National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) Chief Executive Andrew Irvine said the housing crisis is Australia's biggest societal and policy challenge; however, most of the bank's mortgage customers have kept their repayments at higher levels, according to his opening statement before the Australian House of Representatives' Standing Committee on Economics on Wednesday.

Productivity in the country's economy stalled, and intergenerational inequality is on the rise. Four key areas can lift productivity, which include focusing on housing availability, a need to reduce complexity and red tape, artificial intelligence, as well as energy security.

Its recently announced housing affordability financing ambition of AU$60 billion by 2030 equally addresses supply and demand side levers, Irvine said.

The lender maintains its commitment to achieve net zero by 2050 across its financed and facilitated emissions and operations. However, it supports the government's focus on energy security, including the accelerated rollout of renewables and the role of gas in providing firming capacity.

The bank expects monetary policy to remain on hold at 3.6% for the foreseeable future. Economic growth is gradually returning to trend growth levels, and real gross domestic product is forecast to improve to 2% over 2025 and 2.3% over 2026.