Australian housing remains some of the most expensive in the world. This report argues that current policy foundations overburden the construction and housing industry and must be addressed in order to end the housing crisis. It presents advice and recommendations stressing the urgency of the housing situation and calling for swift and widespread regulatory reform.

Australia needs to build 1.2 million homes over the next five years to address the national housing supply crisis. Last financial year Australia completed around 176,000 new homes, some 64,000 short of where we need to be if we are going to meet the five year target going forward. 

The report provides an overview of policy changes since 2023 and argues that more reform is urgently needed to meet Australia's goal to build for new housing development. 

Key Findings

• Dwelling completions and approvals are at near-decade lows, particularly for apartments, suggesting the situation may worsen before it improves.
• Construction costs have risen substantially, exceeding inflation. 
• Construction industry productivity has declined by 12% while productivity in other sectors rose 11%.
• The number of people per household has decreased, necessitating more homes even with stable population figures.

Key recommendations

• Up-zone land in major cities and towns to allow for medium and high-density development.
• Establish efficient proponent-led rezoning processes determined at the state level.
• Create consolidated zoning types that are broad and consistent across each state.
• Establish a National Reform Fund to incentivise states and territories to implement faster and more efficient planning.
• Elevate decision-making authority for strategically important projects from the council to the state government level.
• Implement metrics to monitor council performance in planning decisions, rewarding high-performing councils and removing planning responsibilities from underperforming ones.
• Introduce mechanisms to force decisions if statutory timeframes are exceeded.
• Temporarily reduce the burden of developer contributions and providing direct funding for local infrastructure, followed by comprehensive reform of contribution systems.
• Phase out stamp duty and replacing it with a broad-based land tax, with the federal government rewarding jurisdictions that make this transition.
• Deploy a national rating system for developers and builders to enhance quality and consumer confidence.
• Re-establish a specialist building industry regulator to address corrupt and criminal behaviour.