Meeting the National Housing Accord target of 1.2 million new homes by mid-2029 will require one of the largest mobilisations of Australia’s construction workforce in decades.
According to Workforce Capacity Study 2025 released by BuildSkills Australia last month an additional 116,700 workers will be needed – about one-quarter more than under a business-as-usual scenario.
“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 study said.
“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 study identifies five critical channels to lift capacity.
The first is boosting apprenticeship completions by 23,000. At the same time female participation needs to reach an additional 51,000 workers while immigration could add 32,000 workers.
A five per cent improvement in productivity is equivalent to adding 30,000 workers.
The study warns that none of this can be achieved without a scaled-up VET sector.
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 per cent in 2020 to around 1.0 per cent.
At the same time, homelessness across the country grew twice as fast as the broader population between 2018 and 2022.