Prefab paradise? How China-made homes could solve Australia’s housing crisis

Though the numbers may pale in comparison to the billions of dollars in two-way trade between the regions, Australian imports of prefab goods from Asia have been steadily climbing year over year.

“There’s no doubt that the electorate’s mind is focused on cost of living issues with housing at its root,” said Matthew Kandelaars, Property Council of Australia’s group executive on policy and advocacy. “More and more people are talking about prefab in an Australian context, given the significant national housing supply deficit that we’re facing.”

“As Australia’s domestic sector for prefab housing … [and supply chains] prove themselves up and scale up, then the natural position would be that we would look to import what we can,” Kandelaars said.

Over the past five years, Australia has imported nearly A$500 million (US$338 million) worth of prefab housing materials and modules from China alone, while imports from Malaysia and Vietnam each totalled around A$34 million.

Chinese goods made up roughly 70 per cent of Australia’s prefab imports last year – dwarfing the more modest 3 per cent shares from Malaysia and Vietnam, in distant second and third place.

This surge in Asian imports comes as the Australian government has set an ambitious target – signing a new national housing accord with state counterparts to build 1.2 million new homes between 2024 and 2029. National statistics show just over 900,000 dwellings were constructed nationally in the previous five-year period.

Kandelaars highlighted the scale of the challenge, citing a complex and bottlenecked housing system beset by rising taxes, high construction and land costs, and cumbersome development approval red tape. He said that while the “dream of a quarter-acre block that has