AUSTRALIA’S residential property developers will need to build 155,000 homes annually in the next five years to cater for the additional 1.6 million people expected to live here in that time.

But that is unlikely to happen, with new housing supply built for the 2009 financial year being 16 per cent lower than demand.

Developers have blamed the shortfall on funding challenges linked to the global financial crisis, softening demand triggered by unemployment fears, planning delays and costly infrastructure charges and taxes.

The findings are part of a Residential Development Council of Australia report undertaken by Matusik Property Insights, which shows the population rise of 8 per cent in five years will be mostly around the major cities, with the greatest demand expected in Melbourne.

The forecasts show that, while there are 21.5 million people living in Australia, that number is expected to leap by 330,000 people annually for the next five years to 23.1 million, with 28 million residents in 20 years.

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