Housing, building and finance leaders met in Perth on Monday to talk supply, costs, tax and approvals. The latest data shows a state starting more homes than ever, but finishing fewer.

Western Australia’s housing industry sat down in Perth on Monday for a roundtable on how to lift supply.

The session was hosted by Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg and Sandra Brewer MLA, the state’s Shadow Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Housing, with leaders from the housing, building and finance sectors in the room.

The opening address set the agenda: supply, building costs, tax, approvals and population growth. We looked at where WA builders actually stand on each one.

WA is starting more homes and finishing fewer

The pipeline is filling fast. ABS Building Activity data shows WA commenced 25,505 dwellings in the year to June 2026, seasonally adjusted. That is up 13 per cent on the year before, with 7,240 starts in the June quarter alone.

Completions are heading the other way. WA finished 19,638 dwellings over the same four quarters, down about 13 per cent.

That gap is what matters for the housing target. Over the first eight quarters of the National Housing Accord, WA completed 42,189 homes. On our calculation, that leaves the state about 9,800 homes, or 19 per cent, behind the pace needed for its share.

WA is still one of the better placed states. The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council expects WA to reach its share in the December quarter of 2029, about six months late, and a year ahead of the national target. WA has also approved 38 per cent of its share so far, more than any other state or territory.

How Accord progress is measured

The National Housing Accord counts new dwellings completed, not approved or started, using seasonally adjusted ABS Building Activity data from 1 July 2024. A target of 1.2 million homes over 20 quarters is 60,000 a quarter nationally. State shares are set by population at the time the Accord was agreed, which puts Western Australia’s share at roughly 130,000 homes, or about 6,500 a quarter.

Building costs are rising faster in WA than nationally

The ABS Producer Price Indexes show prices for house construction in WA rose 8.8 per cent in the year to June. Nationally, the rise was 5.9 per cent.

On the materials side, input prices for house construction in Perth rose 2.0 per cent in the June quarter and 3.9 per cent over the year. Electrical cable and conduit led the Perth increase, up 16.7 per cent in a single quarter.

The ABS links the June quarter rise to higher raw material, freight and fuel costs, and supply chain disruption tied to the conflict in the Middle East. It also points to continued shortages of bricklayers, carpenters and concreters across residential work.

WA is not short of homes being started. It is short of homes being finished.

WA insolvencies eased last year

Nationally, construction remains the industry with the most company failures. ASIC data shows 3,472 construction companies entered external administration or had a controller appointed for the first time in the year to June 2026, or 24.5 per cent of all companies.

WA’s count moved the other way. On our analysis of the ASIC data, 141 WA construction companies entered external administration for the first time in the year to June, down from 168 the year before. The four years before that ran at 93, 145, 151 and 168.

The new financial year has started heavily at the national level, with 1,448 construction companies recorded between July and early October, including 540 from a single group collapse in August. WA’s count over the same period is 61.

The building code transition runs to May 2027

Compliance cost came up in the address, including the National Construction Code. WA adopted NCC 2025 on 1 May 2026, but builders can keep applying NCC 2022 to building permit applications until 30 April 2027. After that, NCC 2025 is mandatory.

For builders who work across borders, the dates differ by state. We have set out how the transition works across states separately.

Family trust tax was on the agenda

The address raised the proposed minimum tax on discretionary trusts, a structure some small building businesses trade through.

Under the Treasury Budget measures, a 30 per cent minimum tax on discretionary trusts is set to start on 1 July 2028. Rollover relief for businesses that want to restructure runs for three years from 1 July 2027.

The other Budget housing changes limit negative gearing to new builds from 1 July 2027, so investors in new homes keep it. The Opposition argues the package will still weigh on investment. The Council’s view is that the effect on housing supply will be modest.

Demand is not slowing down

WA had the fastest growing population in the country in the year to March 2026, up 2.1 per cent, according to the ABS.

The state government has a range of supply measures in play, listed in the Council’s latest report. They include a presale guarantee for apartment projects, simpler residential design codes to allow more lots to be subdivided, faster approvals around train stations, and free and low fee building and construction courses.

What it adds up to for WA builders

WA is not short of homes being started. It is short of homes being finished. With starts up and completions down, the pressure point has moved from winning work to finishing the work already under way. Trades, supervision and build times decide how fast that pipeline clears.

Costs are also moving faster here than elsewhere. Builders holding fixed price contracts signed before the June quarter absorb that movement themselves, while newer work has been priced higher, as the 8.8 per cent rise in output prices shows.

And businesses that trade through a family trust now have a timetable. Rollover relief opens on 1 July 2027, a year before the minimum tax applies.

The bottom line

Roundtables are only as useful as what follows them. The WA data gives a clear brief for whoever takes the next step: the state has the approvals and the starts. What it needs is the capacity to turn them into finished homes.

We will keep tracking the WA numbers each quarter. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, or catch Az on The Good Builder Podcast for what the data means on site.

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Last updated 20 October 2026. Commencements and completions are ABS Building Activity, Australia, June 2026 (released 7 October 2026), seasonally adjusted, and will be revised on 13 January 2027. Insolvency counts are our analysis of ASIC Series 1 data published 19 October 2026. Price indexes are ABS Producer Price Indexes, June 2026. Accord progress calculations are ours.

General Information Only: This article provides general information only and does not constitute financial, legal, tax or professional advice. It does not take into account your specific circumstances. You should seek independent professional advice before making any decision based on this information. The Good Builder makes no representations or warranties about the accuracy or completeness of the information, which is current as at the date of publication.

Author: TGB Editorial