{"id":108642,"date":"2026-01-15T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T21:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/?p=108642"},"modified":"2026-01-14T20:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T09:47:16","slug":"housing-crunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/housing-crunch\/","title":{"rendered":"Housing Crunch: Prices Predicted to Soar as Supply Runs Dry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>You can feel it every time a new listing appears \u2014 that sense of panic, the rush of enquiries, the silent race to outbid the next person. Australia\u2019s housing market, already stretched to breaking point, is heading for another sharp rise in prices, and this time, it could hit six figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Property Prices Poised for Major Jump<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Analysts warn that Australian home prices could jump by more than $100,000 over the next two years, driven by a deepening housing shortfall and a surge in demand that supply simply can\u2019t match, reports <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realestate.com.au\/news\/australian-homes-face-sixfigure-price-surge-amid-housing-shortfall\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Realestate<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The latest forecast from Oxford Economics Australia predicts property values will climb by 9.4% nationally by 2026, with the median dwelling price expected to reach nearly $875,000. The growth will be uneven across regions, but the trend is clear \u2014 the market is tightening fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Major cities like Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane are projected to lead the charge, while even smaller capitals such as Adelaide and Perth are expected to see strong gains as buyers compete for limited stock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sydney now ranks as the 2nd least affordable housing market in the world.<br><br>National home prices are up 33% since the pandemic.<br><br>Over the same period, interest rates rose from ~2% to ~6%.<br><br>So what does this actually mean for buyers and renters in Australia next? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/F8MCwI0RYP\">pic.twitter.com\/F8MCwI0RYP<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Mark Woodland (@MarkAWoodland) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarkAWoodland\/status\/2011094660471800158?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">January 13, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Housing Supply Falling Behind<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The heart of the problem is supply \u2014 or rather, the lack of it. Australia\u2019s population is growing rapidly due to strong migration, but new housing construction has failed to keep up. Building approvals have dropped sharply, and many projects are being delayed or cancelled due to high material costs and labour shortages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Oxford Economics, the country will be short around 120,000 homes by 2027, creating the kind of scarcity that inevitably pushes prices higher. Renters are already feeling the impact, with national vacancy rates hovering near record lows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even government housing targets \u2014 such as the federal plan to build 1.2 million new homes over five years \u2014 are looking increasingly difficult to meet given current construction bottlenecks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Buyers and Renters Both Squeezed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For would-be <a href=\"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/perths-property-market-causing-frenzy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">buyers<\/a>, the news feels deflating. Many had hoped rising interest rates would cool the market long enough for prices to settle. Instead, affordability is worsening again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the same time, renters face higher competition and fewer choices, with many turning to smaller or more distant suburbs in search of something remotely affordable. The squeeze is particularly severe in capital cities, where demand from new arrivals continues to climb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">No Easy Fix on the Horizon<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Economists say it\u2019s unlikely the situation will ease anytime soon. With interest rate cuts still months away and construction struggling to ramp up, both buyers and renters are bracing for another expensive year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Government initiatives to boost supply and support first-home buyers could help at the margins, but without a major increase in housing completions, the imbalance will persist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Australia\u2019s property market has always been competitive \u2014 but this next wave of growth looks less like a boom and more like a warning. For many, the dream of home ownership is slipping further out of reach, one auction at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australian home prices could rise by more than $100,000 by 2026 as the housing shortfall deepens and supply struggles to meet soaring demand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":108643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-housing","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108642"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108644,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108642\/revisions\/108644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}