Latest news with #HousingIndustryAssociation
News.com.au
11-08-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Staggering $54 billion spent on Aussie home renovations within the past year
Aussie homeowners are spending $5 billion more on renovations than they were before the pandemic, with a jaw-dropping $54b splashed over the past year. Rising build costs and increasing home values have caused a spike in money spent across the state, with new research showing renovation loans have jumped by thousands since 2019. But the Housing Industry Association (HIA) reveals this spending surge might not see another spike until worker supply meets demand. HIA senior economist Thomas Devitt said 'massive increases in construction and finance costs' were playing out as the renovation market played catch-up with the changing economy after the pandemic. 'The resurgence in activity we've been seeing more recently will be much more reflective of increasing real activity,' he said. 'The cost of renovation projects seems to have stabilised around 40 per cent above pre-pandemic levels.' The HIA predicted rising demand nationwide would cause Aussies to spend an extra $2b annually by March of 2029. Mr Devitt said rising home prices meant renovations were seen as an affordable alternative to buying a new house, with the market was expected to continue growing. However the extent of renovation growth would depend on the supply of skilled labour to meet the demand – especially bricklaying and ceramic tiling. A separate HIA study that estimates potential demand for kitchen and bathroom renovations found homeowners were choosing to renovate their bathrooms first. Across 2024-2025, Australia was estimated to have a renovation demand for around 244,000 bathrooms and 163,000 kitchens. Mr Devitt said this demand was typically determined by the age of the residence. 'Actual demand for renovations may deviate from notional or potential demand, depending on short term variables beyond just the age of the dwelling stock, like housing market conditions, the economic outlook, or policy settings like interest rates and taxes,' Mr Devitt said. Kirkwood and Co. interior designer Georgia Wallace said she found kitchens could keep pace with modern renovation desires more than bathrooms. 'I think if you're going to update a property or your own home, starting with a bathroom renovation is something that definitely lifts a property,' she said. 'It definitely dates faster, so it's something I think more people will be doing.' But Ms Wallace said even a simple bathroom renovation could cost tens of thousands of dollars more than it used to, with more than double the pre-Covid wait times for builders. 'You could be waiting between six and 12 months to lock in builders,' she said. 'It's so hard to get a good tiler locked in.' All up, 40,274 renovation loans were placed by Australians in the past 12 months from March, up by more than 3,000 from the previous 12 months. Quarterly loan numbers in the 2019-2020 financial year were typically around 6-7,000, with 2025's numbers at an increase of about 2,000 per quarter. Mr Devitt said while spending reached a high in 2021, he expected the renovation market to continue at a healthy rise moving forward. 'It may have cooled from the highs of recent years, but it's still going strong,' he said. 'It sustained itself much better than the new home building sector, and is set to pick up again too – from historical elevated levels of real activity, not just value.'
Perth Now
06-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- Perth Now
House That! Award winning house in Perth Hills sells with a price tag of $1.2 million
The Mount Richon home won the Housing Industry Association's Dream Home award in 2004. The Mount Richon home won the Housing Industry Association's Dream Home award in 2004. Credit: supplied There couldn't have been a more apt house for sale in the Perth Hills. Set on a hill, this property sits on wooden stilts rising from the slopes of the Darling Range up to the balcony. The incredible Mount Richon home has had a legion of fans since it won the Housing Industry Association's Dream Home award in 2004. But the new owners got it recently for a steal, at only $1.22 million. Camera Icon The views from the mount Richon home. Credit: supplied Sitting on more than a hectare of land next to Bungendore National Park, the three-level house offers uninterrupted views over the hills, and out to the city skyline and the ocean. Camera Icon Inside the award-winning Mount Richon home. Credit: supplied The main level has an open-plan area consisting of the kitchen, dining and informal family living areas, complete with a slow combustion fireplace. The second level also includes a formal lounge room and a bedroom, both with direct access to the deck through French doors. Camera Icon Inside the award-winning Mount Richon Home. Credit: supplied A top floor loft can be used as a fourth bedroom or a home office, a gym, a yoga studio or a games room. The lower level includes a master bedroom and ensuite with spa bath as well as a second bedroom and bathroom. Camera Icon The house was sold via real estate agent Fraser Williams. Credit: supplied But the most remarkable part of the home is not what is in it, but outside it — the view that leaves you feeling on top of the world. Camera Icon House on stilts in Perth hills Credit: supplied It makes the most of the vista with a wrap-around balcony extending 17m on one side and about 7.5m on two other sides. It was sold via real estate agent Fraser Williams.
