Australia is approving more homes. Why aren’t enough getting built?
Australia’s housing challenge is increasingly about conversion: moving approved projects through finance, commencement and completion.
2 min
Australia’s housing debate often treats a development approval as though it were a completed home. In practice, the distance between those two milestones can stretch for years—and a growing number of projects never cross it.
The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council reported in August that approximately 308,000 homes had been completed since the Housing Accord period began, roughly one quarter of the national target. It also identified 244,000 dwellings under construction in the March quarter, the largest pipeline recorded since 1984, while approvals and commencements had improved against their pre-Accord comparisons.
Those numbers show activity, but they also expose the conversion challenge. A planning consent establishes what may be built. It does not lock in the price of labour and materials, guarantee a construction loan or persuade enough buyers to sign unconditional contracts.
For apartment developers, the first hurdle is feasibility. Land, consultant, authority, finance and construction costs must be covered by realistic sales revenue. When building prices rise faster than achievable apartment values, a project can be approved and still be economically unbuildable.
The second hurdle is debt. Financiers typically require substantial equity, a fixed or sufficiently certain building contract and presales to acceptable purchasers. Valuers may discount speculative pricing, while lenders can treat contracts with long settlement periods or highly concentrated buyer profiles cautiously.
Presales form the third constraint. Owner-occupiers may prefer to see construction under way before committing; developers often need commitments before construction can begin. This circular dependency is particularly difficult for first-time developers and projects in untested locations.
The practical metric for policymakers and the industry is therefore not approvals in isolation, but conversion: how many approved dwellings progress to finance, commencement and completion, and how long each step takes.
There are no simple fixes. Faster planning can reduce holding costs, but cannot rescue an unviable scheme. Government-backed finance can help suitable projects, but should not disguise unrealistic land values. Standardised design and modern construction methods may improve productivity, provided procurement risk and quality control are addressed.
For buyers, an approval or sales launch should be viewed as the start of the delivery process—not proof that a home will exist on schedule. The most relevant questions concern finance, builder appointment, sunset provisions, deposits and the developer’s record of completing comparable projects.
Australia has made progress in filling the front end of the housing pipeline. The next challenge is getting those homes out the other end.
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A vibrant 1954 Palm Springs home featuring eight colorful murals by late artist Shawn Savage is on the market for $2.295 million. The 2,237-square-foot property features bold hot-pink doors, three bedrooms, a pool, mountain views and playful interiors blending modern glamour with classic Palm Springs style.
3 min
A bold 1950s home in Palm Springs, California, adorned with eight colorful murals by the late artist Shawn Savage, is coming to market ahead of the city’s annual Modernism Week.
The white stucco home on El Camino Way, built in 1954 and recently renovated, has an asking price of $2.295 million. Its staggered facade features three playfully abstract murals on either side of double-height hot pink doors.
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The sellers are Los Angeles-based partners John Freeman and Mathieu Faure, who knew it was “the one” when they saw it after several months of searching in the winter of 2023. “It’s a happy house,” Freeman said. “We really liked the feel of the house: the uniqueness, the openness, the brightness—and the art.”
Located in the Mesa neighborhood of Palm Springs, which backs up to the San Jacinto Mountains, the 2,237-square-foot house features three bedrooms, an angled bonus room and a yard with a pool, desert mountain views and another colorful mural running alongside the pool.
“I never thought in my life I would have a house with pink doors,” said Faure, a producer at Apple TV who is originally from Paris. “It’s so colorful, it’s so different. And so Palm Springs.”
The layout of the home creates a smooth flow from the front doors through the open-plan common area—a foyer, bar, and living and dining room—into the kitchen around a fireplace wall and out to the yard. A corridor leads to a private bedroom wing, where the primary suite has floor-to-ceiling windows and the primary bath is only a tad smaller than the bedroom.
Faure has filled the home with Jonathan Adler furniture, rugs and accessories, riffing on the energetic California vibes of the house to create an aesthetic of “modern American glamour,” he said.
“It was enjoyable for me to play with different types of furniture and make this house ‘happy chic,’ as I describe it,” he said.
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“He did a fantastic job,” said Freeman, who is an attorney and consultant. “It does kind of bring a smile to my face whenever I walk into the house.”
Since the furniture and decor were chosen for the particularities of the space, the couple is open to selling them with the home. Their West Hollywood house is already furnished; the collection doesn’t match the vibes of a Houston loft they bought near family; and Faure can’t imagine these pieces in New York—where he’s lived in the past—he said.
The duo bought the Palm Springs house for $1.925 million in 2024, according to property records, and will list the home Monday. They are represented by Stewart Smith, Patrick Jordan and Kevin Stanley of Bennion Deville Homes/Luxury Portfolio International.
The previous owners had purchased the home in 2021 for $975,000 and then spent more than two years and $700,000 on the renovation, according to Realtor.com. They commissioned Savage, a local Palm Springs artist and painter known for his joyful abstract work, to decorate the home.
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Savage, who died in 2024, lived in the Coachella Valley from 2003, and his work can be found in various local institutions and is on exhibit at the Illumine Gallery in Palm Springs. “Some artists pass through a place. Shawn Savage became a part of it,” the gallery’s description states.
Unsurprisingly, the murals invite lots of friendly conversations, as well as guided tours and interested lookers, but never to a degree that it disturbed the peacefulness of their home or the neighborhood, the sellers said. “It felt like living in an art gallery, and you have the exterior that you would share with the world,” Faure explained.
The neighborhood also played a role in their decision to buy, because of its access to the hiking trails of the San Jacinto Mountains, the lack of through-roads and the neighborly environment.
“It’s a very friendly place,” Faure said.
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