Sep 7, 2026 · 6 min · 4 segments
Is Australia's Housing Strategy Actually Making The Housing Crisis Worse? The Albanese Government says its Budget is tackling housing affordability and helping first home buyers. But the latest…
Terry RyderHost
There is an increasingly large gap between what the Albanese government says its federal budget is doing for housing and what the actual evidence says is happening.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers continue to insist that their May budget is dealing with the housing crisis and helping first home buyers.
But virtually every meaningful piece of research released since the budget points in the opposite direction.
Rents are soaring and the uncertainty created by the budget and subsequent announcements has made everyone afraid to sell or buy in the current climate.
And the latest building approval figures are perhaps the most important evidence of all.
The ABS reports that total dwelling approvals fell in July to well below the required target level.
Private sector house approvals fell 4.2%, while apartment approvals dropped 10.1%.
And this continues an ongoing pattern of approvals lower than is needed to fix the supply shortage.
Now, all of that matters because Australia's housing crisis is fundamentally a shortage of supply crisis.
And to achieve that, Australia needs around 20,000 completed dwellings every month.
Many approved projects never get built because they're not commercially viable or they've been delayed by planning systems or they're defeated by rising construction and finance costs.
We're halfway through the five year period for creating 1.2 million new homes and the nation is so far behind the target that there's no hope of achieving the goal.
Confidence is weakening, the housing pipeline is under pressure, and when confidence fails, fewer projects stack up and fewer homes get built.
There is an increasingly large gap between what the Albanese government says its federal budget is doing for housing and what the actual evidence says is happening.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers continue to insist that their May budget is dealing with the housing crisis and helping first home buyers.
But virtually every meaningful piece of research released since the budget points in the opposite direction.
Rents are soaring and the uncertainty created by the budget and subsequent announcements has made everyone afraid to sell or buy in the current climate.
And the latest building approval figures are perhaps the most important evidence of all.
The ABS reports that total dwelling approvals fell in July to well below the required target level.
Private sector house approvals fell 4.2%, while apartment approvals dropped 10.1%.
And this continues an ongoing pattern of approvals lower than is needed to fix the supply shortage.
Now, all of that matters because Australia's housing crisis is fundamentally a shortage of supply crisis.
And to achieve that, Australia needs around 20,000 completed dwellings every month.
Many approved projects never get built because they're not commercially viable or they've been delayed by planning systems or they're defeated by rising construction and finance costs.
We're halfway through the five year period for creating 1.2 million new homes and the nation is so far behind the target that there's no hope of achieving the goal.
Confidence is weakening, the housing pipeline is under pressure, and when confidence fails, fewer projects stack up and fewer homes get built.
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