Everybody has lost faith in the Albanese government’s farcical target to build 1.2 million homes over five years.
This follows the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showing that dwelling approvals, commencements, and completions have collapsed to decade lows at the same time as population growth is booming:
Housing Industry Association (HIA) managing director, Jocelyn Martin, said the number of building companies reporting cashflow pressures was “alarming”, adding that “nothing is trending in the direction of our ability to build 1.2 million homes”.
“When you add higher costs, availability of trades, uncertainty driven by interest rates and some government decisions, you end up with a very difficult environment for an industry that is carrying so much risk for so long in that building process”, Martin added.
Master Builders Australia (MBA) chief executive, Denita Wawn, also said the firm’s grim 2023-24 construction forecasts were likely to be “worse” than expected.
“There’s a number of external factors out of the control of the industry. While inflation on some building materials has gone down, some have gone up including concrete. That’s putting massive cost pressures on”.
“The other big factor is around ongoing labour shortages, and that’s reflected in the time it’s taking to complete a house and therefore increased costs, which reduces people’s willingness to proceed with the build”, she said.
However, housing minister Julie Collins continued to talk up the 1.2 million target.
“We have a broad ambitious housing agenda and we’re working hard every day to deliver it”. she said.
Collins might need to get on the phone to NSW Premier Chris Minns, who went off script and admitted NSW had “no chance” of meeting its goal of building 75,000 new dwellings a year (i.e. NSW’s share of the target).
“Mr Minns conceded NSW will fall short of building 75,000 new homes this year, waving the white flag on meeting an ambitious 12-month target he agreed to in national cabinet”, the Daily Telegraph reported.
“The 75,000 (new homes) target will be very difficult to meet in the short run”, Minns said, saying that only about 48,000 homes were started in NSW in the 12 months to September.
This admission came after a slate of warnings from developers and experts NSW had “no chance” of ramping up construction so quickly.
As usual, Minns and his political counterparts refuse to acknowledge that Australia’s housing crisis is being driven by excessive immigration-driven population growth.
So long as the nation’s population continues to grow at a rate that is well beyond the country’s ability to build new homes and infrastructure, the housing crisis will worsen.
The solution is simple: slash immigration.
