MEDIA RELEASE:  NSW housing completion numbers reached the highest level in five years over the September quarter of 2025 according to the latest ABS Building Activity data.

More than 13,000 new homes were completed in the September 2025 quarter, the strongest quarterly result since March 2021.

New home commencements also increased in the 12 months to September 2025 with 41,198 new housing starts, an increase of just over 4,000 over the previous year.

“However, the data also confirms that it’s increasingly unlikely that the state’s Housing Accord targets set by the Federal Government can be met. Doing so will require the completion of more than 85,000 homes per year on average over the next three years, something that’s never previously been achieved,” Matthew Pollock, Executive Director of Master Builders NSW said.

“Further improvement can be expected as the Minns Government’s strong microeconomic reforms to speed up the pace of housing approvals take effect, particularly the potentially game-changing reforms to the planning system.

“Cutting red tape to speed up completion timeframes is also vital. It takes far too long to build new dwellings in NSW. A detached house can take up to 18 months to complete while multi-unit developments which are essential to rapidly increasing new housing stock take three years on average to complete.

“Finance and insurance measures are also needed to support the viability of medium density projects and help get these projects out of the ground.

“Workforce capacity constraints are also holding back the construction of more homes, and the industry needs the government to assist. We have seen a fall in the number of new apprentice enrolments in construction trades over the last 12 months which if not addressed will lock in future skills shortages, “Matthew Pollock concluded.