News location:

Tuesday, September 22, 2026 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Building approvals up, but short of housing accord target

Master Builders ACT CEO Anna Neelagama… “It’s encouraging to see approvals rising, but it’s deeply concerning that we are already behind on National Housing Accord targets.”

Latest building figures show 379 new homes were approved across the ACT in August. This is 73.1 per cent higher than the previous month and a 379.7 per cent increase on August 2024.

Over the year to August, approvals totalled 3181 new homes. However, the ACT needed 4206 new homes annually to meet National Housing Accord commitments, said Master Builders ACT CEO Anna Neelagama.

Current figures revealed a shortfall of 1025 homes in just one year.

“It’s encouraging to see approvals rising, but it’s deeply concerning that we are already behind on National Housing Accord targets,” she said.

“Forecasts earlier this month showed the ACT falling well short of its National Housing Accord targets. While these latest figures show a substantial increase, the gap remains wide. At this rate, we will also fall well short of the ACT government’s plans for 30,000 homes by 2030.”

“Reforms like the government’s missing middle are urgently needed to help the ACT catch up.”

She said Master Builders ACT had consistently called for faster planning approvals, industrial relations reform, sensible tree and traffic policies and streamlining of higher-density developments.

 

News all day, every day at CityNews.com.au.

Who can be trusted?

In a world of spin and confusion, there’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in Canberra.

If you trust our work online and want to enforce the power of independent voices, I invite you to make a small contribution.

Every dollar of support is invested back into our journalism to help keep citynews.com.au strong and free.

Become a supporter

Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

Share this

One Response to Building approvals up, but short of housing accord target

Ian Hubbard says: 1 October 2025 at 4:49 pm

Once again, the Master Builder’s bleating for faster approvals, streamlining of higher density developments and reduced regulations as you would expect from paid lobbyists. The fact is that housing is too expensive and builders can’t sell what they’ve already got approved. Look at all the large developments that have no construction years after approval. Next they’ll be asking for subsidies, like discounts or removal of the lease variation charge.

Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

Related Posts

Police

Liberals push for stronger policing in Molonglo

Canberra Liberals Ed Cocks and Deborah Morris are calling for more police patrols in Molonglo and a delivery plan for a promised police station, saying residents have raised concerns about home invasions, and police response times.

Health

Parton pushes for home palliative care funding

Canberra Liberals Leader Mark Parton will move a motion in the Legislative Assembly today calling for continued funding of non-clinical, home-based palliative care support after funding changes affecting Community Options.

Follow us on Instagram @canberracitynews