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The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has released a report that warns that trade shortages present a significant threat to achieving the Housing Accord’s target of building 1.2 million homes over the next five years.
Australia does not currently have enough tradies to build the number of homes needed to house the population and take pressure off housing costs. The report titled All Hands on Deck presents a plan to grow the construction workforce and enable the Housing Accord target to be achieved.
“The residential building industry currently employs approximately 278,000 tradies across the twelve key trade occupations required for home building. The trades workforce needs to grow by at least 30 per cent to meet the Accord’s goals. That is over 83,000 additional tradies.
“To achieve the target, an average of 240,000 homes must be built annually—a level that has only been approached twice in Australia’s history.
“This means a significant boost in the number of chippies, sparkies, plumbers, brickies and concreters, to get these much-needed homes out of the ground and to lock up.
“Despite efforts to boost the domestic trades workforce, significant challenges remain. Creating career opportunities for the local workforce should be a priority, however this alone will not solve to the tradie shortage.
“Skilled migration is the other key lever that the government can pull in the short term to address the immediate shortage of tradies.
“The time for business as usual solutions has passed, and we need ‘all hands on deck’ and coordinated government actions to address the chronic shortage of tradies,” concluded Mr Murray.
P: 02 6245 1379
M: 0438 103 651
E: g.murray@hia.com.au
The Hunter region's largest and most successful home and renovation show, the HIA Newcastle HOMESHOW, is set to return on Saturday, September 13, 2025, at the HIA Home Inspirations centre in Mayfield West.
“The expansion of the Home Guarantee Scheme announced by the Minister for Housing, Clare O’Neil MP, to take effect from 1 October 2025, will reduce the time to save a deposit by up to four years,” stated HIA Senior Economist Tom Devitt.
“The Victorian government’s approach to publishing housing targets for each council to achieve is a positive step but will not by itself improve housing supply or affordability” stated HIA Executive Director, Keith Ryan.
“Harnessing artificial intelligence to drive a once in a generation overhaul of planning systems across the country could be the circuit breaker Australia needs to deliver 1.2 million homes over next 5 years” said Sam Heckel HIA Executive Director, Planning & Environment.