Home building approvals hit 15-month high but momentum must remain

BUILDING approvals rose by 4.4 per cent in September and 6.3 per cent over the quarter, according to new Australian Bureau of Statistics figures.

The total number of approvals stood at 14,842, ABS head of construction statistics Daniel Rossi said, adding that the rise was driven by increases across all dwelling types.

Property and construction industry leaders welcomed the news that signals a recovery in the home building market.

But both the Master Builders Australia and the Property Council said much more needs doing to meet the Housing Accord’s 1.2 million new homes target.

Master Builders’ chief economist Shane Garrett said: “For new home building approvals, September was the best month we’ve seen since May last year.

“Detached house building approvals enjoyed their strongest month since August 2022.

“Home building approvals seem to be finding some momentum – but the challenge of ending the housing crisis is still formidable.

“The past year has seen less than 168,000 new homes approved for building, well below the 240,000 homes needed per year.

 “More action is still needed to bring down the high costs and timelines associated with building to encourage even more people into the new home building market.”

Addressing labour shortages, speeding up planning approvals, ending housing legislative stalemates in the Senate are some examples of how to improve the investment environment in new home building, he concluded.

Property Council Group Executive Policy and Advocacy Matthew Kandelaars said despite the increase in homes approved, we still have work to do. 

 “While it is pleasing to see an uplift in the number of homes approved, we won’t meet our housing targets unless we keep increasing this at pace,” Mr Kandelaars

“Consistent results like this, month after month, are essential.

“It is particularly apparent that we are just not building apartments at the levels we used to, and those approvals remain below where they need to be.

“We only approved about half of the apartments over the last 12 months than in the same period in 2017-18.

“High construction costs, sluggish planning processes and taxes that hinder apartment projects are now limiting supply.

“As Parliament returns next week, we need to see genuine movement to address our housing crisis and boost apartment construction. We cannot allow this issue to fester as we head into the election silly-season.”