PLAN TO TACKLE HOUSING

A NEW national Housing Accord will see one million new, “well-located” homes built over five years, in a bid to address Australia’s growing affordability crisis.

Handing down Labor’s first budget since forming government, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the measures would bring together governments, investors and industry to build more affordable homes and to help tackle the housing crisis.

However, it’s a long-term play that will take years to bear fruit.

“Capacity constraints” caused by material and labour shortages across the building industry means this five-year plan won’t begin until mid2024.

“The ambition of this accord is big and it’s bold – an aspiration to build one million new, well-located homes over five years from 2024,” Dr Chalmers said in his budget address.

He said most of this supply would need to come from the market, not the government.

“But there’s a role for government, and we intend to play a leading role – by coordinating and kickstarting the investment we know needs to happen,” he said.

PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty said it was encouraging to see the government was recognising that supply was an important piece of the solution.

“Previously we’ve seen a lot of initiatives that support buyers, such as first-home buyers, but often a missing piece of the picture has been addressing that undersupply of housing,” Ms Flaherty said while attending the federal budget lockup.

“On the other hand, we have a shortage of housing now, and the fact that we’re not going to start seeing those new houses created until after 2024 indicates that we’re still going to face issues over the short and medium term.”