"An improvement in house building rates is welcome news, but is far short of what's needed to meet national housing targets," said Innes Willox, Chief Executive of industry peak body the Australian Industry Group.
New ABS data shows residential building work rose to 1.6% in the first quarter of 2025, to $24.3 billion in real terms. However, this remains 5% below the national peak achieved in 2018.
"Since the pandemic, we have seen very rapid growth in engineering work done by the construction sector. But only a very modest uplift has occurred for home building, which is sorely needed to meet our housing needs.
"Australia is building a lot more, but not enough is in housing.
"To achieve the National Housing Accord goals, an immediate 40% uplift in dwelling completion rates is required. The recent lift in house building activity is nowhere near enough to put us on track for the target.
"The problems facing the home building sector are well-known. These include declining margins, surging costs, chronic skilled labour shortages, and declining productivity. Excessive regulation – of workplaces, planning processes and product standards – compounds these problems.
"Treasurer Jim Chalmers has recently said that improving productivity will be his top economic priority for this term of government. The workforce, regulatory and industrial relations problems afflicting our housing industry should be the first place to start," Mr Willox said.
Read the Australian Industry Group's research on the productivity challenges facing the house building industry here.
Media Enquiries:
Gemma Daley – 0418 148 821
Media Enquiries:
Gemma Daley – 0418 148 821