Previously announced funding does little to address current problem
Australia’s property development sector has criticised the federal government’s latest budget for failing to deliver the infrastructure investment needed to meet national housing targets.
Urban Taskforce Australia CEO Tom Forrest said the budget did not provide the necessary support to address the country’s housing shortfall, pointing to a widening gap between the number of homes required under the National Housing Accord and those actually being built.
The accord aims to deliver 240,000 new homes each year across the country. However, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows that just 161,557 dwellings were commenced in the 12 months leading to the end of the September 2024 quarter.
Forrest said the sector had expected a significant funding boost for housing-related infrastructure, such as major roads, transport links, water systems, and public open spaces, which are needed to support new residential developments. Instead, he noted the budget included previously announced transport investments and relatively modest new allocations.
“There was no new money for the Housing Australia Future Fund, just a re-stating of the existing commitments,” Forrest said.
Among the key concerns was the absence of fresh funding for the Housing Australia Future Fund and the failure to bring forward the $3 billion Housing Accord New Home Bonus, which would allow states to immediately ramp up their own infrastructure spending. Forrest also criticised the lack of financial incentives for states to reduce fees, taxes, and charges that contribute to the rising cost of new homes.
The $800 million expansion of the Help to Buy shared equity scheme and a $54 million investment in promoting prefabricated housing were acknowledged but viewed as insufficient to resolve the scale of the housing challenge.
Forrest also argued that federal ministers were conflating social housing investment with broader housing affordability solutions, and not doing enough to support the private sector, which he said delivers 96% of the nation’s housing.
“All eyes are now on the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, to see if he has a contribution to make to support the private sector housing supply needed to drive down rising new home prices and rents. The big hope from our sector is that the prime minister has saved some decent licks of funding for some big announcements during the election campaign, but there was very little of our sector tonight,” Forrest said.
