Lower growth will make it more difficult for government to return to surplus by 2015

If the number of new homes being built doesn’t increase New Zealand could be facing a housing shortage, according to the latest independent research from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER).

With immigration on the rise, population growth of 47,000 in the year to June 2009 and the population predicted by Statistics New Zealand to hit five million in ten years, will there be enough houses available?