HIA Chief Economist Tim Reardon says it will be “very challenging” for the government to achieve their target of 1.2 million new homes by 2029.
He says the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to increase the interest rate will “cause the building industry to slow” in 2024 because the industry is “sensitive to changes in the cash rate”.
Federal and state governments agreed to the new target of 1.2 million homes over the next five years in August this year.
“It’s certainly going to be very challenging for the government to achieve the 1.2 million target,” Mr Reardon told Sky News Australia.
“We need to achieve that given the underlying demand for homes and that significant rental pressure that there is.
“We need … to get foreign investors back into the market. We imposed a range of punitive stamp duties on them in the 2016-18 cycle for very bizarre reasons.
“Foreign investors are really important for building apartments … they’re the solution to our problem of increasing that housing stock.”
(Sky News)
