Australian government’s housing advisor hides shortage

Friday 1 May 2026

Regrettably, you can add the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council (NHSAC) to the long list of federal government agencies that have been politicised and compromised.

Recall that the May 2025 State of the Housing System report from NHSAC forecast that Australia’s housing shortage would worsen by 79,000 homes over the five years to 2028-29:

This forecast housing deficit was based on dwelling construction (“gross new housing supply”) forecasts that, in 2024-25, proved highly optimistic (179,000). Actual dwelling construction undershot NHSAC’s forecast by around 7,000 homes, as illustrated below:

The full text of this article is available to MacroBusiness subscribers

$1 for your first month, then:

$24.99 / month

$249 / year

Cancel at any time through our billing provider, Stripe

About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.