Sky News AU
05-07-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
‘Pick up the pace': National Housing Accord ‘fell short' last year as demand increased
Housing Industry Association Managing Director Jocelyn Martin says the National Housing Accord to deliver 1.2 million homes over five years 'fell short' last year, and needs to 'pick up the pace' to satisfy Australia's housing demand. 'It's 12 months on since the announcement of 1.2 million homes over five years, which on average is 240 thousand homes a year,' Ms Martin told Sky News Australia. 'Last year we fell well short of that – we were just shy of 170 thousand homes, so definitely going to need to pick up the pace if we're going to even come close to building the amount of homes that Australia needs to satisfy the demand.'
Sky News AU
01-07-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
Labor to fall 200,000 homes short of Housing Accord target unless more done to ‘clear the obstacles' construction
Australia is on track to fall more than 200,000 homes short of the National Housing Accord target unless more is done to 'clear the obstacles' that prevent homes being built, a leading industry body has warned. The Albanese government promised to deliver 1.2 million over the five years starting from mid-2024, a goal that all state governments have signed up to. However Australia's largest housing industry association has calculated housing construction is still well below what it needs to be in order to hit the target. 'We welcome the intent and cooperation the Accord represents, but it must be said that meaningful progress on the ground is yet to materialise,' Housing Industry Association Managing Director Jocelyn Martin said on Tuesday. The HIA managing director said Australia was already one year into the five-year plan and progress was still too slow to achieve the target. 'There were only 168,050 dwelling commencements nationally in the 2024 calendar year. If we continue at this pace, Australia will fall well short of the 1.2 million homes target,' she said. 'HIA's forecast of dwelling commencements, or gross new housing supply, shows only around 986,000 homes will be delivered to market over the five years to 2028/29.' The housing industry body said that while 'the right conversations' were taking place and there had been funding announcements made, builders were still facing the same barriers that had been holding housing construction back for years. 'Land supply remains constrained, planning systems are slow and complex, and the cost of delivering a new home continues to rise because of charges, taxes and red tape. Interest rates, skill shortages and material costs only add to these pressures,' Ms Martin said. Since taking over the Housing portfolio, Labor's Clare O'Neil has called out the barriers created by "40 years of unceasing new regulation" across all three levels of government. "It's just too hard to build a house in this country," Ms O'Neil told the ABC last month. 'Builders face a ridiculous thicket of red tape that is preventing them building the homes we need. And if we're going to tackle the fundamental problem — that Australia needs to build more homes, more quickly — we need to make a change." The HIA managing director welcomed the renewed focus on 'productivity in residential construction' but stressed that more needed to be done. 'It appears to be finally registering with the government that we need to address red tape brought about by archaic approaches to planning and building codes, we need ways to improve workforce participation and to encourage innovation and we need to address the barriers to foreign investment which are holding back apartment supply,' Ms Martin said. 'However, governments at all levels need to move beyond commitments and deliver the reforms that will actually get more homes built. 'Australians now need governments to clear the obstacles that prevent homes being built.'
West Australian
20-06-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Aussies exit NSW, WA hits 3 million population milestone
More people are fleeing NSW than any other state in Australia. Population data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics this week shows 28,118 people left NSW in 2024. Western Australia tipped over three million people for the first time as the resource-rich state recorded the highest nationwide growth rate. At the end of 2024, 27.4 million people called Australia home, an increase of 445,900 on the previous year and representative of a 1.7 per cent increase. Commonwealth Bank economist Lucinda Jerogin said population growth had slowed quicker than anticipated on the back of the post-pandemic peak. 'A slowdown in natural increase continues to place a drag on Australia's population growth,' she said 'Cost-of-living pressures, rising female workforce participation and broader uncertainty are likely driving this downward trend. 'Growth in deaths are outpacing births leading to the decline in natural increase.' The data shows NSW lost more than 28,000 people to net interstate migration, with 112,763 people leaving for elsewhere in the country. Queensland picked up more than 106,000 people from other states for a result of nearly 26,000 fresh faces. Nearly 40,000 Aussies moved to WA for a net increase of about 12,500 people. While Queensland and Victoria's total populations grew by 1.9 per cent, WA's grew 2.4 per cent. The population of every state and territory grew by at least 1.1 per cent, except Tasmania, which recorded a 0.3 per cent increase. 'Within Australia, people are continuing to leave NSW, and to a lesser extent Victoria and the smallest jurisdictions, and head into Queensland and WA,' Housing Industry Association economist Tom Devitt said. 'But even the jurisdictions losing residents interstate are absorbing enough overseas arrivals to see their populations expand.' State governments needed to do more to stimulate housing construction, he said. 'Foreign capital is highly liquid. State governments have forced institutional investors into building apartments in other countries,' Mr Devitt said. 'As a consequence, multi-unit construction volumes in Australia have halved, likely costing state governments tax revenue.'
