Australia lags 15k homes behind national housing target
Australia is already 15,000 homes behind target just months into the federal government’s goal of 1.2 million new homes by 2029.
The new Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Building Activity data for the 2024 September quarter revealed that only 44,884 homes had been built across Australia since the National Housing Accord started in July 2024.
This represents a -25.2 per cent lag, as 60,000 new homes are needed per quarter to reach the expected target of 1.2 million homes by 2029.
The ABS data estimates building work values and details the number of dwellings started, completed, and ongoing across Australia’s states and territories.
The National Housing Accord, launched in 2022, has set housing targets nationwide to tackle Australia’s housing supply and affordability problems.
Each state received a specific target and a housing snapshot outlining existing and expected future developments for each local area, focusing on delivering diverse homes in areas with existing infrastructure capacity.
Property Council’s group executive for policy and advocacy, Matthew Kandelaars, said being behind target from the start has the “clock ticking” further to achieve the 1.2 million homes.
“Few expected we’d be meeting our welcome and ambitious housing target from day one, but it’s doing its job by providing transparency about who is lagging and by how much,” Kandelaars remarked.
“If we don’t start as we intend to finish, we’ll be kicking into a gale at the final break – making the job near impossible.”
“There’s no time to waste and we can’t afford to slip any further behind,” Kandelaars said.
Statewide, Victoria has been achieving most of its target, only lagging by -0.1 per cent and being short of 14 homes from its 15,316 new dwellings target.
Western Australia also remained below -10 per cent, achieving construction on 5,924 homes out of 6,454 since July 2024.
The Northern Territory is falling the furthest behind, delivering 78.6 per cent fewer homes than required to meet its quarterly target of 571.
NSW, which has the highest target nationally with 376,439 new homes by 2029, is trailing -40. 4 per cent behind its quarterly target, short of 7,602 new construction.
In NSW, the Hunter and Central Coast ranked as the top performers in housing delivery in the state by being on track to deliver 68 per cent of housing targets by 2029.
Nationwide the September quarter saw a 0.9 per cent decrease from the June quarter, which preceded the Housing Accord period.
Kandelaars said the federal government needs to help the states and territories do the “heavy lifting” required to meet the housing target.
“It’s evident from today’s data that some states are far better placed than others but all need a serious and immediate kick into action,” he said.
“The most urgent priorities are for states and territories to address affordability-killing taxes on new homes, cut red tape to boost productivity, and address critical shortages of skilled labour,” Kandelaars said.
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) calculations estimated that if the pace does not pick up, only 173,000 homes will be commenced during the first year of the National Housing Accord period – 67,000 short of the annual target.
HIA senior economist, Tom Devitt, said the September quarter results are “simply too slow out of the blocks”.
“Higher density housing development is running at its lowest levels in over a decade and has been particularly constrained under the weight of uncertainty in tax settings, skilled labour shortages and regulatory imposts,” Devitt said.
“At a minimum, it is necessary for the volume of multi-unit starts to double from current levels to contribute sufficiently to the 240,000 homes per year needed to achieve the government’s housing target.”
“This market segment is crucial to making inroads on housing affordability and improving home ownership rates for first home buyers,” Devitt said.