{"id":591798,"date":"2026-04-07T18:54:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T18:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/591798\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T18:54:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T18:54:32","slug":"australias-land-price-bubble-is-the-real-housing-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/591798\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s land price bubble is the real housing crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics\u2019 (ABS) annual national accounts for 2024\u201325, the total value of residential land rose by 7.0% over the financial year to an all-time high of $8.3 trillion.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Australian-land-values.png\" width=\"660\" height=\"471\" alt=\"Australian land values\"\/><\/p>\n<p>In 1989, the total value of residential land in Australia was 1.1 times GDP. By 2024\u201325, it had increased to 3.0 times GDP.<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Australian-land-values-index.png\" width=\"660\" height=\"475\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Autralian land values index\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Land now makes up 75% of the value of Australia\u2019s housing stock, up from 54% in 1990\u201391.<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Residential-land-as-a-of-dwellings.png\" width=\"660\" height=\"446\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Residential land share\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The HIA-Cotality Residential Land Report for the September 2025 quarter was <a href=\"https:\/\/hia.com.au\/our-industry\/newsroom\/economic-research-and-forecasting\/2026\/02\/land-is-the-number-one-constraint-on-home-building-in-australia\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">released<\/a> in February. It showed that land values have continued to climb, fueling the housing affordability crisis and restricting new home building.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>According to HIA-Cotality, the median lot price in Australia increased by 46.2% since September 2019 and by an astounding 514% since September 2000:<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Land-prices.png\" width=\"660\" height=\"351\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Lot price increases\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Over the same 25-year period, construction costs and the price of skilled labour increased by around 150%, according to HIA-Cotality.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The median lot values in all capital cities have experienced a significant increase over the decade leading up to September 2025, as demonstrated below:<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Median-lot-prices.png\" width=\"660\" height=\"335\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Median lot prices\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The following are the increases in lot prices across the six state capitals over the decade to September 2025:<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Greater Sydney increased by $275,100 (67%). Greater Melbourne saw an increase of $185,000 (86%). Greater Brisbane: an increase of $225,200 (99%). Greater Adelaide saw a rise of $173,000 (87%). Greater Perth: a gain of $135,000 (53%). Greater Hobart: a rise of $147,500 (101%). <\/p>\n<p>Over the same 10-year period, median lot sizes declined in all capitals except Brisbane:<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Median-lot-sizes.png\" width=\"660\" height=\"334\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Median lot sizes\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>As a result, lot prices per square metre rose even more aggressively across the capitals:<\/p>\n<p>Greater Sydney: a rise of $1019 (102%). Greater Melbourne: a rise of $551 (106%). Greater Brisbane: a rise of $514 (102%). Greater Adelaide: a rise of $525 (97%). Greater Perth: a rise of $389 (57%). Greater Hobart: a rise of $225 (104%). <img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Lot-price-per-square-metre.png\" width=\"660\" height=\"332\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Lot price per square metre\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Last week, the Guardian\u2019s Greg Jericho <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/grogonomics\/2026\/apr\/02\/australia-land-grab-young-people-little-hope-buying-home\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">reported<\/a> that nearly half (49%) of the rise in Australia\u2019s household wealth in 2025 was driven by\u00a0the appreciation of residential land values.<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Household-assets-of-land-and-dwellings.png\" width=\"660\" height=\"428\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Household assets of land and dwellings\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jericho also showed that over the past 25 years, residential land has been the fastest-growing component of household assets, growing by 832%:<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Growth-of-household-assets.png\" width=\"660\" height=\"427\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Growth of household assets\"\/><\/p>\n<p>In dollar terms, residential land values have increased by nearly $8.4 trillion, easily exceeding every other asset class:<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Growth-of-household-assets-2000-to-2025.png\" width=\"660\" height=\"431\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Growth of household assets 2000 to 2025\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe great Australian dream might be to own a home, but really it is the land on which your home is built that is of real value\u201d, Jericho wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Strongly rising land prices, alongside higher material costs and labour shortages, present major roadblocks to building homes for Australia\u2019s rapidly growing population.<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Impact-of-housing-cost-crunch.png\" width=\"660\" height=\"548\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Construction cost inflation\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The supply curve for housing construction has shifted leftward, reducing the number of homes that can be built at each price point.<\/p>\n<p>The federal government should have responded by lowering immigration to reduce demand. Instead, it chose to run the largest migrant intake in Australia\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/NOM-per-day-in-office.png\" width=\"614\" height=\"475\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"NOM per day in office\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Accordingly, Australia\u2019s housing market is suffering from chronic housing shortages, which the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macrobusiness.com.au\/2025\/11\/australias-housing-shortage-reaches-220000\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">National Housing Supply and Affordability Council<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macrobusiness.com.au\/2026\/01\/housing-shortages-to-drive-prices-higher\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">KPMG<\/a> forecast will\u00a0worsen.<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/KPMG-housing-supply-demand-imbalance.png\" width=\"660\" height=\"330\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"KPMG housing supply-demand imbalance\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chart by KPMG<\/p>\n<p>The only realistic solution to Australia\u2019s housing shortage is to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macrobusiness.com.au\/2026\/02\/canada-solved-its-rental-crisis-australia-can-too\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">emulate Canada<\/a> by aggressively cutting immigration so that population demand matches supply.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics\u2019 (ABS) annual national accounts for 2024\u201325, the total value of residential&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-591798","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}