"While it is positive to see Australia's home building rates increasing, there remains much to be done in delivering new housing in the quantities the country needs," said Innes Willox, Chief Executive of the national employer association, the Australian Industry Group.
Data released today shows the construction sector completed $23.4 billion of residential buildings in the September quarter, an increase of 1.8% on June.
"This is a welcome sign that the workforce and supply chain constraints cruelling activity on our building sites are finally beginning to ease," Mr Willox said.
"But we could and must be doing much more. In real terms, we are still completing around the same amount of home building as a decade ago, and are yet to recover to our pre-pandemic levels.
"Given the massive housing shortages afflicting much of our country, this simply isn't good enough.
"The challenge is clearly unique to housing. The data shows that the other branches of the construction sector – engineering and commercial building – have managed to grow their output since the pandemic. Engineering construction in particular has soared on the back of an infrastructure spending boom from governments.
"The solutions to the problem are well understood by industry – we need to control the rampant cost pressures, alleviate severe workforce shortages, and provide rational planning frameworks that simplify the pathway to well-located housing developments.
"The Build-to-Rent and Help-to-Buy housing bills this week show the crisis is finally getting a proper level of policy attention.
"But without strategies that tackle the cost and the workforce and planning problems holding industry back, we will continue to see our home building rates languish below both Australia's potential and need," Mr Willox said.
Read Ai Group's research note – Australian home building in crisis
