Australia will invest A$2 billion ($1.4 billion) to build thousands of government-subsidized homes across the country, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, a move that will help resolve a housing supply crunch that is being blamed for resurgent property prices.
“This investment will build more housing, for more Australians, in more parts of our nation,” Albanese said in a statement on Saturday. “The Social Housing Accelerator payment will be delivered to state and territory governments within the next two weeks.”
The Social Housing Accelerator will “create thousands of homes for Australians on social housing waiting lists and will increase housing supply sooner,” Albanese said, adding his government will continue to work to address housing affordability, supply, and homelessness.
Housing has become a hot-button issue in Australia as an acute supply shortage, together with a rapid rebound in migration, put upward pressure on home prices and rents at a time when inflation is already eating into people’s purchasing power.
The center-left Labor government is also establishing a A$10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund to build 30,000 new social and affordable rental homes in its first five years, in addition to introducing incentives to boost investments in build-to-rent accommodation. The HAFF will need to pass in the Senate next week.
Australia’s Property Council welcomed the announcement as a “positive step in addressing Australia’s housing affordability crisis,” though Chief Executive Michael Zorbas expressed continued concern about “deep declines in new apartment construction in particular.”
