Australia is building 15,000 fewer homes than needed each quarter, says council exec
Despite a rise in housing completions as indicated by newly released data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the Property Council of Australia emphasised the need to build more homes to address the country’s housing crisis.
“Although it is encouraging to see an increase in the number of completed homes, today’s figures show how far we have to go if we hope to reach our 1.2 million new homes target,” said Matthew Kandelaars (pictured above), Property Council group executive for policy and advocacy.
In the June quarter of 2024, ABS reported 44,853 homes were completed across Australia, up from 41,072 in the same quarter last year, marking a 7.3% increase from the March quarter. However, Kandelaars warned this was still insufficient to meet the country’s housing needs.
“New housing commencements are down, which is a particularly worrying sign and shows how fragile our housing pipeline is,” he said, adding that the country is building 15,000 fewer homes than needed each quarter to stay on track.
Kandelaars called for more coordinated action from all levels of government to boost housing supply. He advocated for speeding up approvals, improving infrastructure, and reforming state taxes that hinder apartment development.
“Let’s stop putting up roadblocks to more homes and get on with helping the industry build them,” he said.
To meet the 1.2 million homes target by 2029, Australia needs to average 60,000 new homes per quarter over the next five years. The June quarter data reflects the final period before the implementation of the Housing Accord, which began on July 1.
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