The new <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/yarraville-green-42-stephen-street-yarraville-vic-3013">Yarraville Green</a> development in Melbourne's inner west is showing that landscaping can be just as influential as architecture, with buyers responding strongly to the garden-first approach adopted from the outset by developer Excelon Projects and the project's design team.

Excelon appointed Six Degrees Architects and landscape architects SBLA to work collaboratively on the development, with a brief to create "a sustainable, design-led building with a focus on community."

That approach has resonated with buyers. According to Next Chapter Director Tom Hirini, who is leading the sales campaign, the landscaped communal garden has become one of the project's defining features, alongside its boutique scale and European-inspired cluster housing concept.

Local downsizers, right-sizers and established families already living in Yarraville and surrounding suburbs have accounted for the majority of purchasers.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=144913 project_image_fid=297740]

Yarraville Green will comprise 53 homes, including apartments and townhomes, arranged around the shared central garden to maximise connections to the landscaped open space. Parking has been moved underground, allowing the ground plane to be dedicated to greenery, pedestrian movement and communal spaces.

The landscape extends well beyond passive planting. Productive garden beds, a pergola, communal gathering spaces, garden sheds and a pet wash have all been integrated into the masterplan, creating spaces designed to encourage everyday interaction between residents.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=144913 project_image_fid=297741]

The interiors continue Excelon's focus on craftsmanship, incorporating bespoke elements by Melbourne artisans including leadlight detailing by Adadaz, hand-turned timber hardware by Auburn Woodturning and blown-glass lighting by Ruth Allen.

Sustainability has also been embedded throughout the project, with Yarraville Green targeting an average 7-star NatHERS energy rating through passive design principles, rooftop solar servicing common areas and rainwater harvesting for landscape irrigation.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=144913 project_image_fid=297735]

Construction continues to progress at Yarraville Green, with structural works well underway and framing works approaching completion under builder Balmain &amp; Co. The project remains on track for completion in mid-2027.

Apartments at Yarraville Green are currently priced from $625,000, while townhomes start from $1.4 million.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=144913]

Joel Robinson

Garden-led design drives buyer demand at Yarraville Green

National diversified developer Fortis has officially launched Crest &amp; Walker, its latest Brisbane apartment development, with construction now underway on the 20-storey Newstead project.

Award-winning builder BINAH has commenced construction on the Bureau^Proberts-designed building, which will deliver a limited collection of 65 two and three-bedroom apartments on Kyabra Street.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=145922 project_image_fid=373556]

The project marks Fortis' fourth active residential development in Brisbane, following River House, which is nearing completion, alongside projects in New Farm and Hamilton as the national developer continues to expand its South East Queensland pipeline.

Fortis General Manager – Development Queensland Dan Boman said Crest &amp; Walker reflects the developer's long-term commitment to delivering design-led residential projects in Brisbane's established inner-city suburbs.

"We're proud to be strengthening our presence in Brisbane with Crest &amp; Walker, particularly in such a sought-after lifestyle destination as Newstead," Boman said.

"Every Fortis project is shaped by its context, and we approach each one with the respect and care it deserves.

"Our focus is always on creating places that feel connected to their neighbourhood and elevate the everyday experience for residents. Newstead continues to evolve as one of Brisbane's most sought-after urban communities, and Crest &amp; Walker reflects our ambition to contribute meaningfully to that story."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=145922 project_image_fid=373559]

Positioned between Gasworks Plaza and James Street, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/crest-walker-newstead-12-kyabra-street-newstead-qld-4006">Crest &amp; Walker</a> has been designed as a boutique residential address offering privacy and generous living spaces within one of Brisbane's most established lifestyle precincts.

The building features a contemporary brick podium softened by integrated landscaping, while the upper levels are characterised by restrained architecture and enduring materiality. Interiors have been designed to maximise natural light, acoustic performance and long-term liveability.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=145922 project_image_fid=373583]

Residences comprise spacious two and three-bedroom floorplans, with two-bedroom apartments priced from $1.55 million and three-bedroom, half-floor residences from $3.95 million.

Residents will have access to a wellness-focused rooftop featuring a swimming pool, sauna, steam room, landscaped dining spaces and outdoor lounge areas overlooking Newstead and the Brisbane CBD.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=145922 project_image_fid=373571]

Sales are being managed by Slaite Projects, with Fortis expecting strong demand from owner-occupiers seeking a high-quality, design-focused apartment in one of Brisbane's most tightly held inner-city suburbs.

