Australia’s housing shortage is predicted to get much worse as construction of new housing continues to fall short of demand, according to a latest property report by research firm RP Data.
RP Data national research director Tim Lawless said despite Australia’s growing population, the reluctance by developers to build was due to a lack of buyer confidence and a drop in housing loans as credit standards tightened.
“The net results of these factors are that low supply additions and strong population growth are at odds with each other,” he said.
“At the base level we are seeing demand for housing far outstripping supply additions, and the situation is becoming worse.”
According to Lawless, in addition to this, pressure continues to build on the rental market.
“Vacancy rates are averaging less than 2 per cent across the nation’s capital cities and rental rates for houses increased by 11 per cent over the past 12 months,” he said.
“We would expect to see rises in weekly rental rates of a similar magnitude over the coming year.”
