Monday 20 July 2026 – Two months on, major housing reforms announced in the Federal Budget have failed to boost Australians’ trust in the Government’s ability to solve the housing crisis.
The latest AMPLIFY Home Truths survey of 4,010 Australians* shows distrust in the Federal Government to take the right actions on housing has increased from 61 per cent before the Budget to 63 per cent today.
Almost three times as many Australians believe the Budget has left them worse off overall (39 per cent) than better off (14 per cent).
Despite the Budget's focus on helping first-home buyers, the research shows 68 per cent of Australians believe it will either make no difference or make it harder for first-home buyers, compared with just 24 per cent who believe it will make it easier.
Among Australians aged 18 to 34, 61 per cent say the Budget will make no difference or make it harder to buy a first home, compared with 28 per cent who believe it will make it easier.
“The Federal Government sold this as a housing Budget, but Australians aren’t buying it,” AMPLIFY Acting CEO Martin Codina said.
“When you look at individual Budget measures, the picture is mixed at best. Taken together, Australians remain deeply pessimistic about housing outcomes since the Budget. First-home buyers are sceptical it will make it easier to get into the market or lead to more supply and renters are increasingly concerned about its impact on rents.
“Beyond housing, almost three times as many Australians saythe Budget will leave them worse off overall than better off.
“What we've seen following the Budget is a broader decline in confidence and trust that governments can solve the housing crisis.”
While 89 per cent of Australians unequivocally believe Australia needs to build more houses to meet current and future need, confidence collapses when it comes to delivery. Nearly two-thirds of Australians (65 per cent) are not confident the National Housing Accord target of 1.2 million homes by 2029 will be achieved, while almost three-quarters (73 per cent) do not believe enough homes will be built over the next four years.
“It seems that many Australians are sceptical that the Budget’s housing reforms will solve the housing crisis as opposed to just redistributing the winners and losers from it,” Mr Codina said.
“The Federal Government has to lower the cost of building homes and accelerate the construction of more homes if it wants to win back the confidence of Australians.”
Read the report: AMPLIFY Home Truths: Promises v reality
*AMPLIFY Home Truths (July 2026) is based on a representative survey of 4,010Australians conducted by Pureprofile between 11 June and 3 July 2026.
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MEDIA CONTACT
Rosemarie Lentini | media@amplifyaus.org | 0461 428 917
About AMPLIFY
AMPLIFY is an independent advocacy organisation which uses cutting edge tools to bring together community, experts and decision-makers to drive change and shape policies. For more information: amplifyaus.org.
ABOUT AMPLIFY HOME TRUTHS
AMPLIFY Home Truths is Australia’s first national scorecard tracking housing delivery and community confidence across all states and territories. It combines survey results from more than 4,000 Australians with the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics housing construction data. It is published quarterly. The first report was released in October 2025 (quarter 1), followed by reports in February 2026 (quarter 2), April 2026 (quarter 3) and July 2026 (quarter 4).