Australia set to fall short of National Housing Accord target by over 110,000 homes
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Master Builders Australia has released its 2024 building and construction industry forecasts, which predict that Australia will fall over 110,000 homes short of its National Housing Accord target. The forecasts, covering the full five-year period of the Accord from 1 July 2024 until 30 June 2029, project 1,087,325 new home starts.
CEO Denita Wawn said, “We’re seeing inflation starting to near its target range and expect a fall in interest rates which will lead to a more favourable investment market.” She also noted that the Federal Government has announced several significant housing measures focusing on increasing supply in social and affordable housing and the rental market.
However, Wawn pointed out that constraints on the supply side, such as workforce shortages, industrial relations changes, and a poor planning system, counter the full effectiveness of these measures. She emphasized the need for governments to expedite the rollout of planning reforms to reduce the high costs and time it takes to build.
Wawn expressed concern that the full impact of the Closing Loopholes Bills and union pattern bargaining negotiations underway in several states has not been factored into these forecasts.
Workforce shortages continue to be the biggest challenge for the industry across all sectors, with BuildSkills Australia recently stating that the industry needs 90,000 workers in the next 90 days. Wawn suggested that the government’s priority should be growing the building and construction workforce through better apprenticeship incentives, reskilling migrants already in Australia, and a targeted international campaign to bring in skilled migrants.
She also highlighted the importance of investment and support in the whole built environment, stating that the homes needed cannot be built without the appropriate commercial and civil infrastructure to support them, including critical infrastructure such as utilities.
“Builders are up to the challenge to reach these targets but the barriers on the road need to be cleared to get the job done,” Ms Wawn said.
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