The latest HIA Housing 100 Report sponsored by COLORBOND ® steel highlights the achievements of Australia’s largest home builders in 2025/26.

The Housing 100 built 70,553 new homes in 2025/26, representing 35% of the Australian home building market or more than one in every three new homes. Its market share eased from 36% in the previous year and remains below the 2020/21 peak of 44%, when the group built around two in every five new homes.

The decline in the Housing 100’s market share partly reflects increased construction volumes among smaller builders, which typically operate at the higher end of the market. The largest builders generally gain market share when economic conditions become more challenging.

This is also only the fifth time in the report’s more than three-decade history that the Housing 100 has constructed more than 70,000 homes in a financial year, well-above the long-run annual average of around 61,300. The other four occasions were during the apartment boom of 2016/17 and 2017/18 and the detached home building boom of 2020/21 and 2021/22.

The report is rearward-looking: it recognises the significant achievements of Australia’s largest builders and the industry partners that supported delivery across the supply chain. The momentum recorded in 2025/26 should not be treated as a guide to the outlook. More volatile and timely indicators of home building activity had trended down by August 2026, consistent with feedback from industry that market conditions had become more challenging.

Government policies are constraining the market and weighing on confidence. Interest rates have tightened further to a 15-year high, with the cash rate reaching 4.6% in September 2026. Inflation remains elevated, compounded by rising global energy prices.

The upside for the Australian economy and home building is that unemployment remains very low, and population growth remains strong. Although lower interest rates would support activity, rate cuts are unlikely while inflation remains high and the labour market remains very tight.

Despite the strong underlying demand fundamentals of new household formation and employment figures, poor market sentiment remains a handbrake to growth.
The Australian housing market weakened in recent months. HIA data show new home sales fell by 19.3% in the three months to August 2026, while the median price of an established Australian house declined by 4.9% from its March 2026 peak. This deterioration in leading housing indicators has yet to flow through to official measures of home building activity.

The latest ABS Building Approvals data continue to reflect the momentum recorded earlier in HIA’s New Home Sales data which picked up in late 2025 and early 2026. Detached house approvals increased by 3.3% in August 2026 to 11,040, which is the highest monthly level since August 2021.

The rise in residential building approvals and housing starts largely reflects purchasing decisions made when market conditions were more supportive. It reinforces the strength of the 2025/26 period captured by the Housing 100 Report but does not diminish the risks ahead. The challenge will be to convert the existing pipeline into sustained activity while encouraging the next wave of home buyers to enter the market.

Over the 12 months to August 2026, 123,850 detached homes were approved nationally, which is just over half of the 240,000 homes that must be delivered each year to meet the Housing Accord target of 1.2 million homes over five years. Multi-unit approvals continue to rise off a low base, to over 84,000 in the most recent 12 months. Combined, the pipeline of new homes that could be delivered remains below target.

Approvals are not keys in doors, but the result points to a substantial pipeline of detached homes that could progress to commencement and completion. The priority is to convert this pipeline into new housing supply. There is little upside risk to current home building forecasts unless governments act quickly to reduce the cost of delivering new homes. The HIA Housing 100 Report shows that the industry can scale up when conditions are right.

Time to connect

Connect with Australia’s largest builders through the HIA-Colorbond® steel Housing 100. This report sponsored by COLORBOND ® steel provides readers the opportunity to see the full list of top 100 builders and their contact details.