Housing construction is falling behind both on estimates of demand and the government’s target of building 1.2m homes in five years, according to figures released on Wednesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Experts have cited a number of reasons for the shortfall, including labour and materials shortages, slow and complex planning processes and high interest rates. But some of these factors may be cyclical – meaning construction could pick up and meet the targets as pandemic-related shortages disappear and planning reforms come in.
