The Friday Intelligence Briefing
Plain · Sourced · Every FridayThe Build BriefIssue 001
We need 60,000 housing starts a quarter. We are not there yet.
Dwelling commencements against the 1.2 million home target, May building approvals, rising construction costs, and how to compare three builder quotes fairly.
By BuilderHQ, Melbourne
A first word from the BuilderHQ team
Welcome to The Build Brief. Every Friday, one calm and useful read on the forces shaping how homes get built in Australia.
This is our first edition, so here is what we are setting out to do. Building a home in Australia asks a great deal of the people who take it on, and the information around it is often scattered, technical, or quietly out of date. The Build Brief is our attempt to fix a small part of that.
Each Friday we take the week in residential construction, the numbers, the decisions and the shifts that actually matter, and set them out plainly enough to act on. Homeowners and developers, architects and designers, builders, and the brokers behind the finance each watch the same market through a different window. We look through all four.
We are not here to sell you anything in these pages. We are here to be useful, and to earn a place in your Friday. If we manage that, everything else takes care of itself. Thank you for reading the very first edition.
The BuilderHQ Team
01 · The Number
We need 60,000 starts a quarter. We are not there yet.
48,012
dwelling commencements, March quarter 2026
about 20% below the pace
How the quarter compares to the pace we need
- March quarter 202648,012
- Pace needed for the target60,000
- Gap to close~12,000 starts
About 12,000 starts below the quarterly pace the 1.2 million-home target implies. The demand is strong; the opportunity is in turning it into homes.
What this means for you
Line up finance, design and builder before you commit.
Bring budget into the design early, not at tender.
Clear pricing and timelines reassure cautious clients.
Start the construction-finance conversation early.
Source: ABS Building Activity · Treasury, 2026.
02 · Approval Watch
Approvals are holding. The density we need is still catching up.
-10.4%
medium-density approvals, May
detached houses rose 2.8%
May approvals: houses up, medium-density softer
- Total dwellings approved-1.1%
- Private sector houses+2.8%
- Private dwellings excl. houses-10.4%
- Value of residential approved-5.7%
Detached homes are leading, while apartments and townhouses have more ground to make up. Both matter for supply near infrastructure.
What this means for you
Test townhouse or dual-occupancy feasibility early.
Planning-aware, medium-density design is worth prioritising.
Multi-residential timing still hinges on approvals and funding.
Detached and multi-residential clients need different plans.
Source: ABS Building Approvals, May 2026.
03 · Cost Pulse
Build prices are rising as borrowing power tightens.
+5.6%
new dwelling price growth, year to May
up from 4.7%
Prices rising as new lending eases
- New dwelling prices, year to May+5.6%
- New loan commitments, Mar qtr-6.2%
- Owner-occupier lending-6.9%
- First home buyer lending-4.3%
Costs are climbing while new lending has cooled, so it pays to plan feasibility early. New lending eased 6.2% last quarter.
What this means for you
Check how long a quote holds, and keep a contingency.
Design with pricing in mind from the start.
Set out price validity, exclusions and any escalation clearly.
Approved borrowing and final cost can move apart; plan for it.
Source: ABS CPI & Lending Indicators, 2026.
Three quotes, three different scopes. How to compare them fairly.
Ask three builders to price the same home and the totals can look very different. That is rarely about one being cheaper. It comes down to what each quote includes, and what still sits in allowances.
Line them up on the same scope and you are comparing prices, not guesses. The annotated quote alongside shows the five places two quotes most often part ways: prime cost items, provisional sums, exclusions, price validity and progress payments.
A clear, complete quote protects the client, and it is a good builder's fastest way to earn trust.
Quotation No. 2041
New two-storey dwelling · Prepared for: A. Homeowner
- Preliminaries & site set-up$18,400
- Demolition & excavation$9,200
- Slab & footings$41,600
- Frame & roof structure$58,300
- Roofing & cladding$37,900
- Windows & external doorsPC$22,000
- Kitchen joineryPS$28,000
- Tiling & waterproofing$16,500
- Services (elec. + plumb.)$34,200
- LandscapingExcluded
Price valid: 30 days from issue · Payments: deposit + 5 progress claims
1Prime cost items: an estimate, not a fixed price
2Provisional sums: allowance for unselected work
3Exclusions: not in the price at all
4Price validity: how long the quote holds
5Progress payments: when money is claimed
What this means for you
Compare like for like before you compare price.
Clear drawings and selections make quotes comparable.
A transparent quote earns trust faster than a low one.
Realistic allowances keep a loan on track later.
Project of the Week
The Build Brief · Issue 001House in a Garden · Edition Office
Victorian Architecture Awards 2026 · winner
This year's Victorian Architecture Award winner treats landscape as part of the architecture, not a finishing layer. Privacy, outlook and light are resolved by the garden from the first sketch.
“The strongest projects use landscape to solve privacy, light and outlook from the very beginning.”
What this means for you
A smart site strategy adds value without adding size.
Landscape as concept, not decoration.
Sequencing structure, glazing and planting is the craft.
Design quality can support long-term value.
The ambition is right. The pace is the challenge.
“The housing target will be won or lost before construction starts.”
HIA's Tom Devitt notes Australia needs about 240,000 homes a year, and started 197,340 in the year to March. The encouraging part is where the leverage sits: much of the gap is decided before a site even begins, in design, approval, finance and contracts.
What this means for you
Resolve finance, design and builder early to keep momentum.
Approvals and documentation shape the timeline too.
Speed and certainty before site start are real advantages.
Guiding clients before contract stage makes the difference.
Meet Evoka Studio, where a home is carried from feasibility to the final drawing.
New builds & Renovations · Niddrie, VIC · In the network since 2026
Anthony Camuglia
Founder
“Design has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember.”
Why we introduce them
Anthony brings ten years of residential design and delivery to every Evoka Studio project. The studio starts with feasibility, so owners understand what a site can carry before design begins. From there, concept design, town planning, and construction documentation are all handled under one roof, with a focus on creativity, transparency, and seamless delivery from the first sketch through to handover.
The practice
Evoka Studio is a Niddrie practice designing new homes, renovations and townhouse developments across Melbourne, running end to end from feasibility and schematic design through planning and interiors to construction documentation.
Selected by BuilderHQ as one of our Preferred Design Partners. We welcome Anthony and the Evoka Studio team, and look forward to introducing their work to owners and developers across Melbourne.
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Reply to the teamThis edition used data and reporting from Australian Bureau of Statistics, Treasury, Reserve Bank of Australia, Housing Industry Association, Consumer Affairs Victoria, ArchitectureAU, ArchDaily. The Build Brief is compiled by BuilderHQ, Melbourne. Read past editions at builderhq.com.au/build-brief.