On the brink of the Federal Election, the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) 2025 National Election Platform Fast Track Housing Delivery points to the key housing challenges that must be addressed together if we have any hope of giving Australians a chance to own a home of their own.
“Australia’s housing markets have been in continuous undersupply for most of the past two decades as we faced crippling issues such as high construction costs, skilled labour shortages, scarce development-ready land, choked infrastructure delivery, high tax burdens and inefficient planning & environmental approval processes,” said Col Dutton, National President, UDIA.
“Without serious action on housing policy, the Australian parliament runs the risk of locking more Australians out of owning a home,” said Col Dutton.
The five key actions outlined in our policy platform are critical to the delivery of housing targets nationally:
- Fast-Track Housing Infrastructure – transport, poles wires roads, pipes and parks
Create a $5bn Federal enabling infrastructure fund for more projects that support new housing.
- Reprioritise the Accord Bonus with upfront incentives
To increase construction, density, enabling infrastructure and halve planning times.
- Build the Homes we need – incentives to boost housing for middle Australia
Federal, tradable tax credits scheme (20% of housing development cost) that can be applied against taxes or sold to catalyse a second median priced dwelling.
- Release More Land Supply – Incentives for development ready land,
Accelerating Zoning:
Unlock surplus Government land
- Boost Housing Capability
Rebuild the capacity of the depleted construction and development workforce by enabling targeted migration of house-building skilled labour.
UDIA’s data analysis confirms the ongoing decline in building approvals and completions are contributing to an undershoot of the National Housing Accord target by 400,000 homes and the development and construction sector will need to build an eye-watering 300,000 dwellings p.a. for the remaining three years of the Accord. “While we are facing an ever-increasing housing supply gap across the continuum, and considering that 97% of the target relies on private housing providers, it’s clear that now more than ever, Australia’s political leadership needs to ramp up housing delivery with initiatives that not only enable our industry to build affordable and social housing, but also boost supply of median priced housing for all Australians,” said Col Dutton.
Our full policy document can be found at this link.
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Media Enquiries:
Deanna Lane | Director, National Media & Communications | 0416 295 898 | media@udia.com.au