Housing pressure

THE Residential Development Council of Australia has forecast the need for 17,000 homes per year for the next five years, warning of further house price rises if that demand was not met.

An industry report compiled by Matusik Property Insights for the Residential Development Council revealed last week Perth will need the housing to cope with its growing population.

Residential Development Council of Australia president Caryn Kakas said if a shortfall resulted it would cause increased prices for Perth houses, already among the highest in the country after a long property boom this decade.

According to the council, builders in Perth are delivering 10,701 houses and 2,855 attached dwellings each year, a shortfall of 3,553 homes annually.

"Certainly we're seeing demand in the next five years continuing to be very strong across the country, including WA and the regions," Ms Kakas said.

"If we don't act now we're going to see house prices rise across the board, which is certainly kind of scary considering the rises over the last couple of years in Perth."

Western Australia's population is estimated to grow 39 per cent by 2027, by 847,631 people, according to the report.

In addition to the needs in Perth, Mandurah will need 1,326 dwellings each year to meet demand, while Bunbury will require 901.

Ms Kakas said the report's findings would result in added pressure on the state government to increase its planning reforms agenda.

"It will put an additional amount of pressure on the planning commission in terms of forward planning for where land releases are going to be, but even more importantly how the infrastructure is going to continue link up to the cities and the surrounding regions to ensure this growth can happen in an economic and sustainably viable way," she said.

"We've been quite positive about the announcements around planning in Perth in the last weeks, but I think this certainly adds more strength to why they need to be so focused now."