Latest news with #JocelynMartin
Sky News AU
05-07-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
‘Pick up the pace': National Housing Accord ‘fell short' last year as demand increased
Housing Industry Association Managing Director Jocelyn Martin says the National Housing Accord to deliver 1.2 million homes over five years 'fell short' last year, and needs to 'pick up the pace' to satisfy Australia's housing demand. 'It's 12 months on since the announcement of 1.2 million homes over five years, which on average is 240 thousand homes a year,' Ms Martin told Sky News Australia. 'Last year we fell well short of that – we were just shy of 170 thousand homes, so definitely going to need to pick up the pace if we're going to even come close to building the amount of homes that Australia needs to satisfy the demand.'
Sky News AU
01-07-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
Labor to fall 200,000 homes short of Housing Accord target unless more done to ‘clear the obstacles' construction
Australia is on track to fall more than 200,000 homes short of the National Housing Accord target unless more is done to 'clear the obstacles' that prevent homes being built, a leading industry body has warned. The Albanese government promised to deliver 1.2 million over the five years starting from mid-2024, a goal that all state governments have signed up to. However Australia's largest housing industry association has calculated housing construction is still well below what it needs to be in order to hit the target. 'We welcome the intent and cooperation the Accord represents, but it must be said that meaningful progress on the ground is yet to materialise,' Housing Industry Association Managing Director Jocelyn Martin said on Tuesday. The HIA managing director said Australia was already one year into the five-year plan and progress was still too slow to achieve the target. 'There were only 168,050 dwelling commencements nationally in the 2024 calendar year. If we continue at this pace, Australia will fall well short of the 1.2 million homes target,' she said. 'HIA's forecast of dwelling commencements, or gross new housing supply, shows only around 986,000 homes will be delivered to market over the five years to 2028/29.' The housing industry body said that while 'the right conversations' were taking place and there had been funding announcements made, builders were still facing the same barriers that had been holding housing construction back for years. 'Land supply remains constrained, planning systems are slow and complex, and the cost of delivering a new home continues to rise because of charges, taxes and red tape. Interest rates, skill shortages and material costs only add to these pressures,' Ms Martin said. Since taking over the Housing portfolio, Labor's Clare O'Neil has called out the barriers created by "40 years of unceasing new regulation" across all three levels of government. "It's just too hard to build a house in this country," Ms O'Neil told the ABC last month. 'Builders face a ridiculous thicket of red tape that is preventing them building the homes we need. And if we're going to tackle the fundamental problem — that Australia needs to build more homes, more quickly — we need to make a change." The HIA managing director welcomed the renewed focus on 'productivity in residential construction' but stressed that more needed to be done. 'It appears to be finally registering with the government that we need to address red tape brought about by archaic approaches to planning and building codes, we need ways to improve workforce participation and to encourage innovation and we need to address the barriers to foreign investment which are holding back apartment supply,' Ms Martin said. 'However, governments at all levels need to move beyond commitments and deliver the reforms that will actually get more homes built. 'Australians now need governments to clear the obstacles that prevent homes being built.'
