News & Tips
Oliver Hume commentary on latest Building Activity data by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Oliver Hume Chief Economist, Matt Bell has commented following today's release of Building Activity data by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
“New dwelling completion figures out this morning from the ABS are not great news for the National Housing Accord Target of 1.2m homes in five years. The first full year of the 5-year target has Australia delivering only 174,000 homes out of the required 240,000 p.a.
New dwellings for the June 2025 quarter were 40,254, obviously well below the 60,000 required each quarter. The trend is also moving in the wrong direction. Completions were down 6.5% on the prior quarter and 12.5% below the same quarter a year ago.
By state, the biggest misses are coming from Queensland (-38%) and NSW (-36%) with Victoria (-23%), the state with the highest target, not far behind.
We’re only one year into a five-year target and there has been a significant change in attitude both from the public and governments when it comes to the prioritisation of new dwelling supply over the interests of existing homeowners.
State governments have made meaningful progress in the last 6 months to put in place policies that support new dwelling supply, especially in our most populous capitals of Sydney and Melbourne. They should be encouraged to push further on this front rather than throwing our hands up in despair at how ambitious the target is. There’s still four years to go.
A rise in building activity is the key element to improve affordability outcomes for first home buyers over the long term. We should be optimistic.”
