“Australia commenced construction on just 43,250 new homes in the first quarter of the 2024/25 financial year,” stated HIA Senior Economist Tom Devitt.

 

The ABS today released its building activity data for the September quarter 2024. This data provides estimates of the value of building work and number of dwellings commenced, completed and under construction across Australia and its states and territories.

 

“Based on the current trajectory, only 173,000 homes will be commenced during the first year of the National Housing Accord period, 67,000 short of that necessary to meet the annual targets,” added Mr Devitt.

 

“In the face of decades of a structural undersupply of housing, at the beginning of 2022, the Federal Government decided to play a more prominent role in the housing conundrum.

 

“The present Government has set about an active collaboration with all levels of government and industry to boost overall housing supply by committing to delivering 1.2 million new well-located homes over five years (July 2024 to June 2029).

 

“There were also just 44,880 new homes completed in the quarter, once again, well short of the desired 60,000 per quarter.

 

“The September quarter result is less than three quarters of the required build rate. This is 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.

 

“A significant pick-up in multi-unit starts is urgently required to meet the housing demand of recently elevated net overseas migration. This market segment is crucial to making inroads on housing affordability and improving home ownership rates for first home buyers.

 

“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.

 

“While this week Housing Australia have reported that the Home Guarantee Scheme has helped more than 200,000 eligible home buyers into homeowners since its inception, clearly more needs to be done to increase housing supply.

 

“HIA’s pre-budget submission, due to be released at the end of this month, will offer Government practical solutions to addressing this shortfall in activity. We can only make housing a priority if we have the right settings in place that will reduce the barriers to home ownership,” concluded Mr Devitt.