Housing numbers improve but still well behind target

A KEY property advocacy group has said “Australia still has a long way to go if we’re serious about meeting our housing targets”.

The Property Council of Australia said Australia’s housing targets remain under serious doubt despite a modest increase to dwelling completions.

This follows the release of ABS Building Activity data, which highlights the scale of the challenge facing housing delivery. 

Matthew Kandelaars, Property Council group executive policy and advocacy, said while an increase in completions was welcome, significant headwinds remain over Australia’s housing supply pipeline. 

“The housing challenge isn’t about whether the numbers move up or down in a single quarter,” Kandelaars said.

“It’s whether we’re improving over a sustained period and meeting our Housing Accord targets of 1.2 million homes.” 

Seasonally adjusted ABS data showed dwelling completions rose 5.8 per cent over the quarter to June 2026, driven by a lift in apartments, townhouses and terraces, while completions for detached houses only lifted 1.4 per cent. 

“If we’re going to close the housing gap, we need to see growth in completions for all types of housing, including single family detached dwellings,” Kandelaars added.

ABS data also showed that while completions for apartments, townhouses and other multi-unit and attached residential buildings had lifted over the past year, the delivery of detached houses was going backwards. 

“Australia simply cannot meet its housing ambitions on the current trajectory and policy headwinds. This data is effectively looking in the rear-view mirror,” Kandelaars said.

“The full impact of policy chaos, diabolical tax proposals and weakening industry confidence is coming, with the tax changes passing the parliament in late June and the ban on SMSF borrowing for property investment starting August 10.

“In September, our latest industry sentiment survey found confidence has fallen to its lowest level since the pandemic. That’s not a signal governments can ignore.” 

Kandelaars said governments should be focused on improving investment conditions rather than creating additional barriers to housing delivery. 

“The nation has set ambitious housing targets, yet too many policy decisions are making them harder to achieve,” he said.

“Housing construction is competing for workers with major infrastructure projects, the energy transition and a rapidly expanding data centre sector. 

“You cannot increase housing supply while simultaneously making investment harder and stretching the workforce needed to build it. 

“If governments want more homes, they need more projects to stack up. That’s the challenge these figures should focus attention on.”