What the latest housing activity data means for Australia and NSW

Nationally, the latest housing activity data released by the Australian Bureau of statistics shows that:

• Total dwellings commenced fell 11.2% to 48,012 dwellings.
• New private sector houses commenced fell 3.5% to 27,658 dwellings.
• New private sector other residential commencements fell 20.7% to 19,116 dwellings.
• The value of total building work done rose 0.7% to $44.8b.

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For New South Wales

• Over the year to March 2026, a total of 51,714 new homes were commenced across New South Wales.
• This represents a 11.9 per cent gain compared with the year to March 2025.
• Since the start of the National Housing Accord's term, work has started on 87,973 new homes across New South Wales.

However, we should have got 131,506 new home starts over this period.

• For New South Wales, this represents a 43,533-home shortfall since the start of the Accord's term.
• It means that an average of 88,541 homes need to be built per year across New South Wales over the rest of the Accord's term.
• During the March 2026 quarter, there were 11,841 new home commencements in New South Wales
• This was a reduction of 28.7 per cent compared with the December 2025 quarter and represents a gain of 11.9 per cent compared with a year earlier.
• For new home starts in New South Wales, March 2026 was the weakest quarter since June 2025.