Qld treasurer defends housing policies

Rental vacancy rates were "incredibly tight and relatively flat", at below 1.0 per cent in the June quarter, compared to a healthy range between 2.6 and 3.5 per cent, according to the Real Estate Institute of Queensland.

The squeeze has intensified due to interstate migration, which the nation's top rate of incomers, and recent floods leaving thousands of homes uninhabitable.

Social service organisations, charities, local governments, the property sector, industry groups and the state's construction lobby have been calling for a housing summit since October.

Treasurer Cameron Dick says it's up to the premier to decide whether a summit is needed.

"We're the place to be, and people are moving here in droves because of good jobs, better services and the great Queensland lifestyle, so we're doing our bit as a government investing in more housing, opening up more land, which is one of the big challenges, making sure we have more land coming to market," he told reporters on Thursday.

"I know councils are doing their bit, but we all have to do more, and the federal government of course, has a role to play as well, so we'll continue to do what we have to do as a state."

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said the summit was urgently needed, and said he would host it himself if the government doesn't.

He said the government had to work harder to help councils release land for new housing to stop the "feeding frenzy" in the market.

"I'm sorry, it can't be that every council across the state has failed," Mr Crisafulli told reporters.

"There's one common theme, and that is the state government."

Mr Dick insisted the state government was already investing in infrastructure such as roads, water and sewage, he said, to allow councils to open up land for new housing.

He also blamed the current crunch on other factors such as the changing structure of households and a renovation boom.

The average number of people living in a Queensland house had dropped from 2.6 to 2.5 between 2016 and 2020, adding another 60,000 people to the market, he said.

Mr Dick said large numbers of people renovating their homes had increased housing demand, but the government expects that to moderate in 2023.