To view the media release, including graphs and imagery, CLICK HERE
ABS: Housing approvals – steady improvement across Australia – but NSW goes backwards!
CEO of Urban Taskforce Australia, Tom Forrest said that today’s ABS data on housing approvals shows there is a lot of work to be done before this housing supply crisis is over.
The ABS data shows that nationally, the approvals rate has risen to the point that there is some prospect that over the 5-year life of the National Housing Accord, the new dwellings completion rate could hit the original Accord target of 1 million homes over 5 years.
But Prime Minister Albanese, supported by all the State Premiers, increased the target to 1.2 million over 5 years, starting from July 1, 2024. This is the housing supply figure needed to meet forecast population growth.
Today’s ABS data is a clarion call for the Federal Government and the Opposition to make clear commitments on housing supply and housing enabling infrastructure during the next 4 weeks as Australia prepares to vote.
After getting close to the approval figures needed to meet the Housing Accord targets in January, NSW has regressed – badly – with a 44% decline in total approvals in February. But there appears to be an anomaly with the NSW data. The work of the Housing Taskforce, as reported this week, appears to have gone missing.
The national data continued to show steady improvement with Victoria picking up the slack from the drop off in NSW.
The NSW data raises one big question – on Monday this week, the NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, Paul Scully, stated in a media release on new league tables for agency performance, that the Housing Taskforce:
“has resolved 1,985 CIR [Concurrence, Integrated Developments and Referrals] cases unblocking around 31,800 dwellings. This has resulted in the determination of 704 Development Applications at a 94 per cent approval rate.”
Why have these DA approvals (94% of 31,800) not flown through to a significant increase in the ABS dwelling approvals data in NSW?
Urgent clarification is required because these approvals are not reflected in the ABS approvals data published today.
The Housing Taskforce was established in September 2024. The total number of approvals since the start of September, according to the ABS data, is 24,259 – and most of these would not have gone through the Housing Taskforce.
So, where are the DA approvals arising from the work of the Housing Taskforce?
The ABS data reports on dwelling approvals arising from DA determinations. They show NSW going backwards. What’s going on?
The month’s results were proof, if any was ever needed, that one good result is simply not enough.
The approval numbers in NSW were very disappointing, particularly for standalone homes. The direction of the Housing Productivity Contributions away from infrastructure supporting greenfield development has thrown a handbrake on greenfield development consents. This will prove to be a major limiting factor for housing supply in this state.
The Housing Delivery Authority is a beacon of early success and has been popular with investors, with 330 EOIs received to date, but we are more than a year away from any approvals and infill apartment developments take time to build, so NSW has a big problem.
