HIA Managing Director Jocelyn Martin said ensuring the residential building industry has access to the skilled workers needed to build more homes must remain a national priority.

"A migration system that puts skilled workers first and responds to genuine workforce shortages is a sensible and pragmatic approach," Ms Martin said.

"Housing is one of Australia's most significant economic and social challenges and increasing housing supply requires access to a suitably skilled workforce.”

HIA welcomed commitments to better align skilled migration settings with workforce demand, review skilled occupation priorities, establish project-based visa pathways and create a dedicated construction visa strike team.

"The dedicated construction visa strike team is a practical measure that recognises workforce shortages are one of the key constraints on housing supply," Ms Martin said.

"Australia cannot solve a housing shortage while restricting access to the skilled workers needed to build those homes.”

HIA also welcomed the Coalition's focus on regional migration pathways, noting workforce shortages are often more acute in regional communities where builders face significant challenges attracting and retaining workers.

"Targeted regional migration programs help address skills shortages and support regional communities to deliver the homes needed to accommodate growth.”

HIA said skilled migration must work alongside continued investment in apprenticeships and training.

"Australia needs both a strong pipeline of local apprentices and a migration system capable of responding when domestic labour supply cannot meet demand.”

While welcoming measures aimed at increasing workforce capacity, HIA said migration policy alone would not solve Australia's housing challenges.

"Australia needs to bring population growth and housing supply back into balance, but the long-term solution must be to build more homes, not simply accommodate fewer people," Ms Martin said.

“The industry has been on a population roller coaster over the past six years. Boom and bust migration settings make it harder to plan investment, land, labour and construction capacity.

“Stable and reliable migration pathways allow governments, businesses and the housing industry to plan for population growth, which has been increasing and adding to housing demand at a time when governments have failed to remove many of the barriers preventing enough new homes from being built.”

HIA said the Australian Government, state governments and local councils all have their own critical roles in managing the effects of migration, infrastructure, planning and housing delivery, and a lack of coordination between the three levels of government has contributed to the current housing shortage.

"Until housing supply catches up with demand, population growth needs to reflect Australia's capacity to accommodate it. But Australia's long-term migration settings should not be determined by our failure to build enough homes," Ms Martin said.

"Australia's housing challenges will not be solved by migration policy alone. The long-term solution is a coordinated national approach that aligns population growth with housing supply, infrastructure delivery, land release, workforce capacity and planning systems, while removing the barriers preventing enough homes from being built,” concluded Ms Martin.

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