The Australian authority in residential housing forecasts a 9.5 percent downturn in housing next year.

The Housing Industry Association (HIA) predicts a plunge to a level of 155,155 residential homes in 2011 to follow a forecast increase of 24 percent this calendar year. The expected rise in 2010 is 171,442.

In a media statement, HIA chief economist Harley Dale said, “Renewed weakness in new home starts in 2011 would mean there were only two years in ten when starts have risen. That is an appalling result, which highlights the challenge Australia faces in addressing a large and growing housing shortage that will place considerable further pressure on rental markets.”

Dale expects the national housing shortage to worsen since “we are not building enough homes to match demand.”

The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) earlier, projected a demand of approximately 128,000 housing units a year for the 2002 to 2011 period. The AHURI forecast also presented a high probability of an increase in the demand for public housing due to a rising aging population and single-parent families.

The report also presented a 61 percent increase in the expected number of household within the 1996 to 2030 period.