Industry body says tax burdens and supply barriers must be addressed alongside housing model reforms
The Property Council of Australia has called for a significant increase in affordable housing delivery following an ABC Four Corners investigation that questioned how affordable housing schemes are defined, funded and administered across the country.
The industry body acknowledged that scrutiny of rent-setting models and housing definitions was warranted, but argued the program failed to adequately address the structural barriers — including taxation, regulatory costs and planning delays — that continue to constrain housing supply at scale.
Property Council chief executive Mike Zorbas said the investigation should sharpen, rather than divert, focus on delivery. "After decades of underinvestment, the debate now needs to focus on how we deliver more affordable homes at scale," he said.
The council pointed to several systemic pressures limiting supply. Social and affordable housing accounts for less than 4% of Australia's total housing stock, while the country remains below the OECD average in housing supply per person. Approximately 40 cents in every dollar spent on a new home is estimated to flow to governments through taxes, charges and regulatory costs — a burden the council argues reduces project feasibility across the housing continuum.
Four Corners documentary investigating Australia's affordable housing schemes
The Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) was identified as one of the few mechanisms capable of mobilising capital at the required scale, despite the council conceding the fund was not without flaws.
"The HAFF is not perfect, but it's a damn sight better than the underinvestment in social and affordable housing over the past four decades," Zorbas (pictured right) said.
"There will always be debate about how it can be improved, strengthened and expanded. That's healthy. But we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that government and industry are now trying to tackle a challenge that has been decades in the making."
On definitions, the council renewed its call for greater consistency across all tenure types. "The least cost fix is improving the national definitions of housing," Zorbas said. "That includes social housing, affordable housing, land lease communities and purpose-built student accommodation. All of these forms of housing play an important role in taking pressure off the broader market."
The organisation said construction costs, workforce shortages, financing constraints, infrastructure charges and lengthy approval processes remained significant barriers to delivery — challenges it noted were common to affordable housing projects and broader apartment development alike.
"We have a housing supply deficit across social, affordable and market housing," Zorbas said. "The question is not whether we need more affordable housing. The question is how we deliver it at the scale our growing cities require."
The council also said long-term institutional investment would be critical to closing the funding gap facing social and affordable housing. "Patient institutional capital is a realistic source of housing investment and the HAFF is a program that can help leverage that capital," Zorbas concluded.
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