The shortfall now demands a record 266,000 homes per year to meet the goal, which analysts and industry experts say is dead on arrival.<\/p>\n
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re building homes at about 30 per cent slower than what we need to,\u201d one industry insider warns.<\/p>\n The crisis is hitting Australians of all ages, from young people in their mid-20s desperate to move out of their parents\u2019 home, to families entirely priced out of the market.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s pretty clear that Australians see this as a crisis and it\u2019s something that goes to our national identity and our sense of economic opportunity,\u201d one expert said.<\/p>\n The numbers paint a stark picture. Between 1950 and 2000, the median house price sat at three and a half times average wages. That has since ballooned to what is now eight times average wages.<\/p>\n Land prices have also surged 500 per cent since 2000.<\/p>\n Daniel Hendler, grandson and soon successor to property king Harry Triguboff at Meriton, Australia\u2019s biggest residential developer, says heavy taxes and increasingly costly building codes have rendered many developments unfeasible.<\/p>\n \u201cYou could strip out about $50,000 per apartment if you just looked at reversing some of those building code changes,\u201d Hendler said.<\/p>\n \u201cOne third of the cost of an apartment is taxation.\u201d<\/p>\n With 27 million people and only 10 million homes, the supply simply isn\u2019t enough to meet booming demand.<\/p>\n \u201cWell certainly the Australian dream is changing,\u201d one observer noted.<\/p>\n Smaller blocks, smaller houses, bigger mortgages have become the new reality.<\/p>\n Many Australians are being priced out of traditional houses altogether, forced to consider apartments instead.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is the growth in apartment stock that is going to need to at least double or triple if we\u2019re to have any hope of meeting that pent up demand,\u201d one expert said.<\/p>\n Meriton, which has built 80,000 apartments and counting, offers one potential solution: lifting restrictions on land lease homes, where families buy just the house and lease the land from the government or developer, lowering the upfront cost by removing the land value.<\/p>\n Hendler said the government \u201ccould get a lot closer\u201d to its housing target by changing policy settings.<\/p>\n But the chances of actually reaching it? Don\u2019t put your house on it.<\/p>\n Home Truths is a six-part investigative series confronting Australia\u2019s housing crisis head-on, starting Sunday at 6pm on Seven and 7plus.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Huge win for Victorian commuters as free public transport extended <\/p>\n 1 min read<\/p>\n![\"Australia\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/757469fec940d75a0e0f653c6a729be2a8e68503.jpg\")
Australia\u2019s housing crisis deepens as government falls 77,000 homes behind target Credit: 7NEWS<\/p>\n![\"Home](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/59537ac7804127f7f88dd8a63e5832f6a099e0f8.png\")
Home Truths airs on Seven and 7Plus at 6pm on Sunday. Credit: 7NEWS<\/p>\n