Housing Workforce Capacity Study
Mobilising Australia's construction workforce for the National Housing Accord.
Australia's housing crisis
Aside from its direct impacts on health and mortality, the pandemic’s most acutely felt consequence has been a severe housing shortage. The national vacancy rate fell from a healthy 2.5% in 2020 to around 1.0%. At the same time, homelessness across the country grew twice as fast as the broader population between 2018 and 2022.
The Housing Accord
In August 2023, National Cabinet agreed to an ambitious new target for the national Housing Accord of 1.2 million new homes over five years from mid-2024. Achieving this target requires an uplift in the delivery of new dwellings from around 43,000 dwellings per quarter to 60,000 per quarter, on average, until 2029.
The labour requirement
Significantly more workers will need to be allocated to the residential construction sector to achieve the Housing Accord ambition. Our report finds that, under a ‘business as usual’ scenario, the sector’s normal labour supply channels will deliver an additional 23,000 workers by 2029. To meet the Housing Accord target, a further 116,700 workers will need to be mobilised beyond this baseline.
The policy challenge
Targeted policy will be essential to support this mobilisation of labour. Our report explores a range of avenues to increase participation, improve productivity, and ensure training system can keep up with industry needs.
Boosting apprenticeship completions to historically high levels could deliver 23,000 additional skilled workers by 2029. This requires better support systems, streamlined pathways, and stronger industry engagement.
Raising female participation to match that of manufacturing would add up to 51,000 workers. Achieving this means reshaping industry culture, improving pathways, and addressing workplace safety and inclusion.
If the residential construction sector were to secure a share of the future migration pipeline comparable to the health sector, nearly 32,000 workers could be available to address labour gaps. Smarter migration settings are needed to help unlock global talent flows.
A 5% lift in productivity through Modern Methods of Construction and other innovations could have the same effect as 30,000 extra workers. Realising this requires regulatory reform and targeted support for these emerging technologies.
