Home building builds the economy

The event confirmed concerns around land supply in the South East with particular note to the limited opportunity for larger size holdings to be developed for detached housing. The home builder program was described as a performance enhancing drug for the housing market that has allowed detached house and land sales to bounce back from the concerning COVID-19 drop in March and April to most recently being around 50 percent higher sales per calendar month then underlying demand would suggest.

The event also indicated demand for housing is largely derived from past 10 years of population growth and so new home demand will continue.

A number of media enquiries following the release of the The Perfect Storm report were dealt with by the Institute’s CEO. This has assisted to get the message out and some significant acknowledgement from the government has been received. It is hoped this will lead to significant action to address shortfalls.

The Institute’s report is available here.

 

Notably the recommendations included:

Education

• ensure the community remains abreast of the forecasts and what it will mean for their home, suburb, and neighbourhood
• communicate the importance of housing within the context of lifestages

Governance

• Establish an Affordability Taskforce to:
  • Improve the PDA model and current growth areas approach
  • Link population increase to the provision of new growth areas for structure planning
  • Take urgent action when supply falls below the 4-year benchmark
  • Fast track underutilised urban footprint work to provide tools for efficient housing delivery
  • Devise an effective funding mechanism to deliver regionally significant infrastructure
  • Provide map-based resources to clarify where and what growth is occurring
  • Police infill housing delivery to ensure it is delivered in quantities that match ShapingSEQ benchmarks.
  • Require all land within the Regional Plan, intended for residential uses, be rezoned for urban purposes by the relevant local government within six months of the release of the plan.

Structure planning

• Ensure best practice planning of growth areas through measures such as:
  • Delivering integrated precinct plans
  • Integrating transport with land use planning and services at all levels
  • Resolve land fragmentation through structure planning and infrastructure co-ordination
  • Better integrate regional plans with infrastructure planning and delivery
  • Review environmental controls, preservations, overlays to be subordinate to and bolster environmental outcomes in fit for service structure plans.

Facilitate and incentivise delivery

• Create a simpler single housing code and sub code for small infill to enable delivery of a broader range of housing types
• Reduce minimum lot sizes for detached and terrace housing near centres and transport to increase the chance for more housing at an affordable price
• Allow more, small-scale urban infill projects to be built as of right
• Improve ‘Housing supply and diversity’ guidance to direct housing provision
• Review planning schemes to clear the obstacles to fast delivery of housing
• Remove site cover rules as they are duplicative and discourage design innovation
• Make legislative changes to permit developer-initiated infrastructure easements on adjoining property on fair terms to service new developments
• Address the increasing amount and number of application fees and charges impinging on new housing
• Develop standard rules for planning schemes to lift confidence in outcomes
• Bonus payments to councils that exceed dwelling targets
• Tighten statutory timeframes for re-zonings.

Any views that you have on this can be provided to Policy Manager, Martin Zaltron, via email or on (07) 3229 1589.

Email Martin