Property Council SA demands more State Govt action on retirement living and aged care

The Property Council of Australia’s South Australian Division says the latest ABS dwelling completion figures warns the pace of delivery remains well below what is required to meet housing demand including retirement living and aged care.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics' latest quarterly data shows South Australia completed 3,049 dwellings in the September 2025 quarter, down 15.6% on the previous quarter, at a time when national completions rose by more than 7%.

“The data is clear: delivery is not keeping pace with demand. In the September quarter alone, South Australia built only 68% of the homes required, leaving a shortfall of around 1400 dwellings in just three months,” Property Council SA Executive Director Bruce Djite said.

Bruce said that while recent housing initiatives and reforms, including the State Government’s adoption of the Property Council’s key election ask of a $500 million pre-sale guarantee fund will help unlock CBD apartments, more can be done to support greater housing choice and density beyond the CBD.

He pointed to the need for more retirement living and aged care options, student accommodation, smaller homes and land lease models to help bridge the affordability challenges.

“This is not about a lack of ambition from government; it’s about the execution. Without faster approvals, fast-tracked Code Amendments and improved infrastructure coordination, the gap between what’s needed and what’s delivered will continue to widen,” he said.

The Property Council says the ABS figures reinforce the need for immediate action, including measures already outlined in its election platform, Ready, Set, Grow: South Australia’s Prosperity Roadmap, such as:

• Funding and coordinating enabling infrastructure to provide critical development-ready employment/industrial land and support jobs growth.
• Ensuring South Australia is the most competitive and attractive jurisdiction for local, interstate and international capital.
• Cutting red tape and streamlining approval processes to increase speed and certainty for investors, developers, builders and the consumer.