Push for subsidised housing to ease construction slump

Australia’s home-building pipeline, at its weakest in more than a decade, is raising pressure on the federal government to boost its already sizeable commitment to fund new subsidised housing as private activity slows.

New housing approvals – 98 per cent of which were privately funded – slowed to 166,125 over the 12 months to November, the latest official figures show, the weakest total since July 2013.