The National Housing Accord target is 1.2 million new homes over five years from 2024. We're now two years in. The HIA's latest data shows we're tracking at around 170,000 completions per year — well below the 240,000 per year needed to hit the target.

The construction industry has been clear: the workforce isn't there. We'd need to train and import tens of thousands of additional tradies just to reach the required build rate. That takes years, not months.

What's your read on this? Is the target achievable, or is it political window dressing?

Builder here, 22 years in the industry. The target is not achievable in the timeframe. Full stop. We don't have the concreters, the framers, the electricians, or the plumbers to build at that rate.

The government's response has been to fast-track skilled migration for construction workers. That helps at the margins, but it takes 12–18 months to get someone through the visa process and onto a site. We needed to start this five years ago.

I'm 34. I've been saving for a deposit for six years. Every time I get close, prices move further away. The median house price in Melbourne is now 11 times the median household income.

I don't care about the politics. I just want to know if I'll ever be able to buy a home. The answer, based on current trajectories, appears to be no.

The planning system is a genuine bottleneck. In NSW, the median time from DA lodgement to approval for a medium-density development is now 14 months. In Victoria it's 11 months. These timelines have gotten worse, not better, despite state government promises to streamline.

The federal government can set targets, but housing approvals are a state and local government function. Without genuine planning reform at the state level, the federal target is aspirational at best.

The demand side of this equation is also being driven by the government's own immigration settings. Net overseas migration hit 518,000 in 2023. Even at 240,000 new homes per year, we'd struggle to house that level of population growth.

You can't simultaneously run record immigration and claim to be solving the housing crisis. The two policies are in direct tension.

Rents in Adelaide are up 42% since 2021. The vacancy rate is 0.4%. There are families living in tents. This is not an abstract policy debate — it's a humanitarian situation.

The government's Help to Buy scheme helps a small number of people buy homes. It does nothing for the 30% of Australians who rent and have no realistic path to ownership.