Every Australian state is lagging behind nationally-agreed housing targets as the federal government is accused of "dragging its heels" on addressing the national crisis.
The nation is likely to fall well short of an objective of constructing 1.2 million extra homes by July 2029, according to Master Builders Australia.
Australia is on track to produce 1.03 million homes within that timeframe, a shortfall of 166,000 properties, modelling released shows. The figure has blown out from the group's April forecast of a 112,000 shortfall.
The three states that will do the major lifting towards the national target – NSW, Victoria and Queensland – are all well behind, but every Australian jurisdiction is in trouble. Housing Minister Clare O'Neil said the crisis would not be solved without "boldness and ambition", labelling the situation an "unusual policy problem".
Committed to building 377,000 new homes across the next five years, NSW is only on track to produce 303,280 dwellings by July 2029. Victoria is tracking around 21,000 houses short of its share, while Queensland is about 22,000 behind. In NSW, approvals and completions have consistently lagged the 75,000 annual figure required to hit the state's target in recent times.
