“Australians desperately trying to secure a home of their own are being let down by the federal government’s National Housing Accord, which in seven months has failed to meet a single delivery target,” said Morgan Begg, Director of Research at the Institute of Public Affairs.
The federal government’s much vaunted National Housing Accord promised to deliver 20,000 new homes, each month, until 2029. However, new Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Building Approvals data for January 2025, released today, has revealed:
- Just 16,579 new dwellings were approved for construction in January 2025.
- Dwelling approvals were 3,421 units below the monthly delivery target under the National Housing Accord.
- The National Housing Accord new home target has not been met once in its time of operation.
- The cumulative target shortfall since the beginning of the Accord in July 2024 is 32,868 dwellings.
“The federal government’s dream of building 1.2 million new homes under its National Housing Accord is turning into a nightmare for Australians, who are increasingly being locked out of the housing market. Australia’s housing crisis is simply not being taken seriously by the political elites,” said Mr Begg.
“These latest figures also reinforce the depth of Australia’s housing crisis, brought about by out-of-control migration intakes and a construction sector burdened by red tape and competition for resources from large, expensive, and inefficient taxpayer-funded projects.”
Today’s ABS data confirms state and federal governments are already 23 per cent below the required average monthly approvals required to meet its 1.2 million new homes commitment by 2029.
“The federal government set a target, but it is clear little is being done to actually meet it. The National Housing Accord is shaping up to be one of the greatest policy failures seen in the last decade,” said Mr Begg.
“Home ownership is a fundamental component of the Australian way of life. It gives people not only a stake in the future of this nation but is also a core part of life-long retirement savings for millions of Australians.”
“This is why it is vital for whoever forms government after the next election to take a whole-of-government approach to solving the housing crisis. On the demand side it means getting our migration system under control, and, on the supply side, cutting red tape and taxes to get more homes built for aspirational Australians,” said Mr Begg.
Previous research by the IPA has also established:
- The Albanese government has overseen a record increase in population growth, with approximately 1.15 million net migrants entering the country in its time in office up to the end of the 2024 financial year.
- This is already 62 per cent more than the previous record, set during the whole first term of the Rudd-Gillard government, when net overseas migration was just under 711,000.
- The current federal government brought in more migrants in just 27 months than the entire Hawke-Keating era, which ran for 156 months.
- The average monthly net overseas migration intake under Hawke-Keating was 6,646, compared with the current government’s intake of approximately 40,000.
“There is no way to get Australia’s housing crisis under control until the federal government faces the reality that the impact of an out-of-control migration intake has on housing, as well as services and infrastructure,” said Mr Begg.
“The federal government’s inability to rein in Australia’s unsustainable migration program has meant that the dream of owning a home has become much more difficult, fuelling a perfect storm of high inflation, rising house and rent prices, and a per capita recession.”
To download previous IPA research click here.
