WA Makes Housing Crisis Bet on Modular Homes

A new modular and prefabricated homes factory has opened in the west as WA deals with a substantial housing target shortfall.

Evoke Living Homes has set up a factory at Northam in the Wheatbelt region, about 97km east-north-east of Perth in the Avon Valley, with the help of a $200,000 Regional Economic Development grant from the state.

The new all-weather facility would allow Evoke to increase production by 20 per cent and cut construction delays, the company said. 

WA regional development minister Don Punch said that modular home construction “plays a vital role in meeting Western Australia’s demand for new housing stock”.

Modular and prefabricated homes have advanced in design and construction dramatically in the past decade or so as manufacturers worked to shake off their post-war reputation. 

Although still at small volumes, prefabricated homes have gained ground in other states including Queensland, which made a deal with Volo Modular last year.

▲ A completed Evoke Living Homes modular home at Champion Lakes, 37km south-west of the Perth CBD.

According to the Master Builders of Australia, Western Australia still has a long way to go in terms of housing provision despite the support from the state government for projects across modular homes and affordable build-to-rent. 

Projected new home building starts across the state’s Housing Accord five-year timeline is 114,620, which is 11.9 per cent below the target. 

While it is nowhere near the worst of the bunch—South Australia is 33.3 per cent behind its target, Tasmania 39.6 per cent and the Northern Territory a whopping 83.6 per cent—it means WA still requires 15,420 new homes to be built in the state.