Auckland's building fewer than half as many houses as it need to be.

AUT Construction Professor, John Tookey, says the city needs 17,000 new dwellings built a year, but it's only getting just over 8000.

"At current rates of growth that implies two more full electoral cycles minimum until we are actually meeting our current daily demand."

Tookey told Tim Dower we're falling further behind each year in the meantime.

He says the sector's met demand during past boom times by utilising large scale housing projects, which we don't have at the moment.

LISTEN ABOVE AS JOHN TOOKEY SPEAKS WITH TIM DOWER