Australia started construction on 43,247 new homes during the first three months of the National Housing Accord according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

These figures are 4.6% greater than the June 2024 quarter and 13.9% higher than the June 2023 quarter. The biggest growth was in new detached house starts which increased 20.5% since June 2024 and up by 5.3% by September 2024.

Master Builders Australia chief executive Denita Wawn says there’s a long way to go to reach the Housing Accord target of 1.2 million homes to meet.

“Our performance in apartment construction will be the key to whether we meet the target. Apartment construction levels remain too low because the investment appetite is not there,” she says.

“Low productivity, labour shortages, costly and restrictive CFMEU pattern agreements, a lack of supporting infrastructure and a high inflationary environment all contribute to project costs not stacking up.”

As of September 2024, the number of new homes starting construction reached 165,048 which was below the 200,000 required.

If building continues at this rate, Australia will start construction on more than 825,000 new homes over the next five years. This is also approximately 300,000 new homes short of the Housing Accord Target.

“If we are going to solve the housing crisis, we need to build more apartments and make them more attractive for people to invest in – only then will we see a lowering of rental inflation and more homes for Aussies,” Denita adds.