Funding for roads, water, and utilities seen as key to meeting housing targets
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has called on the federal government to allocate $12 billion in the upcoming budget for critical infrastructure, arguing that the investment is essential to unlocking land supply and addressing the nation’s housing crisis.
According to Jocelyn Martin (pictured above), managing director at the Housing Industry Association, a lack of enabling infrastructure — such as roads, water, and sewerage — is the primary barrier to increasing housing supply.
“Right now, the single biggest obstacle to housing supply is the lack of shovel-ready land,” Martin said. “Without essential infrastructure in place, land cannot be developed, and homes cannot be built.”
HIA’s proposal calls for a five-year, $12 billion commitment to fund essential infrastructure, which Martin said is necessary to meet housing demand and keep the government’s housing targets on track.
“This budget is the government’s chance to invest $12 billion over the next five years to deliver the roads, water and utilities that will make new housing developments a reality,” she said. “Without this investment, Australia will fall further behind its housing targets, leaving families and renters to bear the brunt of rising prices and worsening affordability.”
Australia needs to build 240,000 homes annually to keep pace with demand, but last year, completions were 60,000 homes below that target.
“The burden of funding this infrastructure has been unfairly placed on developers, who then have no choice but to pass those costs on to buyers,” said Martin, who called for a government partnership in funding infrastructure to ease affordability pressures and ensure more Australians can enter the property market.
HIA urged the government to focus investment on regional areas to help deliver affordable housing where it is most needed.
“Prioritising regional housing must be part of the solution. Regional Australia is growing, but the infrastructure simply has not kept up,” Martin said. “Housing supply cannot keep up with demand without the infrastructure to support it. This $12 billion commitment is the critical step we need to fast-track land supply, reduce costs and deliver homes to Australians.”
Want to be regularly updated with mortgage news and features? Get exclusive interviews, breaking news, and industry events in your inbox – subscribe to our FREE daily newsletter. You can also follow us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn.
