Australia’s rental crisis will worsen unless more homes are made available to accommodate the 650,000 extra immigrants the federal government expects to arrive in the next two years, according to Tarun Gupta, the head of the country’s biggest housing estate developer Stockland.

Even as Stockland – which sells two-thirds of its homes to immigrant Australians – reported a pick-up in inquiry levels on Wednesday, Mr Gupta said it took new arrivals between three and four years on average to get jobs, a credit history and the deposit to put down on a house.