First announced during the recent 2022-23 Federal Budget, the National Housing Accord will target the construction of a million new homes by 2024 in a new agreement between the construction sector, institutional investors, and all levels of Australia’s government.
The Federal Government hopes the Accord will be instrumental in enabling the supply of up to a million new homes through targeted investment and cooperation.
Construction for a further 10,000 affordable homes will be enabled through a $350 million commitment from the recently-announced 2022-23 Federal Budget.
This funding will incentivise superannuation funds and other institutional investors to make investments in social and affordable housing by covering the gap between market rents and subsidised rents.
The investment will be matched by state and territory governments, collectively delivering a further 10,000 new and affordable homes for the total construction of 20,000 new homes by 2024.
The Accord also covers a range of immediate actions and areas for further work to support a sustainable and long-term pipeline of additional housing supply to help take pressure off affordability, including:
- States and territories to expedite zoning, planning and land release for social and affordable housing
- The Commonwealth to provide financing options through the Housing Australia Future Fund to facilitate institutional investment in social and affordable housing
- Working with local governments to deliver planning reforms and free up landholdings
- Institutional investors to leverage investment that delivers for their members’ interests and for the national interest
- Construction sector peak bodies to support high energy efficiency rating construction, the training of more apprentices under an extended Australian Skills Guarantee and work to make housing more responsive to demand
Master Builders CEO, Denita Wawn, said the Accord is a welcome signal to the building and construction industry who have been crying out for action to address housing affordability barriers and supply constraints
“Struggles around housing affordability have persisted over many decades. These difficulties have arisen because the supply of homes has not been able to fully keep up with growth in housing demand,” Ms Wawn said.
“Over the next three years, Master Builders Australia forecasts that new home building starts will fall significantly short of 200,000 per year, the volume of output that will be needed to meet demand. Our forecasts indicate this threshold will not be exceeded until 2026.
“As a signatory to the Accord, Master Builders Australia will work constructively with governments and industry to deliver the joint housing target of one million new, well-located homes over five years from 2024.
“We thank the federal government for taking the first step in bringing all parties together to start tackling this crisis and look forward to working with all levels of government to ensure this is achieved in a consistent way.”
