- REIA have called on the federal government to address housing affordability
- 97% of Australians are concerned with housing supply
- Supply shortfalls are predicted to be between 20% and 50%
Urgent calls have been made on the Australian government to address the issues surrounding home ownership.
The Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) has outlined five key areas in which supply challenges need to be solved. These include homelessness, social and affordable housing, private rentals, first home buyers and home ownership.
REIA’s president, Adrian Kelly, highlighted the urgency for addressing the housing difficulties while speaking at the National Housing Forum earlier this month. He said that after hosting ‘Getting Real‘, the first ever policy forum for real estate agents, the predictions for sales and rental supply shortfalls were upgraded to 20 – 50 %.
“The amount of owner-occupiers without a mortgage plummeted from 40% in 1994 to just 30% by 2018 and this figure is expected to continue to decline as more people struggle to pay off their homes,” he said.
Mr Kelly believes that addressing the private sector, rather than affordable or social housing, should be a higher priority.
“…we do have to acknowledge that 97% of Australians are concerned with supply in the private market.”
Adrian Kelly, REIA President
“Pre-pandemic, REIA estimated the supply shortfall to be around 150,000 homes and this is despite the major home construction boom credited widely to the HomeBuilder stimulus.
“With 235,000 new Australians expected to return in force by 2023-24 after negative population growth, enabling supply is going to be critical. Between 2023 and 2060, we can expect significant changes to the status quo that must be planned for,” Mr Kelly said.
The housing affordability crisis is highlighted in New South Wales where it is at its worst ever according to REIA. Mortgagors in the state spend a staggering 43.7% of their income on loan repayments. Renters spend 27.5% of their income on rent.
“Outlandish media headlines on housing affordability are all very well and good, but the reality is we need to bring State and Federal Governments to the table to tackling a housing supply plan using the same spirit, determination and funding we have used to fight COVID-19,”
