It’s the greatest crisis confronting the country – now Peter Dutton plans to fix it. The only catch? It will cost taxpayers $5billion

Peter Dutton will pledge to spend $5 billion to solve Australia’s housing crisis through a major infrastructure overhaul that could accelerate the building of 500,000 new homes.

The opposition leader will reveal his Housing infrastructure program on Saturday.

The ‘use it or lose it’ financing will help local municipalities accelerate water, electricity, sewerage and access roads through grants and concessional loans.

Approved projects will have to start progress within 12 months of the contract date or funding will end, with the Coalition claiming that detached homes with rear gardens are the ‘cheapest form of housing for first home buyers’.

“We know there are hundreds of greenfield sites ready for development across the country, but progress has stalled due to a lack of funding for essential supporting infrastructure,” said a statement announcing the policy.

‘Our approach is aimed at investing in enabling infrastructure to unlock the supply of new residential areas.’

The claim is likely to be contested by state governments, with NSW Premier Chris Minns repeatedly indicating Sydney is unable to support more housing on its western fringe due to the costs associated with ensuring adequate infrastructure around the sites.

Instead, the state government has given the municipality housing targets and changed zoning regulations to encourage medium and high density development in well-located areas known as Transport Oriented Development areas.

However, the coalition is expected to point to research from the Center for International Economics from August 2024 showing that the cost of selling a Greenfield home is $790,000, compared to $905,000 for a mid-rise apartment and $860,000 for a high-rise apartment. .

The Housing Infrastructure Program will help local authorities connect greenfield sites to critical infrastructure such as sewerage, water and electricity

The research shows that this is due to the higher costs of delivering infill apartments, which increased by more than 6 percent between 2018 and 2023 for apartments from four to nine floors.

On Saturday, Mr Dutton will also announce a 10-year freeze on making further changes to the National Construction Code, which he says will impose costly compliance burdens on new housing developments, with the costs then passed on to consumers.

Earlier this week, housing spokesman Michael Sukkar announced the Coalition would scrap Labour’s 1.2 million home target if elected, accusing the Coalition of lying to Australians.

Speaking to ABC, Mr Sukkar said there was “no way” the government would meet its target, with Master Builders Australia estimating current new home start rates would result in a shortfall of 166,000 homes.