Supply and demand in Australia’s housing market
Alan Kohler from ABC News analyses housing demand by considering factors such as migration, net births, and deaths. He calculates housing supply based on the estimated time required to build a house and data on housing approvals. Alan demonstrates that the market is not in equilibrium, as demand currently exceeds supply.
ACARA Alignment: ACHEK017, ACHEK050
Clip Length: 2:27 minutes
Year: 2025
URL: https://youtu.be/l4xUwtLTawk?si=NvWtaAE_cHrm0zVf
Economics Concepts: Supply, demand, market equilibrium
- This clip can serve as a useful resource for applying supply and demand concepts to the housing market.
- To introduce supply and demand concepts use the “Swifties, rationality and opportunity costs” teaching guide
- Show the Alan Kohler clip on the housing market
- Invite students to identify what factors are impacting housing market demand and list these in a table on the whiteboard (see example below). Repeat the process for housing supply.
- Now draw a market supply and demand graph. For each demand factor ask students which way it would shift the housing market demand curve and get a student to draw this on the graph.
- Discuss the impact on housing market equilibrium price and quantity.
- Next get students to complete this Wayground quiz (5 – 10 minutes) https://wayground.com/join?gc=45631465
- Show students this 2:03 minute clip by the Productivity Commission https://youtu.be/AHeOtrF9ZS0?si=8gBQhX9kqLnN79Bw identifies housing market challenges and proposes 4 solutions.
- Ask students to form small groups and discuss and write on colour coded sticky notes how the Productivity Commission proposed solutions align with the issues identified by Alan Kohler. Use different coloured sticky notes for supply and demand factors.
- Invite students to place the sticky notes on the supply or demand curves on the whiteboard graph.
- Extension: An assessment task for higher levels could be to ask students to review the Productivity Commission (2025) Housing construction productivity: Can we fix it? – Commission Research Paper | Productivity Commission, and select a solution and analyse how this will impact the housing market in Australia.