Australia built 4,990 more homes. NSW added 6,820.

A useful increase, spread unevenly

The annual total rose 2.8%, from a revised 175,510 to 180,500. Victoria still completed the most homes, followed by NSW and Queensland. Together, those three states delivered almost 78% of Australia’s completions. Victoria remained the biggest builder, while NSW supplied most of the growth.

Four up, four down

NSW supplied the largest increase: 6,820 extra completions, up 16.0%. Queensland added 747 and South Australia added 777. South Australia’s 13,647 completions were its strongest result in the 21 financial years shown, and 25.4% above its preceding 20-year average.

Western Australia had the largest fall, completing 2,947 fewer homes, although its annual total remained 3.2% above its preceding ten-year average. Victoria was nearly flat, down 140, while Tasmania and the ACT also declined.

The Northern Territory had the fastest percentage growth, up 38.4% to 721 completions—an extra 200 homes. Tasmania finished 2,349 homes, down 6.0%, and the ACT completed 3,800, down 7.7%. Those smaller markets moved in quite different directions too.

The recovery looks different if you want a house

Nationally, new house completions fell 4.1% to 108,956. New “other residential” completions rose 16.6% to 70,923. This category includes apartments, townhouses, flats and similar homes.

NSW explains most of that increase. Its other residential completions rose from 19,453 to 28,293, adding 8,840 homes. At the same time, its new house completions fell by 1,724. NSW accounted for about 88% of the national rise in other residential completions.

So the improvement was concentrated in one state and one broad building category. New house completions went backwards nationally. South Australia also grew through other residential completions, while Western Australia recorded falls in both main categories.

How does this compare with the building boom?

The 180,500 completions put Australia 3.6% above its preceding 20-year average of 174,280. So this was not an unusually low result across the whole period. It was, however, 6.1% below the preceding ten-year average and 17.6% below the 2016–17 peak of 219,052.

A big part of that gap is in apartments, townhouses and other residential buildings. Completions in that category fell from 103,731 in 2016–17 to 70,923 this year—a drop of 32,808, compared with 38,552 fewer completions overall. Australia has improved on last year, but the apartment-led boom that lifted the earlier peak remains a long way off.

The national result in context

The national result in context

Comparison	Completed homes	2025–26 versus comparison
2025–26	180,500	—
Previous year	175,510	+2.8%
20-year average	174,280	+3.6%
10-year average	192,214	−6.1%
Peak (2016-17)	219,052	−17.6%

Why is it taking so long to build more?

First, projects have to stack up financially. Land, building costs, finance and the eventual sale price all matter. The RBA’s May 2024 assessment described pandemic disruption, construction bottlenecks and development costs that were high relative to expected returns. By June 2026, house construction costs were 51% above their pre-pandemic level in nominal terms, according to the Housing Council’s August report. It also warned that higher costs and interest rates could delay future construction. Rising property prices do not automatically make every proposed development viable, and the finance decisions being made now can affect supply years later.

Second, starting a project and finishing it are a long way apart. There were 248,733 dwellings under construction at the end of June. They are future homes in various stages of progress, not a ready-made addition to today’s listings. Large apartment projects can take years to deliver. Meanwhile, the Productivity Commission estimated that labour productivity in home building fell 12% between 1994–95 and 2022–23, even after adjusting for the size and quality of homes. Its July 2026 interim report also highlighted restrictive planning rules, slow approvals and poorly coordinated infrastructure. A site needs more than permission on paper: roads and services have to be available too.

Third, the obstacles vary. It is tempting to explain the whole result as a shortage of builders, but that misses the local differences. RBA liaison findings published in February 2026 reported improved contractor and labour availability for high-density construction in NSW and Victoria, with detached builders there able to take on more work. Elsewhere, labour conditions were tighter. Getting more homes finished involves several things working together: viable projects, suitable sites, approvals, infrastructure and people available at the right stage of the job.

Our take: more homes, but the recovery needs to spread

We welcome the increase. Another 4,990 completed homes is progress. What we would like to see next is that growth spread across more of the country and more types of housing. At the moment, NSW’s other residential buildings are doing much of the work behind the national improvement.

For buyers, that helps explain why better national numbers might not leave you with a longer shortlist. If you need a house in a particular suburb, an apartment completed in another city won’t give you another place to inspect on Saturday.

At Rate Challenge, we look at supply and affordability together. Are more suitable homes coming onto your market? What are comparable homes selling for? And what does that price mean for your deposit, repayments and the money left to live on? Those are the questions that bring a national housing report back to your own front door.