Homeowners saddled with mortgages are set to be hit with another financial obstacle as 200,000 new properties are built.
Australia was already home to one million empty properties on Census night in August 2016, during a boom in house prices.
During that time, apartment developers began building thousands of new projects hoping to cash in on demand for homes as Sydney and Melbourne real estate values surged by double-digit figures every year.
These projects are expected to be completed in 2019 and 2020 as Australia's biggest cities grapple with the worst housing market downturn on record.
This is bad news for home owners already in debt who want to sell fast but good news for young people wanting to buy their first property at a discount.
Homeowners saddled with mortgages are set to be hit with another financial obstacle as 200,000 new properties are built (pictured are Sydney apartments under construction)
With investors already deserting the housing market, Digital Finance Analytics founder Martin North said there would be an oversupply of new homes, which would put more downward pressure on prices.
'Now we know there's another 200,000 new properties coming on stream this year and next year based on the approvals over the last two or three years,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
Mr North said homeowners forced to sell - because of a divorce, illness or job loss - would be in a particularly bad position.
'If you are actually needing to sell, you have to sell at whatever price: you can't assume you're going to get the full, shiny market value,' he said.
Mr North questioned the Reserve Bank of Australia's suggestion high immigration will fuel a recovery in real estate prices.
'We've already got supply on stream to meet any need for migration,' he said.
Australia was already home to more than one million vacant properties in 2016 even when property prices were booming in Sydney (pictured are for lease signs in the inner city) and Melbourne
'Playing the migration card and saying we need to build more properties and prices will go up because of higher migration is actually a bit of a fallacy.'
The central bank last week predicted high population growth would 'continue to support demand for
