Australia continues to lag behind Housing Accord target

Slower-than-needed building approvals raise concerns over meeting 2029 housing goal

Australia continues to lag behind Housing Accord target

Australia is falling significantly short of its National Housing Accord target, with new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealing that building approvals in 2024 totalled just 171,394.

The figure is 29% below the 240,000 approvals required annually to meet the government’s goal of constructing 1.2 million homes by 2029. To stay on track, Australia would now need to approve 276,994 new homes per year for the next four years.

“Supply constraints, rising material costs, and planning delays continue to hold back construction and development in Australia,” said Mansour Soltani (pictured above), property expert at Money.com.au. “Without meaningful reforms to fast-track approvals or ensure builders can afford to ramp up projects, the gap between housing demand and supply could widen even further.

“If we’re already behind on our Housing Accord target, it raises serious questions about whether we can catch up in time or whether the goal was too ambitious to begin with.”

Despite falling short of the Housing Accord’s benchmark, there has been a 10% national increase in building approvals since the target period began in July 2024 compared to the latter half of 2023. However, two states — Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and Tasmania — recorded declines.

ACT experienced the steepest drop, with approvals falling 75% to 808 in the second half of 2024. Tasmania saw an 8% decline, down to 1,235 approvals. Meanwhile, Western Australia led the national growth, posting a 50% increase with 3,735 additional dwellings approved.

Queensland followed with a 23% rise to 19,785 approvals, while South Australia recorded a 21% gain, reaching 7,021 dwellings. Victoria and New South Wales (NSW) saw modest growth of 4% and 3%, respectively, with Victoria reaching 28,988 approvals and NSW climbing to 22,751. Together, Victoria and NSW accounted for 56% of all approvals in 2024, making their performance critical to national housing supply.

“NSW and Victoria are the engine rooms of Australia’s housing market — if they stall, the whole country feels it,” said Peter Drennan, data and research expert at Money.com.au. “While some states are picking up the slack, we simply won’t bridge the housing gap without strong and consistent growth in these two powerhouses.”

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