Enter your email and password to access secured content, members only resources and discount prices.
Did you become a member online? If not, you will need to activate your account to login.
If you are having problems logging in, please call HIA helpdesk on 1300 650 620 during business hours.
If you are having problems logging in, please call HIA helpdesk on 1300 650 620 during business hours.
Enables quick and easy registration for future events or learning and grants access to expert advice and valuable resources.
Enter your details below and create a login
The ABS released the Lending to Households and Businesses data for July 2023 today. The data provides statistics on housing finance commitments.
“This is the weakest monthly performance since the Global Financial Crisis and leaves the three months to July 31.7 per cent below the same quarter last year,” added Mr Devitt.
“The previous year of interest rate increases from the RBA has compounded the surge in construction costs during the pandemic, drying up the pipeline of new homes awaiting construction around Australia.
“This has all but guaranteed a decade low trough in detached house commencements for the coming year.
“A recovery from late next year should be supported by strong market fundamentals, including record population growth, acute shortages of rental accommodation, and a strong labour market.
“The recovery will, unfortunately, be limited by the deterioration in housing affordability which will only exacerbate the housing crisis across Australia.
“The HIA Affordability Report for the June Quarter 2023, also released today, highlights the alarming speed at which affordability deteriorated in just one quarter, with the Affordability Index falling by 8.7 per cent nationally.
“Purchasing a home is the least affordable it has been since just before the GFC, 15 years ago.
“Soaring mortgage rates and recovering dwelling prices mean that the average Australian income earner would now have to commit half of their income to the service of a typical new mortgage. In Sydney, they would have to commit more than two-thirds of their income.
“This deterioration in affordability will act as a handbrake on any recovery in home building.
“If the ambitious target of building 1.2 million new homes in five years is to be achieved, policymakers need to act quickly.
“Changes to planning, regulatory and tax systems are needed to bring down construction and finance costs and facilitate greater investment in housing near jobs and transport,” concluded Mr Devitt.
In original terms, the total number of loans for the purchase of construction of new homes in the three months to July 2023 declined in all jurisdictions compared to the same quarterly period a year earlier, led by the Australian Capital Territory (-61.1 per cent), and followed by the Northern Territory (-53.4 per cent), South Australia (-37.3 per cent), New South Wales (-32.8 per cent), Tasmania (-32.6 per cent), Victoria (-29.7 per cent), Queensland (-26.0 per cent) and Western Australia (-24.1 per cent).
P: 02 6245 1379
M: 0438 103 651
E: g.murray@hia.com.au
“Trade shortages loom as a major threat to reaching the Housing Accord target of building 1.2million homes by 2029,” said HIA Executive Director - Future Workforce, Mike Hermon.
“The Victorian government’s Housing Statement is approaching its two-year anniversary. Since that time the Victorian government has implemented some positive reforms, but it is becoming clear that we will not have enough people to build these homes as quickly as we need,” stated HIA Executive Director Victoria, Keith Ryan.
With the focus of the national economic debate on improving productivity following the recent roundtable, HIA used our submission to the Productivity Commission’s Five Pillars reforms to call on the Federal Government to act swiftly to lift productivity and unlock new housing supply.
“The Victorian government’s Housing Statement target of 800,000 homes in ten years is now not going to be realised. A meaningful and sustained increase in the housing supply will only occur if the Victorian government takes notice of consumer’s preferences and gives up on the 70/30 policy favouring apartments over houses,” stated HIA Executive Director Victoria, Keith Ryan.