WA ‘must adopt yes attitude to apartments’ as housing completions drop

In another worrying sign for the housing crisis gripping Western Australia, the number of homes completed has dropped for a second consecutive quarter.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Wednesday shows only 4242 new homes were completed in the March quarter, down from 4426 in the December 2023 and 5047 in the September 2023 quarters.

New home completions have dropped in the west. Credit: Claire Ottaviano

To keep pace with WA’s projected population growth, 5750 completions are needed each quarter.

“Our continued skilled worker shortage and the financial feasibility of starting new housing projects presents significant challenges to building new homes in WA,” Property Council WA executive director Nicola Brischetto said.

“To increase the rate of home completions and ensure every West Australian has access to secure and affordable housing, we must adopt a ‘yes’ attitude towards apartment living.

“For WA to pull its weight in meeting the National Housing Accord targets, building new homes,
including apartments and townhouses, in our established suburbs will also be crucial.”

Over the past five years, WA has built about 75,000 new homes but that figure would need to lift to at least 120,000 to help achieve the National Housing Accord target of 1.2 million new homes across Australia.

The state government was exploring every measure to boost housing supply, a spokesman said.

He said the state had negotiated with the Commonwealth to secure 10,000 skilled migration places for key positions that could not be filled locally, including construction occupations such as bricklayers, carpenters, plasterers, plumbers and electricians.

“This will help get boots on the ground now,” he said.

Housing Industry Association executive director Michael McGowan said sensible housing policy and investments were needed.

“After the last tumultuous five-year period, the majority of the housing industry is delivering what it can to be sustainable, and while the challenges still remain there is momentum and an increasing capacity that needs to be supported,” he said.

Strategic Property Group managing director Trent Fleskens said the property industry was in a state of ‘market failure’

He said there were a number of measures available to support the industry and homebuyers to mobilise through these tough times but the government was not pulling enough of them.

“Even though we are incentivised through higher prices to provide more supply to meet demand, the industry is either operating at its capacity limits or being choked by red tape,” he said.

Fleskens said indexing the First Home Buyers’ grant to the median house price was a “no-brainer” that would alleviate the rental market to allow skilled migrants to live in WA and alleviate labour constraints.

“Removing the Foreign Buyers Surcharge to fast-track apartment financing and assist developers in getting projects out of the ground is another easy lever,” he said.

“Finally, pumping resources and co-ordination into Water Corporation and Western Power to alleviate the planning chokeholds in the land industry would also go a long way.”

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