Institute research: SEQ greenfield land supply research released
The Institute has today released an extensive research report into greenfield land supply in South East Queensland (SEQ). The UDIA National Housing Pipeline® presented by nbn co was undertaken with members to better understand the issues constraining greenfield land for housing supply. This research evidences the exact scale, nature, and drivers of land supply challenges in SEQ and provides an important opportunity for the industry to constructively contribute developer insight and intentions to housing and land supply monitoring programs.
While the issue is complex, the research identified key issues constraining the delivery of greenfield housing land supply. At the current industry delivery rate, SEQ has only 3.2 years of short term land supply. With severely limited stocks, further housing affordability pressures are likely to prevail.
The research also revealed that the primary challenge of delivering greenfield housing supply is infrastructure coordination. 58 percent of identified greenfield housing land requires commitment/funding for infrastructure such as major roads, sewer, water, and electrical prior to housing delivery.
An additional 9,223 hectares within the Urban Footprint is notionally prescribed for housing but is constrained from residential uses due to hard development constraints. Koala mapping constraints make up the highest yielding constraint, with a total 5,452 hectares constrained, or 26 percent of total identified supply in SEQ.
While there is no silver bullet to address the issue, the Institute recommends the following key actions to ensure detached greenfield land supply meets the State Government required housing targets:
Increase infrastructure coordination and delivery
Facilitate greater levels of infrastructure delivery by funding catalytic infrastructure, undertake comprehensive planning throughout the entire Urban Footprint, expand Priority Infrastructure Areas and provide greater levels of state transport and public transport investment.
Expedite the review of local planning schemes
Expediting the review of local planning schemes can increase industry capacity to bring forward supply.
Plan now for next growth fronts
Give industry and the community a clear roadmap of where growth should occur by planning now for future growth corridors.
Resource Council and utility providers for faster approvals
Ensuring all levels of approval are effectively resourced would allow greater efficiency in getting homes on the ground faster.
Incentivise delivery
Consider incentives to promote the delivery and uptake of smaller dwelling types.
Reconcile overlays
Rationalise environmental overlays to prioritise key environmental corridors and ensure residential land supply is not located where critical conservation is required and remove these lands from the tally of land available for housing.
The Institute’s CEO, Kirsty Chessher-Brown supported the findings of the research and highlighted the dire need to address the issues at all levels of Government.
“If we don’t have seismic change, we can expect the levels of supply to remain well below the State’s identified detached dwelling targets, as set out in ShapingSEQ which can only mean an ongoing housing affordability crisis. When coupled with the significant apartment crunch identified by the Institute earlier in the year, there are some very serious concerns about the region’s future housing supply.” Kirsty said.
The Institute will continue to work with all levels of government and advocate for changes that will increase the delivery of detached greenfield housing stock as it is a critical component in alleviating the current housing crisis.
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