NSW population slowdown no excuse to stop building homes, says Stokes Normal text size Advertisement NSW needs to keep constructing homes to reduce a structural shortage of dwellings despite a slump in migration slowing growth in the state's population, Planning Minister Rob Stokes says. The NSW Planning Department's latest report shows the state's population reached 8.16 million people at the end of June, a rise of 76,700 people, or 0.09 per cent, over the course of the 12 months. That was slower than the average annual growth rate since 1971 of 1.1 per cent. A shortage of housing in Sydney ...