Chalmers insists Labor’s housing goals remain achievable despite growing shortfall
Australia’s treasurer, Jim Chalmers, is maintaining support for Labor’s national housing target even as official data indicate the government is falling well short of its goal.
Under the National Housing Accord, federal, state and territory governments and industry have agreed to deliver 1.2 million new “well‑located” homes by July 2029. Based on the latest data, the program is now more than 70,000 homes behind the trajectory needed to meet that target.
“We’ve acknowledged as a government that we need to build more homes,” Chalmers said. “That’s the whole reason why we’ve got this ambitious but achievable housing target for 2029. It’s why we’re throwing so much time and energy and resources into building the homes that Australians desperately need, because we recognise that this is one of the defining challenges in our economy.”
The treasurer described the 1.2 million-home objective as stretching but attainable if all levels of government and the private sector increase their contribution.
“Now that target is ambitious, but it is achievable if everybody does their bit, and the Commonwealth is doing its bit,” Chalmers said. “$43 billion in investment, working with the states, with local governments, working with the industry, working with investors, providing all kinds of different ways that we’re encouraging the building of more properties in our local communities.”
Labor’s housing agenda includes the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, which the government says has supported the construction of more than 5,000 social and affordable homes since 2022 through Commonwealth investment.
The government is also rolling out its Help to Buy shared equity scheme, due to begin tomorrow. Under the program, eligible purchasers will be able to acquire a property with the Commonwealth taking an equity stake, covering up to 40% of the purchase price for new homes and up to 30% for existing dwellings.
The initiative is intended to reduce deposit and repayment requirements for qualifying borrowers. For mortgage professionals, the scheme will introduce an additional product structure into the market, with specific eligibility criteria, maximum price caps and equity‑sharing conditions that will need to be incorporated into advice and loan structuring.
With the Reserve Bank maintaining a higher interest‑rate environment to contain inflation, and construction costs remaining elevated, the pace at which supply initiatives translate into actual completions will be closely watched by lenders, aggregators and brokers over the coming years.
Latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data show total dwelling approvals fell 6.4% in October, increasing pressure on housing supply and threatening to further widen the Housing Accord shortfall.
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