Record 248,733 homes under construction, but completions are lagging

Approvals and building starts are rising, yet homes are still taking longer to finish than before the pandemic. Two years into the 1.2 million homes target, Australia is about 124,000 completions behind a straight-line pace.

Australia had 248,733 homes under construction at the end of June 2026, the most since the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) series began in 1984.

The figure comes from preliminary ABS Building Activity data released on 7 October 2026. It counts every home that has started construction but is not yet finished. The total edges past the previous high, set in the September quarter of 2022.

Completions are picking up, but not fast enough. ABS data shows 47,168 homes were completed in the June quarter, seasonally adjusted (smoothed to remove regular seasonal swings). That is up 5.8% on the March quarter and 15.9% on a year earlier, and the most in any quarter since December 2019. It is still only 2.6% higher than two years ago.

Over the same two years, quarterly commencements (homes starting construction) rose 25.9% to 52,201, including a 14.4% rise in the past year.

Behind the 1.2 million target

In August 2023, National Cabinet agreed to a target of 1.2 million new well-located homes over five years from 1 July 2024. On a straight line, that is 240,000 homes a year, or 60,000 a quarter. No quarter of the target period so far has reached that pace.

To close the gap by mid-2029, completions would need to average about 70,300 a quarter for the next three years. No quarter in the ABS completions series, which starts in 1980, has reached that level. The highest seasonally adjusted figure was 58,789, in the December quarter of 2016.

PropTrack senior economist Angus Moore said building came close to the target’s pace then because higher-density construction was running far above today’s rate.

Approvals are rising

Building approvals usually come a few months before construction starts, so they signal what is coming next. On a rolling 12-month basis, ABS figures show approvals are at their highest level since April 2022.

The monthly picture is bumpier. Total approvals fell 6.1% in August, seasonally adjusted. Private approvals for dwellings other than houses dropped 21.2%, with Queensland leading the fall.

Private house approvals went the other way, rising 3.7% to 10,885. ABS head of construction statistics Daniel Rossi said August was the eighth straight month with more than 10,000 private houses approved.

Why homes are stuck in the pipeline

Moore put the build-up down to longer construction times. ABS data on average completion times, measured from the start of construction, backs this up.

Apartments are the slowest and still getting slower. In 2025-26, the average apartment took almost two and a half years to finish. A decade earlier it took about a year and a half.

Houses tell a different story. Build times rose from about six and a half months in 2015-16 to about 10 months in 2023-24. They have since eased to about eight months, still longer than before the pandemic.

The house pipeline swelled during the pandemic. The federal HomeBuilder grant was open to building contracts signed between 4 June 2020 and 31 March 2021. Monthly house approvals peaked at 16,145 in March 2021, the final month of that window.

Houses under construction climbed from 56,652 in June 2020 to a high of 106,280 in March 2023, and have not returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Apartments, townhouses and other higher-density homes under construction have risen in each of the past six quarters. They remain below their 2018 high of 158,546.

Costs and rates are working against new building

Construction costs are rising again. ABS figures show house construction prices rose 2.0% in the June quarter, the largest quarterly rise since September 2022.

The ABS said many builders passed on higher fuel costs after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. It also pointed to ongoing shortages of bricklayers, carpenters and concreters.

Quantity surveying firm Rider Levett Bucknall has flagged data centre construction as a growing source of demand for specialist labour.

Borrowing has also become more expensive after a run of cash rate rises by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). In its latest decision statement, the RBA said housing prices had fallen in most capital cities.

Moore said higher interest rates and falling prices will weigh on whether new developments are viable. He said that effect would show up more in approvals and commencements than in homes already under construction.

What this means

For renters and buyers, a record pipeline means more homes are on the way, but they are arriving slowly. Moore said PropTrack's records show rental and housing affordability at their weakest point.

There are early signs of progress. Completions are at their highest since December 2019, house build times have shortened, and approvals are at their highest since April 2022.

If you are buying an apartment off-the-plan, the average build time alone is now almost two and a half years from the start of construction. That is almost a year longer than a decade ago.

For the 1.2 million target, completions would need to beat the best quarter on record, every quarter, for the next three years.

The June quarter figures are preliminary. The ABS will release final data on 13 January 2027, and September building approvals are due on 2 November 2026.