The new figures released by housing advocacy group Everbody's Home have revealed the heightened level of housing stress across the state, with calls for more investment into social housing.

Housing stress is defined as when a household is spending more than one-third of its gross income on housing costs such as rent.

In the Mallee federal electorate, 25.4 per cent of all rental households were experiencing financial stress, according to the new report.

Meanwhile, 38.2 per cent of households with a mortgage were in stress.

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The numbers were smaller than neighbouring electorates - in nearby Wannon 42.9 per cent of renters were in stress and 34.2 per cent of mortgagees.

In Ballarat, 47.2 per cent of renters were experiencing financial stress compared with 66.3 per cent of mortgagees.

Everybody's Home spokesperson Kate Colvin said the data demonstrated that the need for investment in social housing has never been greater.

"Incomes are not keeping up with surging housing costs. This is no longer an issue which impacts only those on modest incomes or those living in the major cities," she said.

"Middle income Australians can't keep up with rent and mortgage payments. Regional communities are also experiencing housing crises never seen before.

"There is no time to waste, we need an urgent commitment from the Treasurer to invest in social housing in the upcoming federal budget. Millions of Australians are counting on it."

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However, Wimmera Development Association executive director Chris Sounness said development across all types of housing was necessary to meet the demands of the Wimmera Southern Mallee's housing issues.

"The important thing we know from our report, and being involved in work currently, is that we have to work on all levels of the market. You can't just say you are going to build more social housing," he said.

"We need to make sure that there is social housing, affordable housing, employee housing, and executive housing all available.

"Because if you don't do that, people just go to get a house, and it is generally the people that have the most wherewithal get the housing and the people doing it the toughest miss-out."

In 2020, the Wimmera Development Association published a housing review for the region, which looked at demographic and housing trends affecting market availability.

Among the key findings of the report was a lack of housing and land availability stemming from historical underinvestment in the Wimmera and Southern Mallee.

Mr Sounness said the Wimmera Development Association has since partnered with local councils and groups such as Haven Home Safe to attract developer investment.

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"With that lack of investment return, the developers haven't really been pushing the region. We have the land available but it isn't something that can happen immediately," he said.

"Generally, developments happen over a period of time from start to finish. When this demand surge has happened in the past two or three years it takes a while for people to gear up and make things happen.

"That means the demand constraints are showing through a lot more than you would expect because of that previous underinvestment."

Mr Sounness said the Everybody's Home data also address Wimmera-specific data as its sample size took in towns such as Mildura and Swan Hill.

While rents and mortgages may be cheaper in the Wimmera Southern Mallee, Mr Sounness said residents often incurred other costs for living regionally.

"We might have cheaper rents in our region compared to other regions, which may not be reflected in the report," he said.

"It doesn't really show the rental availability really well because we have cheaper rental properties compared to other parts of the state.

"There are also other ways the cost of living flows through to people. We have a higher transport cost compared to other regions.

"We have done a lot in this space and that is something we are working toward, to increase the availability of housing."

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