Australia Set to Miss Housing Target by 166,000 Homes: Report

Productivity in the industry has fallen 18 percent over the last decade owing to workforce shortages, according to a report by Master Builders Australia.

A roofer works on a new home in Albany, Western Australia, on July 5, 2024. Susan Mortimer/The Epoch Times

Data released by Master Builders Australia on Sept. 9 revealed that the federal government is expected to miss the National Housing Accord target of building 1.2 million new homes by July 2029.

The report indicates that, at the current rate, only 1.03 million homes will be built within that timeframe, resulting in a shortfall of 166,000 homes.

Denita Wawn, CEO of Master Builders Australia, said the number of new homes had fallen to its lowest in a decade since the Accord began in July.

“The downgrade in our April forecasts is due to a prolonged battle to curb inflation, persistently high interest rates, and continued constraints on the supply side of the residential building market,” she said.

The report highlighted that productivity in the industry has fallen 18 percent over the last decade owing to workforce shortages.

“At the federal level, the government’s priority should be growing the building and construction workforce. This must include a mix of domestic and skilled migrant workers.”

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil, who addressed a forum on Sept. 9, also said the building industry had flagged access to construction workers as its biggest constraint. She said 90,000 more workers were needed “to get the houses built that we need.”

“On the migration front, [we were] having some success with 10,000 skilled construction workers granted visas last year—the highest number in nearly a decade,” O’Neil told the Summit in Sydney.

Wawn said the new forecast expects the market to gradually recover over the next few years as macroeconomic conditions improve, but emphasised that more work is needed to address the housing shortfall.

“Federal, state, and territory governments have acknowledged the challenges around planning, workforce, and productivity, but we aren’t seeing enough progress on the ground,” she said.

The report, however, is positive for the non-residential building sector, predicting a 7.3 percent increase over the five years to June 2029. The civil construction sector is forecast to expand by 8.5 percent, largely driven by transport and utilities construction activity.

Government Housing Assistance

Meanwhile, new government data reveals that a third of all first-time home buyers relied on federal assistance to secure a home deposit last financial year, using a scheme that allows the government to act as a guarantor. This data was released as the federal government returns to parliament, renewing its focus on housing.

The government has reintroduced its Help to Buy legislation in the Senate despite the bill’s lack of sufficient support to pass, setting up a potential clash with the Coalition and Greens.

O’Neil has challenged the opposition parties and crossbench, urging them to back the legislation or face accusations of being “all talk.”

“For every politician who says they care about housing, I need them to come into the Australian Parliament and support the Labor government’s initiative to address the housing crisis,” she said.