Fewer starts push rents through the roof

Housing rents will rise sharply next year – and keep rising until at least 2012 – in response to the pressure of rising demand and record low supply.

In an update to its Residential Property Prospects, 2009 to 2012, forecaster BIS Shrapnel predicted that housing rents would rise over the next three years at an average of 5 percent or more in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

The ongoing prices have implication for housing rises, for public policy and the Reserve Bank

Robert Harley

Housing shortage looms in 2020: HIA Ainslie Chandler


Australia could be short of nearly 500,000 dwellings within 10 years, which would push up house prices and rents, if population growth and low construction levels continue, the Housing Industry Association has forecast. And NSW is likely to bear the brunt of it because more than half a million dwellings will be needed in the state in the coming decade to meet demand.