REA Group’s Economist Anne Flaherty warned that Australia’s housing crisis is “only going to get worse” as demand from strong immigration continues to far outrun housing construction.

“Over August we did see approvals increase by 7%. But compared to 12 months earlier they were actually down over 20%”, Flaherty told Sky News Business Editor Ross Greenwood.

“This is really problematic if you think about the fact that our population is growing so rapidly”.

“We know that over the 12 months to March, our population increased by 563,000 people. So, unless approvals pick up the issues, we’re seeing with undersupply at the moment are only going to get worse”.

“Unfortunately, building approvals are your best-case scenario of how many homes are going to be developed. Because the reality is that just because a property is approved for development does not mean it is going to get off the ground”.

Read the full article at macrobusiness.com.au