{{propApi.title}}
{{propApi.text}} {{region}} Change location{{propApi.title}}
{{propApi.successMessage}} {{region}} Change location {{propApi.title}}
{{propApi.text}} {{region}} Change location{{propApi.title}}
{{propApi.successMessage}} {{region}} Change locationLand is the number one constraint on home building in Australia
Land is the number one constraint on home building in Australia
Member and guest login
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.
Forgotten password
Need some help?
If you are having problems logging in, please call HIA helpdesk on 1300 650 620 during business hours.
If the email address you have entered is registered, you will receive an email with further instructions.
Become part of the HIA community
Enables quick and easy registration for future events or learning and grants access to expert advice and valuable resources.
Create a guest account
Enter your details below and create a login
The HIA-Cotality Residential Land Report provides updated information on sales activity in 52 housing markets across Australia, including the six state capital cities.
“Since 2000, residential land prices have increased by more than 500 per cent. Over the same period, construction costs and the price of skilled labour increased by around 150%.
The long-run escalation in housing costs has been driven overwhelmingly by land,” added Mr Reardon.
“The way governments release, service and tax land has embedded the cost of infrastructure, delays and planning decisions into land prices. Those costs are paid upfront, capitalised into land values and ultimately borne by new home buyers.
“The latest HIA-Cotality Residential Land Report, released today, also shows the median price of residential land rose again in the September quarter, reaching a new record high nationally, up more than 10 per cent over the year and growing at around three times the pace of consumer price inflation.
Cotality research director, Tim Lawless, said, “Persistent growth in construction costs is another factor in Australia’s housing shortfall and affordability challenges. The cost to build a house rose another 1.0% in the December quarter, pushing building costs more than 30% higher over the past five years.”
“High building costs are contributing to inflation. The cost of new dwellings purchased by owner-occupiers, which has the largest weight in the CPI calculation, was up 3.0% in the December CPI, adding to renewed cost of living pressures.”
“With land costs and building costs continuing to trend higher, along with high contribution charges and taxes, project feasibility remain a core challenge for builders and developers in delivering desperately needed housing supply, concluded Mr Lawless.”
“It was easy over the last few years to lose sight of what has been the most pressing constraint on Australian home building – everything has appeared to be under pressure since the pandemic”, added Mr Reardon.
“The shortage of shovel-ready land is central to solving the affordability challenge.
“In just the last year, residential lot prices in Brisbane and Perth increased by 18 per cent and 21 per cent respectively, while Adelaide prices jumped a whopping 40 per cent.
“Without a healthy pipeline of shovel-ready land across Australia’s capitals and regions, along with all the associated infrastructure, fairly funded, the return of demand for new housing will be diverted into the established housing market, further driving up prices and worsening the affordability crisis,” concluded Mr Reardon.
Download our latest HIA-Cotality Residential Land Report
Price increase over time
For more information please contact:
Crackdown needed as site theft adds to builders' insurance burden
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has welcomed the Tasmanian Government’s move to crack down on copper and scrap metal theft, warning that construction site theft is adding to the risk that insurers are pricing into premiums for Tasmanian builders.
Infrastructure funding must drive new housing supply in Queensland
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) welcomes the Queensland Government’s continued investment in enabling infrastructure through Round 2 of the $2 billion Residential Activation Fund, but the funding must be tightly targeted to ensure it genuinely delivers new housing supply,” HIA Executive Director Queensland, Michael Roberts, said today.
Lifting taxes wont get more homes built
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) will be sending a simple message to the inquiry into Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on residential property when it appears before the Select Committee on the Operation of the Capital Gains Tax Discount tomorrow – if you tax something more, you will get less of it.
HIA welcomes Tasmanian Government's leadership on NCC pause
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has today welcomed the Tasmanian Government’s finalisation of the Building Amendment Bill 2026, ahead of its imminent introduction to Parliament. The Bill will formally pause further implementation of new National Construction Code (NCC) requirements in Tasmania.