
Upper Hunter
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 Upper Hunter
Applications and major projects plotted where
they are actually proposed, with the
31 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 Upper Hunter
Upper Hunter covers 4 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
Upper Hunter.
Upper Hunter spans 2 local government areas — Muswellbrook and Upper Hunter Shire. 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 Upper Hunter
Applications on record
Register read to
Muswellbrook
54% of residents
182
June 2026
Upper Hunter Shire
46% of residents
191
June 2026
CompareNearby Development Hubs
The same view of building approvals, applications and
major projects for areas neighbouring Upper Hunter.
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
Upper Hunter is Statistical Area Level 3 10604 in the ABS Australian Statistical Geography Standard (2021 edition), made up of 4 Statistical Areas Level 2.
It has an estimated 31,309 residents, +2.4% 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
June 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 Upper Hunter — common questions
How many new dwellings were approved in Upper Hunter?
The ABS recorded 112 dwelling approvals across Upper Hunter in the 2024-25 financial year, against a five-year average of 96 a year.
How many development applications are lodged in Upper Hunter?
AreaSearch tracks 373 development applications of material scale across Upper Hunter — routine minor works such as signage and fencing are not included, so this is not a count of every application lodged, of which 59 remain in assessment. Applications are assessed within the Muswellbrook and Upper Hunter Shire local government areas. The most recent application in our data was lodged in June 2026.
What major projects are planned for Upper Hunter?
AreaSearch tracks 25 current major projects in Upper Hunter, 7 of them under construction. The largest include Hunter Energy Hub, Eastbrook Links Estate and Muswellbrook Solar Farm.
Which council covers Upper Hunter?
Upper Hunter is an ABS Statistical Area Level 3. It is covered by parts of 2 local government areas — Muswellbrook and Upper Hunter Shire. AreaSearch publishes development figures at ABS statistical boundaries rather than council boundaries, so they reconcile with the official ABS series.
Is Upper Hunter growing faster than the rest of New South Wales?
On development approvals, Upper Hunter is adding new dwellings more slowly than New South Wales as a whole — 0.33 approvals per 100 existing dwellings a year against the state figure of 0.59.
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 June 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.