Live Housing Dashboard
Key indicators updated from ABS and AIHW. Building approvals at 197,971/year — 82% of the 240k Accord target. 79,600 unmet requests last year.
Australia is currently building at an annual rate of 197,971 dwellings per year — 42,029 dwellings behind the National Housing Accord target of 240,000 per year. Meanwhile, 79,600 requests for help went unmet through specialist homelessness services last year, with only 27.4% of people who needed housing actually receiving it.
Monthly Approvals
17,780
+13% vs last year
Annual Run Rate
197,971
82% of 240k accord target
Unmet SHS Requests
79,600
+10.9% YoY
Housing Success Rate
27.4%
1 in 4 people who needed housing got it
Housing Supply — Are We Building Enough?
The gold line is the 12-month rolling average — the real trend. The blue line is monthly approvals. The red dashed line is the 20,000/month pace needed to hit the Accord target.
Monthly Dwelling Approvals — ABS 8731.0
Supply Gap at a Glance
What this means:
At current pace, Australia will deliver roughly 940,000 homes over 5 years — against a target of 1.2 million.
At current pace, Australia will deliver roughly 940,000 homes over 5 years — against a target of 1.2 million.
Homelessness & Housing Demand — The Human Cost
How many people sought help each year, how many went unassisted, and — crucially — how few of those who needed long-term housing actually received it.
Specialist Homelessness Services — Annual Trend (AIHW)
2023–24 Outcomes — The Unmet Housing Gap
Sought help301,200 · 100%
Needed housing163,400 · 54%
Got housing44,800 · 15%
The unmet housing gap:
In 2023–24, 163,400 people came to SHS agencies specifically needing long-term housing.
Only 44,800 received it. That means 118,600 people walked away without housing — a 73% failure rate driven directly by insufficient social and community housing stock.
In 2023–24, 163,400 people came to SHS agencies specifically needing long-term housing.
Only 44,800 received it. That means 118,600 people walked away without housing — a 73% failure rate driven directly by insufficient social and community housing stock.
Social Housing Waitlists — The Queue Getting Longer
Each line is approved applicants waiting for social housing in each state. A rising line means the sector is losing ground. NSW alone has over 61,000 households on the register.
Social Housing Waitlist by State (2019–2024)
Reading this chart: Combined waitlists across tracked states have grown by 73% over the period shown. NSW and VIC have the largest absolute numbers. Every person on this list is a potential tenant for a community housing provider.
Data Sources
| Dataset | Publisher | Frequency | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| ABS Building Approvals (8731.0) | Australian Bureau of Statistics | Monthly | Supply run rate, Accord tracking |
| SHS Annual Report | AIHW | Annual | Homelessness demand, unmet need |
| State Housing Registers | NSW DCJ, VIC DFFH, QLD DCHDE, WA DPLH, SA SAHT | Annual | Waitlist volumes by state |