SA home building approvals up but still missing key target

The number of new home builds that have been given the green light have improved across SA over the past two years, but the state is still falling short on its share of the national target.

Latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show SA has recorded 29,380 new home building approvals since the National Housing Accord started in July 2024.

That is about 1224 per month between July 2024 and April 2026.

It was well up on the 996 per month recorded in the two years prior (July 2022 to June 2024), and slightly higher than the 1012 per month in the decade earlier (July 2014 to June 2024).

However, it is 3990 homes short of the 33,370 approvals needed to keep pace with the state’s share of the Accord, under which Australia aims to build 1.2 million homes to fix the country’s housing affordability crisis.

Master Builders SA chief executive Will Frogley said while just short of the target, it showed that policy focus was moving the needle in the right direction.

“New home approvals have averaged 1224 per month during the Accord era – a 22.9 per cent increase compared to the two years prior, and 21 per cent higher than the decade-long average before the Accord,” he said.

“And new dwelling completions in the last two years are at an all-time high.

“Current initiatives have laid the groundwork, and now more targeted solutions are required to overcome persistent headwinds like high inflation, low productivity and workforce shortages.

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“South Australian builders and developers are working incredibly hard in a challenging economic climate.

“Seeing a 22 per cent increase in monthly approvals compared to the pre-Accord era proves that the intent and the focus are there. “

Mr Frogley said more homes still needed to be built and the gap needed to be plugged.

To do that, the industry is advocating to expand the skilled workforce, match those workers with building projects where they are needed most, as well as unlocking new land supply and mixing medium density housing with established retail sites.

HIA SA executive director Stephen Knight said planning reform, particularly in reducing red tape to improve approval times and clear the backlog, was also important.

“We are getting more approvals than we have in the past, which is good, but there’s still serious demand for housing,” he said.

“We’re still not seeing enough supply into the market.

“Still, give credit for where we’re up to now.”

Mr Knight said while some states were seeing a downturn in home values, SA was experiencing the opposite as it had several major projects in the works and the population was growing.

“As long as we’ve got this great economic opportunity, we’re going to need more houses,” he said.

While Mr Knight believed the market would slightly slow over the next few months because of a lack of confidence, he said it would be short-lived.

“Towards the back end of this year, we’ll be full on again in SA,” he said.