Australia's housing crisis worsens as apartment approvals hit new low
Australia's housing crisis has taken another grim turn, with the latest data revealing a sharp drop in apartment approvals, sparking renewed warnings the country is falling well short of its ambitious new home targets.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), total dwelling approvals fell by 5.7 per cent in April to 14,633 homes.
The decline was driven almost entirely by a 19 per cent plunge in apartment and other medium-to-high density dwelling approvals, continuing a steep downward trend in March.
In contrast, private sector house approvals rose by 3.1 per cent, fuelled largely by increases in NSW and Queensland, but experts say this is nowhere near enough to meet Australia's long-term housing targets.
The Property Council of Australia said governments needed to 'step up'.
Matthew Kandelaars, the council's group executive for policy and advocacy, said 5612 apartments were approved across March and April.
'This is a far cry from the 15,029 greenlit during March and April in the apartment boom of 2016,' Mr Kandelaars said.
The federal government has committed to building 1.2 million new homes by 2029, a goal that requires monthly approvals to top 20,000 dwellings, a benchmark that has now been missed again.
'Even with approval in hand, it can take years for a project to start construction, held back by a tight labour market, high construction costs and complicated planning systems,' Mr Kandelaars said.
'We will not meet our housing targets without the heavy lifting that needs to come from apartments that can deliver homes at scale close to transport, existing infrastructure and amenities.'
In original terms, just 2539 apartments were approved in April, down from 3073 in March. Combined, this is nearly 3000 fewer units than were approved across January and February.
The Property Council is now urging state and territory governments to urgently streamline planning systems and cut red tape to reverse the downward spiral.
'Despite a welcome and ambitious target and hard work through the last term of the federal parliament, for many Australians, the dream of home ownership is increasingly unaffordable or completely out of reach,' Mr Kandelaars said.
'State and territory governments need to step up. Planning is key to delivering more homes, and our approvals data shows that the current systems are not working. More must be done to cut red tape and streamline our planning systems to remove uncertainty.
'The dream of home ownership is increasingly unaffordable or completely out of reach.'
Meanwhile, the total value of residential building approvals also fell in April, down 1.3 per cent to $8.91bn, while the value of non-residential building surged to its second-highest level on record.
As the gap between what's needed and what's being delivered continues to grow, housing industry leaders are sounding the alarm that without urgent reform, Australia's worsening housing affordability crisis may soon reach a tipping point.
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