Joint media release: Significant milestone achieved in supply of new homes

80,000 new homes now given the green light under national environmental law under this government to date. This week the 100th residential housing development has been granted environmental approval to proceed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). We’re continuing to see housing construction move in the right direction with building approvals up 9 percent on last year, marking three consecutive years of growth.

Construction costs have also stabilised from increasing at 17 per cent yearly in 2022 to 3.8 per cent, in line with inflation. Since 2022, more than 660,000 new homes have been built with the Albanese Government now having more than 22,500 social and affordable homes in planning or construction with over 7,000 social and affordable homes completed. Minister for Housing, Clare O’Neil said “Our focus is simple — keep building, keep removing roadblocks and get more Australians into homes.” “We came to government with a housing system that wasn’t working for Australians.

We’re turning that around - building more homes, helping renters and investing in 55,000 new social and affordable homes. “80,000 new homes have been given the green light under national environmental laws since we came to office - another important milestone in our drive to build more homes, more quickly.” Minister for the Environment and Water Murray Watt said the Albanese Government was committed to building more homes, whilst also protecting Australia’s vulnerable plants and animals.

“Not every home built in Australia needs to be assessed through national environmental laws, but for the ones that do, we’re making sure that work is being done as quickly and efficiently as possible, to deliver better protections to our wildlife, more certainty to landowners and more homes for Australians,” Minister Watt said. “More than 90 per cent of the 100 residential housing developments given the green light were assessed within the statutory timeframe benchmarks - a massive improvement on the Coalition’s woeful track record, which saw only 6 percent of EPBC decisions made on time.

“As a result of the Government’s Economic Reform Roundtable in August last year, a housing strike team was established within the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and these figures show it is working. “Now, with the Albanese Government’s newly-established independent National Environmental Protection Agency and our reformed EPBC Act laws, we expect to see even faster housing decisions in the future.” We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture.

We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.