Housing shortfall in WA to continue for years, with State needing to boost new stock by 6000 to 9000 annually

The State would need to build 6000 to 9000 more homes every year than it currently does simply to tread water in the housing crisis, according to a landmark new report. The Bankwest Curtin Business Centre report has shone a light on the severity of the WA’s housing shortage, revealing the market is set to remain undersupplied for years. The report dashes hopes that the State would deliver its share - 25,000 new homes annually - of the Federal Government’s Housing Accord target to ensure 1.2 million new homes are built over five years. Report co-author Steven Rowley yesterday said WA’s housing supply market was “problematic.” “We have a long way to go before we have a situation where housing supply is meeting demand,” said Professor Rowley. Based on WA’s average of completing fewer than 15,000 new homes in the five years to 2023, the report forecasts the State will fall well short of meeting anticipated population growth of about 500,000 over ten years. “These projections convert to a requirement of between 21,000 and 24,000 new dwellings in each of the next five years under reasonable population scenarios,” said the report. “This adds up to around 120,000 new dwellings by 2028, and up to 250,000 over the next ten years to 2035 just to service population growth.” The projections are conservative, given they do not take account demographic movements which are likely to boost the number of new households through changes like the rapidly increasing proportion of single parent families. “This level of supply will not on its own be sufficient to improve housing affordability,” the report said. The report said WA market will likely be able to build 20,000 homes a year from 2026, but says the industry is far from being able to deliver 32,000 homes annually, as it did in 2015. It claims the capacity constraints are in part due to the smaller construction workforce, which peaked at 157,000 in 2015 but dropped to 116,000 by 2021. The workforce recovered to around 140,000 according to the latest 2024 data. The report said part of the problem was a loss of 1320 workers interstate, with the rest moving to the resources or manufacturing sector. It called for a wage subsidy scheme to attract more apprentices, as well as competitive relocation packages - including short-term housing - to construction workers looking to move to WA from other states or from overseas. It also wants qualification assessments for overseas construction workers to be accelerated. The wide-ranging report called a big investment in social housing, suggesting countercyclical investment to smooth out peaks and troughs in the sector. “The government should press on with its program of social housing investment, but the program needs to deliver a net addition of at least 1,000 new dwelling units each year just to accommodate anticipated population growth, and to maintain the stock of social housing in WA as a share of the state’s overall housing stock,” the report said. “We estimate that ongoing investment of at least $500 million in current dollars each year is required to provide enough social housing to keep pace with demand.” The report said the environmental performance of WA’s construction industry had improved, with a steady and consistent decline in aggregate carbon emissions since 2007. But on a per capita basis, it was still higher than all other states except Queensland.