The number of standalone houses starting construction is set to plummet by 21 per cent this year and to their lowest level in a decade next year, according to HIA forecasts, as rising interest rates dent demand.

By 2024 housing starts are forecast to fall to 96,310, the first time the annual tally is expected to dip below 100,000 in more than 10 years, marking a rapid slow down from the 149,000 starts achieved in 2021 when detached housing boomed off the back of the federal government’s HomeBuilder grant.