The country's top business body has called for a $10 billion housing reform fund to be paid to states that fix regulatory and planning bottlenecks contributing to the supply crisis.
The Business Council of Australia is also pushing for a national scrapping of stamp duty on homes, warning it discourages people from moving to smaller homes and frees up larger homes.
The industry body's housing report, published on Monday, calls for “urgent action from all levels of government” as the Albanian government is falling behind its target of building 1.2 million new homes by the end of the decade.
Labour's national housing deal promises to reach the target within five years, which will require an annual average of around 240,000 homes. The Business Council said it was necessary to build 64,000 more new homes each year to reach the target.
About nine homes would need to be built per 1,000 people each year, but current figures suggest the figure is now up to six.
The report offers 29 recommendations, but the most critical is a national reform fund, similar to a professional competition model introduced in the 1990s.
Around $5 billion in funding was provided to state and territory governments to successfully implement economic reforms. The Business Council estimated that at least $10 billion in cash would have to be committed to drive urgent reform, including the phasing out of stamp duty and a transition to land taxes.
“We support many of the measures already being implemented, but the scale of the task ahead remains immense, so we need every good reform on the table if we are to achieve our goals,” said Bran Black, the executive director of the council.
“Stamp duty represents a huge upfront cost for people who want to move, whether to downsize and free up an equity home or to get closer to a new job.”
The council has recommended that the Albanian government make more investments to increase the number of apprentices, accelerate permanent residency for relevant skilled workers and encourage states to adopt the same business licensing rules for better workforce mobility.
The publication of the report comes days after the opposition revealed more plans to try to alleviate the housing crisis.
The Coalition announced on Saturday that $5 billion in funding, in the form of grants and soft loans, would go to industry, councils and state utilities to build infrastructure including water, power and sewage. It was estimated that up to 500,000 homes could be built, most on brand new land.
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The plan also proposes freezing any changes to building codes for 10 years, claiming that updates, such as those requiring homes to meet higher energy efficiency standards, have added thousands of dollars to home prices.
The policy is similar to Labour's $500 million in funding for state, territory and local governments until mid-2025, with another $1 billion for social housing infrastructure.
Housing Minister Clare O'Neil said Peter Dutton's proposal would still cut $19 billion from Labor's housing commitments, including the Australian Housing Future Fund, which has been in place since November 2023.
Two other government proposals, the Help to Buy and Build to Rent plans, have failed to pass parliament.
Ben Phillips, associate professor at the Center for Social Research and Methods at the Australian National University, criticized the opposition's estimates.
“This program may have a small impact at the margin, but it will not induce anything like the figures suggested,” he said, adding that he shared concerns about whether Labor could meet its target of 1.2 million new homes.
Australian Center for Housing Research director Emma Baker said focusing on greenfield land would “make house prices worse” as developing new sites further away from major urban centers would cost more in the long term. .
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