Australia's housing shortage worsens every day

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released dwelling approvals data for July on Monday, reporting 16,153 trend approvals for the month, the highest volume since August 2022.

Despite the rebound, approvals tracked 3,847 (19%) approvals behind the National Housing Accord’s five-year target, which requires 20,000 homes to be built every month.

In the year to July 2025, 188,728 homes were approved for construction, which was 51,272 (21%) below the National Housing Accord’s target, which requires 240,000 homes to be built per year.

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About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.

Australia’s housing shortage worsens every day