New Housing Construction Lift

Construction of new dwellings is on the way up, although it remains below what is needed to hit government targets.

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics Building Activity data shows that dwelling commencements in the 12 months to September 2025 increased by 11.2%.

HIA Senior Economist Maurice Tapang says while it is good that the number of dwellings under construction is on the rise, levels are still below what is needed.

“The volume of home commencements remains below the 240,000 new homes per annum needed to build to the Australian Government’s target of 1.2 million homes over five years,” he says.

“In order to increase the supply of homes, governments need to help lower the cost of delivering new homes to market. Demand is not the challenge. Delivery is. Land supply, infrastructure timing, planning bottlenecks and workforce capacity will shape the 2026 experience more than interest rates.”

According to the ABS, there were 230,003 dwellings under construction in the September quarter, of which 87,323 were new houses.

During the quarter the total number of dwellings completed was up by 7.5%.