18/05/2026
The federal budget dropped last week with some big moves for housing and construction. As an Architect practising in regional NSW, here's my honest take.
The push toward prefab housing and modular construction makes some sense on paper. Faster to build, more efficient to deliver, and we genuinely need more housing. But prefab, by it's nature, is designed away from the site it ends up on. It doesn't know the land, the light, the feel of a cool versus a freezing winter, or the community it's being dropped into. For a country a geographically and culturally varied as Australia, that's a real loss not just aesthetically, but in terms of what makes our local places feel like themselves.
There's give and take here, and I accept that. But we should go in with our eyes open.
The negative gearing changes- redirecting investment toward new builds, are designed to boost supply. Again, I understand the intent. However the general logic of investment (being maximimising returns) applies pressure to produce buildings with no consideration for passive design, performance of materials and long-term liveability. A cheap building sometimes isn't a cheap building for long- it can cost more to run, it degrades faster, and doesn't last as long as it's quality-considerate counterparts.
We're potentially solving a short-term numbers problem by creating a long-term quality problem.
What I'd rather see, and what I try to practice, is housing that is genuinely designed for where it sits. Efficient, affordable where we can make it so, but also considered, durable and specific to it's place.
More homes. But homes worth having.
