Construction times blowout
Dwelling commencements fell back by -4.4 per cent in the June 2025 quarter to 45,156, seasonally adjusted.
Detached house commencements fell by -6.6 per cent to just above 26,000.
Being optimistic, you could say that housing starts are trending gently higher, albeit from a concerningly low base given rampant population growth...
There's very little good news on dwelling completions, however, which crashed to the lowest level in 11 years at 40,524, some -12.5 per cent lower than a year earlier.
Attached dwelling completions of just 12,168 were -26.7 per cent lower than last year.
It seems that dwelling completion times for attached dwellings are proving to be much longer in this cycle at well over 2½ years now, in part due to a higher quality of apartments being provided to the market.
More units are being built for local homeowners than a decade ago, and far fewer for overseas investors.
The number of units under construction did increase over the quarter, partly as a function of the slow rate of completions...
This was largely driven by an increase in the unit pipeline in New South Wales and Victoria.
The wrap
Dwellings are taking far longer to build than they were a decade ago, at around 12 months for detached homes and 2.7 years for units and apartments (h/t Shane Oliver of AMP).
It goes without saying that the government's housing target won't be met.
The number of dwelling completions so far behind the target that it appears almost absurd to continue reporting the stats (approximately 173,000 new dwellings were completed over the 2025 financial year, more than 66,000 short of the stated target of 240,000 - or about 72 per cent of the targeted total).
Looking ahead, there are now more units under construction, but at the current rate of progress the housing shortage will continue to worsen for some time before it improves.
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