WA sitting more than 4500 home short of housing target as home completions slow

Western Australia’s home building target for this decade is falling further out of reach, with the latest housing construction stats showing it is now 4500 homes behind target.

Just 5150 homes were completed in WA in the September quarter, 11 per cent down compared to the same quarter last year.

It was the fewest homes built in a quarter in WA since the National Housing Accord, which set WA’s aspirational building target of 130,000, was agreed to in mid-2024.

It was the third consecutive quarter with a reduction in homes completed.

It comes as housing pressure puts strain on Perth’s population, with the city’s median house price surpassing $1 million.

While WA reduced, the rest of the nation increased, with 10,000 more homes finished across the country than this time last year.

Property Council WA executive director Nicola Brischetto said WA was moving backwards in its housing goal.

“We need to quickly reverse this troubling trend, or affordable housing will become a distant memory for many West Australians,” she said.

“Another concerning trend from Wednesday’s ABS data is that the number of residential infill homes, such as apartments and townhouses, being completed continues to fall backwards.

“Less than 15 per cent of homes built across the 2025 September quarter were in a residential infill project.

“With chronic labour shortages and rising construction costs, it is more important than ever that we look to modern methods of construction and innovative housing solutions to get more new homes into the market.”

As part of the accord — which seeks to construct 1.2 million homes across the country by the end of June 2029 — WA will need to build 130,000 homes as part of its “fair share”.

That equates to 26,890 homes a year, around what WA has been able to build in five quarters.

But to meet that goal, WA needs to contend with a shortage of skilled workers, especially in construction.

The Cook Government’s ploy to lure tradies from the east coast and New Zealand with $10,000 bonuses attracted 1146 of them last year, far below the 12,000 new tradies a year needed.

Master Builders WA chief executive Matt Moran said more workers and less red tape were desperately needed.

“Without more tradies and skilled professionals, housing supply will not meet the demand,” he said.

“We need more boots on the ground and incentivising employers to take on more apprentices is a key part of the solution.

“This year’s State Budget is critical, and housing must remain front and centre as a priority.”

It was not all bad news however, with commencements on housing construction on the rise.

More than 22,600 homes commenced being built in WA in the year to September, a 30 per cent increase from the 12 months prior.

Roger Cook said his Government was throwing everything at the issue.

“We are substantially increasing our construction workforce through both our apprentice incentive and our worker incentives to come to Western Australia,” he said.

“We are continuing to work with the industry to make sure that we are creating further opportunities in our housing construction industry to speed up and increase supply.

“That includes, for instance, the expression of interest we’ve put out recently to fabricators, to looking to establish precasting and other preconstruction fabrication firms in WA.”

A State Government spokesperson said housing construction was accelerating.

“There were more than 22,000 home completions in the year to the September quarter, 15.6 per cent higher than in the same period the year before, and the strongest increase in the nation,” they said.

“We are seeing some consolidation in the housing market following this period of rapid growth, but our State government is rolling out new measures to increase supply, with a focus on density and embracing new methods of construction.”

Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas said the Premier needed a sharper focus on speeding up construction.

“The Premier should be embarrassed by the ABS housing statistics,” he said.

“He and his Housing Minister John Carey love to tell us they’re pulling every lever or they’re laser focused on Western Australia’s housing crisis, but it’s not working, it’s bulldust.

“Western Australia is not building enough homes to meet population growth, let alone address the existing housing deficit, and this represents a prolonged failure to restore housing supply.

“Without a sustained lift in commencements, housing stress becomes structural rather than cyclical.”