New findings this week have emphasised the need for Australia to produce more affordable housing for its growing population.
 
The Commonwealth Government’s Intergenerational Report expects Australia will grow at 2.8% per annum in the next 40 years. This is less than the 3.1% per annum seen over the past 40 years.
 
Meanwhile, the report also anticipates the population growth to be at 1.3% per annum. This is also less than the 1.4% growth seen in the last four decades.
 
However, despite the slight decline in the projected population growth, the report still warned that it is still enough to make the population boom to 40bn in 2055.
 
“Australia will need more than 9m new homes to meet the needs of the population projected in the Intergenerational report,” said Wilhelm Harnisch, chief executive of Master Builders Australia.
 
“The key challenge will be to tackle intergenerational housing affordability in order to preserve home ownership as a fundamental pillar of Australian economic and family life over the next 40 years.”
 
Another chief executive, Graham Wolfe of the Housing Industry Association, agrees with Harnisch and said that “to achieve a significant increase in the delivery of housing that is affordable and meets the nation’s future demographic needs, governments must focus on investment in economic and social infrastructure, increasing the supply of residential land, and removing impediments in the planning system.”
 

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