The Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) welcomes the Albanese Government’s progress in accelerating housing approvals under national environmental laws, with more than 4,600 new homes approved since August.
UDIA National President, Oscar Stanley, said the announcement by Ministers Clare O’Neil and Murray Watt demonstrates that reforming environmental approvals can deliver tangible results for Australia’s housing supply.
“We welcome the Commonwealth’s progress in approving more than 4,600 homes under national environmental law since August, it shows momentum is possible when processes are focused,” Mr Stanley said.
“Our National Housing Pipeline (NHP) data has revealed that in some regions, 50 to 90% of identified land is constrained by environmental overlays, and across Australia the vast majority of the development pipeline is stalled in approval or assessment phases.
“If we are serious about delivering 1.2 million homes, we must see systemic reform of the environmental assessment regime, not piecemeal approvals here or there.”
Mr Stanley said the NHP provides a unique, industry-vetted evidence base for policy reform, relying on developer intentions combined with spatial constraint mapping to ground-truth how much supply is genuinely deliverable across the nation.
He added that UDIA’s 2025 edition of the National Housing Pipeline is underway and will provide updated, real-time insight into the scale of housing supply that can be unlocked through targeted regulatory reform. “We look forward to sharing this new data with Minister O’Neil, Minister Watt and their departments to continue building on this momentum, aligning environmental protections with the urgent national task of delivering more homes for Australians,” he said.