The report, released this week, assesses housing policy announcements over the past two years to determine which governments are taking meaningful action to increase supply and improve affordability.
According to HIA Senior Economist Matt King, governments across the country are introducing various measures, but not all are effective.
“Governments across the country are making announcements aimed at improving housing supply and it is challenging to determine which policies will genuinely improve housing supply from those that are disguising new taxes,” he said.
Mr King explained that the HIA’s analysis found South Australia, closely followed by Western Australia, have been the best at understanding the problem and initiating actions to improve the supply of homes.
Both states scored highly due to their decisive planning reforms, streamlined development approvals, and strong focus on land release.
However, despite their progress, both states still face challenges in delivering enough new homes to meet national targets.
“Despite these steps forward, neither South Australia nor Western Australia are on track to build the number of homes required to meet their contribution to deliver on the government’s 1.2 million homes target,” Mr King noted.
At the other end of the scale, the ACT and Northern Territory ranked poorly on the Housing Policy Scoreboard, scoring 4/10 and 5/10, respectively.
The report highlights key areas where reform is urgently needed with the need for comprehensive policy reforms across planning and zoning, financial settings, taxation and skills development.
A major concern remains the speed of planning approvals, which Mr King says significantly impacts affordability.
“Planning approvals need to be quicker in order to reduce the price of shovel ready land. The administrative processes required to bring land to market add significantly to the cost of a new house and land package, and new apartments,” he said.
