Industry leaders want policy reforms, investor incentives, and fewer regulatory barriers
As Australia’s housing crisis intensifies, industry leaders are calling for immediate and long-term strategies to address the nation’s growing supply-demand imbalance.
Shadow federal housing minister Michael Sukkar, Hotspotting director Terry Ryder, and Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) chief executive Kelly Ryan recently met to discuss potential solutions, including freezing changes to the National Construction Code (NCC), increasing investment in housing infrastructure, providing incentives for property investors, and aligning migration programs with housing capacity.
Sukkar (pictured above centre) highlighted that immigration policies and regulatory constraints were worsening the gap between housing supply and demand.
“Our capacity to build homes cannot meet the demand,” Sukkar said, stressing that delays caused by state and local government processes, combined with immigration programs not calibrated to housing supply, were exacerbating the crisis.
He called for adjustments to immigration programs and reforms in planning and zoning to reduce the housing deficit. “Population growth driven primarily by immigration needs to be calibrated to the capacity to build homes,” he said. “Australia needs to build more homes than we need for at least a 10- or 15-year period just to catch up with the accumulated deficit we've got.”
Ryan (pictured above right) noted that varying economic and market conditions across the country had little impact on resolving the housing shortage. “We’re seeing incredible capital growth in Queensland, pricing people out, while Victoria faces declines and stagnation,” she said.
She also emphasised that government incentives were essential to maintaining housing supply and supporting private investors who provide vital rental properties. “We need to bring some incentives into the market, especially at a time where it is incredibly critical to maintain supply,” the REIV chief said.
Ryan also warned that increasing regulations were driving up costs for property owners and putting further pressure on renters. “From a rental point of view, it is tough,” she said. “We have more regulation than ever before in the state of Victoria, adding costs to people holding investment properties, which will drive an increase in rental prices and force people to make lifestyle compromises.” She noted a growing trend of group living arrangements as renters seek to mitigate rising costs, predicting this shift may become a long-term reality.
Ryder (pictured above left), meanwhile, pointed to high construction costs as a key barrier to boosting supply. “We have an obscenely high cost of building new dwellings, making many projects economically unviable,” he said.
According to Ryder, the average cost of building a new home in Australia has risen to $537,000, while the median lot price in capital cities is now $408,000. “We are getting scarily close to the point where a typical house and land package in a city in Australia costs $1 million,” he said.
Sukkar echoed these concerns, noting that elevated construction costs, holding expenses, and regulatory charges were preventing viable projects from proceeding. Ryder also called for reducing government-imposed costs and shifting public perception of property investors.
“We have to stop demonising and vilifying the people who provide more than 90% of the rental properties,” he said. “Investors are not wealthy people – they are often average income earners who own just one or two properties. We need to incentivise these people to maintain and increase rental supply.”
Want to be regularly updated with mortgage news and features? Get exclusive interviews, breaking news, and industry events in your inbox – subscribe to our FREE daily newsletter. You can also follow us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn.
