Surge in home building not enough to cover housing shortage

WHILE building activity is strong, it is still not enough to meet Australia's housing needs, a key residential housing report has found.

The Australian Residential Development Outlook released on Sunday showed housing starts were likely to be up 30,000 on previous forecasts for the 2014-15 year.

But it would not be enough to meet demand, the outlook reported, with high unemployment rates and reduced bank lending rates expected to dampen new builds.

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