“Similarly, the South Australian government’s abolition of stamp duty and removal of property value thresholds for the first homeowner grant has significantly boosted buyer confidence in that state.” BUILDING ACTIVITY DECLINES While new house sales were on the rise, the latest housing completions data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed new home supply in the first quarter of the year was well below the levels needed to meet the country’s housing targets. In the March quarter of 2024, 41,329 homes were completed across Australia, a decrease from 45,643 in the December 2023 quarter. Just 41,329 homes were completed across Australia during the March 2024 quarter. To reach the Housing Accord’s national housing target of 1.2 million new homes by 2029, Australia will need to build 60,000 homes on average each quarter over the next five years. Property Council group executive policy and advocacy Matthew Kandelaars said low housing completions casted a dark cloud on the nation’s 1.2 million new homes target, which came into effect this month. “If housing supply stays this low, we will only manage to build around 830,000 homes over the next five years, leaving us a whopping 370,000 short,” Mr Kandelaars said. “We will only achieve our target of 1.2 million homes by applying increasing amounts of federal funding, state resources and a ‘yes’ mindset to reach that goal.” 8 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA VOLUME 06, ISSUE 09
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