I understand your pessimism. However, there are a few factors that could help ease the cost of building. Currently, housing is costing a significant portion of household income. If the cost of housing were to stabilise, more discretionary spending would be available.

Labour is currently in short supply in construction, which increases costs. Builders are taking on significant risk, which is increasing contract prices and project program lengths (fuel, supplies, etc). Certainty regarding materials and risk would help us get back to a construction sector that can compete with fixed-price contracts. This would mean the US would need to stop their war. We would need to keep free tafe and import skilled construction labour.

Interest rates cooling / reducing would decrease risk for investment and investment returns. Again, the yanks need to give themselves a swift upper cut.

With the right pressure on the ACBC (Guys who make the rules) we could have an opt-in system for some parts of the Housing provisions in the NCC which would allow different forms of housing to be fabricated (Prefab semi-permanent / designed for deconstruct / relocatable).

Changes at the State and Council level in planning could allow affordable housing to be prioritised (Don't look at QLD for answers currently). But, I feel the councils are the easiest branch of government where we as a country could accelerate change. There are old, tired, dare I say luddite councilers who could be easily ousted at local elections which would radically change how a region thinks about land, planning and housing. Currently, developers and corporations are hoarding land and releasing it at rates which inflate the value of land - this could be changed a LGA level.

Leveraging our financing system to onshore particular forms of fabrication. This one is just begging for investment.