Australian construction industry 'needs to grow'
2/07/2008(4:07 PM)
New figures have shown that the Australian construction industry will need to grow to cope with the country's housing shortage.
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) estimates that a million new homes need to be built over the next five years, however the current number of new builds "falls well short" of this, reports Australia's Daily Telegraph.
According to the HIA, there will be a "shortfall" of at least 175,000 houses if rates continue at their present level, a figure which could rise to 240,000 if more people choose to live alone.
Chris Lamont, the HIA's chief executive of policy, told the newspaper that "supply must increase rapidly to meet expected demand".
"Without a substantial increase in production there will almost certainly be a growth in the number of homeless people and further affordability woes," he added.
It follows the recent figures that the volume of completed engineering construction work rose by 12 per cent year-on-year, with Master Builders Australia predicting a period of "sustained growth".
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