Australia is forecast to have a 163,400 shortage of dwellings by 2032.Mirvac chief executive Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz and Boral CEO Zlatko Todorcevski have told a National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation panel the shortfall is a result of an increase in single-person households and the returnof migration-driven population growth.Lloyd-Hurwitz says adding to the issue is that planning regulations around the country are convoluted and complicated, particularly in New South Wales.“We have migration turning on at the same time as we’re going to have an undersupply of housing,” she said. “So that takes us right back again to the supply issue and the need urgently to get more supply into the market.”The NHFIC’s State of the Nation’s Housing 2021-22 report predicts the number of single-person households will rise from 25% (2016 Census) to 27.5% by 2032. Lloyd-Hurwitz and Todorcevski say this means unit developments will be an increasingly important part of Australia’s housing picture.
