Teal candidates in some of Sydney’s wealthiest suburbs have pushed back against a report blaming sluggish growth in housing numbers on local NIMBYism, claiming the solution to sky-high prices is prioritising social and affordable housing over developers’ profit-focused projects.

The Centre for Independent Studies’ findings that the Woollahra, Hunters Hill and Mosman councils had the lowest levels of new annual dwelling construction in Sydney, at 0.2 per cent between 2016 and 2021, have highlighted local tensions on over-development ahead of this month’s state election.