More homes will be built in Adelaide than in Sydney in 2009, proof that the housing crisis engulfing the nation's biggest city is reaching alarming proportions.
Figures obtained by The Daily Telegraph show an estimated 7300 new dwellings will be built in Sydney this year, the lowest rate of growth in more than 50 years and roughly a third of the homes built in 2003.
The bleak projections are in stark contrast to Melbourne, where an estimated 23,000 new dwellings will be built this year.
Across the border in Adelaide - a city boasting a population one quarter of the size of Sydney - about 7500 new homes are scheduled, while Brisbane expects 13,450 new homes to be built.
The outlook gives credence to economists' fears that Sydney rents will shoot up a further 12 per cent in 2009, on top of last year's 8 per cent rise. Such a rise will take the average rent for a three-bedroom house over $400 a week.
With Sydney's population expected to rise by close to 23,000 this year and rental vacancies already running at a mere 1.1 per cent, the situation is reaching crisis point, property analysts told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.
BIS Shrapnel property research group economist Jason Anderson said the data proved Sydney's crippled housing industry could create an unprecedented divide between the haves and the have-nots, with the Federal Government's first homebuyers grant - $21,000 in funding available for new dwellings - failing to address the city's inherent need for medium to high-density developments.
"Sydney is much more dependent on medium-to-high density development and that has dried up because of funding issues," he said.
"Combined with the population growth, I can't see how there is going to be anything other than extreme pressure in the rental market."
BIS Shrapnel's figures were backed up by the Property Council of Australia yesterday, which called for the State Government to urgently sort out its housing framework to make it easier for investors. NSW executive director Ken Morrison said other state capitals had far better planning processes for their housing industries.
"The Rees Government needs a really strong focus on getting the supply framework for housing sorted out," he said. "State agency approvals, rezoning processes and infrastructure facilitation ... they are big problems in NSW."
The National Housing Supply Council report out earlier this month estimated an 85,000 dwelling shortage in June 2008. That gap is tipped to grow to 203,000 by 2013.
