SYDNEY - A shortage of housing in Australia has prompted an urgent push to increase supply, including proposals to build more high-rise apartment blocks, open land for development and impose taxes on homes that are kept vacant.

Despite Australia’s vast landmass, the country’s relatively small population of 26.5 million residents are concentrated in sprawling coastal cities that occupy large spaces. About 40 per cent of the population live in just two cities – Sydney and Melbourne – yet the local planning authorities in the major cities have often resisted shifting to high-rise developments.