The National Housing Accord is delivering early results, with a new report showing solid growth in housing supply and improving construction conditions across Australia throughout the first 5 quarters of the Accord period.
The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council’s first Quarterly Outlook shows building approvals and commencements have both increased by 17 per cent since the Accord began, while more than 219,000 homes have been completed over the past five quarters.
The data also shows construction times have improved, with new homes being built 10 per cent faster, and real construction costs stabilising – now 0.9 per cent lower in real terms since the Accord commenced.
These results reflect coordinated action across all levels of government to boost housing supply and remove barriers to delivery, including:
- Working with states, territories and industry to remove barriers to building through the National Planning Reform Blueprint.
- Reforms to federal environmental approvals.
- Pausing and streamlining the National Construction Code.
- Training more tradies through our investments in Free TAFE and $10,000 apprenticeship incentives.
- Delivering 55,000 social and affordable homes for those doing it toughest through initiatives like the Housing Australia Future Fund.
- Unlocking more long‑lease rentals through our Build to Rent reforms.
This progress provides a solid foundation for the industry to navigate supply chain pressures emerging from the conflict in the Middle East. Yesterday, the Minister for Housing convened a roundtable with industry to discuss these challenges and will continue engaging to support the residential construction sector in delivering more homes for Australians.
While the Coalition hardly had a housing minister and barely bothered to convene the state and territory housing ministers during their decade of neglect, the Albanese Labor Government is taking a leadership role to work closely with the states and territories to build more homes for Australians.
While there’s a long way to go, and there remain significant headwinds across the global economy, this report shows that Labor’s making good progress on reforming our housing system with states and territories so that it builds more homes.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Housing, Homelessness and Cities, Clare O’Neil MP
“Fixing a problem generations in the making takes time, but we’re seeing good progress in housing supply across the country with more homes being approved, more homes being built, and importantly — they’re being delivered faster.
“This progress provides a solid foundation for the industry to navigate supply chain pressures emerging from the conflict in the Middle East.
“This is about making sure we can keep building the homes Australians need, at the scale required.
“There’s more work to do, but this shows that when governments at all levels and industry work together, we can get homes built faster and at scale.”