Completion of Crest &amp; Walker is slated for late 2028.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=145922]

Fortis expands Brisbane pipeline with launch of Crest & Walker in Newstead

The enormity of delivering a true skyscraper in Australia's new development market is often overlooked.

It has taken the best part of a decade since plans for Chevron One were first unveiled, but the 40-storey tower is now complete, with residents collecting their keys and moving into what has become one of the Gold Coast's most recognisable new landmarks.

Rising 127 metres above Chevron Island, Chevron One stands almost twice as high as any other building on the island. Its scale places it alongside the trio of towers at Jewel, arguably the last truly significant addition to the central Gold Coast skyline when they were completed around six years ago.

While there are several developments underway around a similar height to Chevron One, they are more concentrated within clusters of the highest towers in the city. The fact Chevron One sits within a developing precinct, looking back at the other high-rise developments in Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach, makes it a different proposition altogether. It will certainly become a reference point on the Gold Coast skyline.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=6515 project_image_fid=68833]

Developer Bensons Property Group is behind the 40-storey tower, which has just shy of 230 apartments, along with an exhaustive list of resident amenity spread across what is the largest development site ever assembled on Chevron Island.

The tower has been the talk of the town for years, says Ray White Projects Gold Coast agent Caitlin Rosenboom, who is selling the remaining apartments.

"People have been watching Chevron One go up for years," Rosenboom says, adding that many prospective buyers have been surprised by the scale of the views once they step inside.

"It's only when they walk through a completed apartment that they truly understand the position of the building," Rosenboom says.

"The views are jaw-dropping. Whether you're looking east over the ocean, across Surfers Paradise, along the river systems or out to the hinterland, every level offers something different but equally impressive."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=6515 project_image_fid=360215]

One of Chevron One's defining advantages is its location on the eastern side of Chevron Island on Stanhill Drive, a position which protects the views forever.

"There's only one row of houses between Chevron One and the water, and the height restrictions along the river means views from Chevron One can never be built out,"&nbsp;Rosenboom says.

While new apartment developments continue to emerge across the Gold Coast, Rosenboom says opportunities to secure a completed apartment with this level of outlook are becoming increasingly rare.

"The size of the site is something that would be incredibly difficult to replicate today," she says.

"That's allowed Chevron One to deliver the sort of amenity, open space and resident facilities that very few projects can offer. There are not many completed apartment buildings on the Gold Coast right now that can compete with the combination of scale, quality and amenity."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=6515 project_image_fid=68839]

There's around 2,000 sqm of amenity solely for the use of residents of Chevron One. Club One features a uniquely shaped swimming pool that mirrors the footprint of the building itself, set within a extensively landscaped gardens. There's also an indoor pool and spa, a fully equipped gym with a Pilates room, a yoga garden, a bookable private dining area and lounge that can host up to 30 people, and a 24-hour concierge service.

As for the buyers, Rosenboom is fielding enquiry from everywhere: Sydneysiders and Melburnians looking at the new and off-the-plan market following the changes in the Federal Budget, as well as those looking to relocate, through to South East Queenslanders seeking either a permanent home or a weekender bolthole.

"The Gold Coast lifestyle continues to resonate with people relocating from the southern states, and when they see the views and the quality of what's been delivered at Chevron One, it becomes very easy for them to understand the appeal," Rosenboom says.

A diverse mix of one, two and three-bedroom apartments remain available, with each offering "something a little different", be it the orientation and views, configuration, or level, to suit a wide variety of buyers.

The remaining apartments are ready to inspect in person, by appointment.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=6515]

A decade in the making: Residents to move into Chevron One as construction wraps up

A general rule of thumb in new apartment developments is that the penthouses get the rooftop.

It's a formula that's become commonplace across Australia's apartment market. Residents might have access to a pool, gym or barbecue facilities on a dedicated lower level, but the most desirable outdoor spaces are typically reserved for the highest-priced homes at the top of the building.

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/sherpa-property-group">Sherpa Property Group</a> has taken the opposite approach.

Rather than dedicating the rooftop to a handful of buyers, the Gold Coast developer has made it the centrepiece of its Flourish collection, creating expansive shared spaces from the best vantage point in the building.

The philosophy has reached its most ambitious expression at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/flourish-soleira-palm-beach-1150-1160-gold-coast-highway-palm-beach-qld-4221">Flourish Soleira</a> in Palm Beach, where two rooftop precincts connected by a skybridge will deliver one of the most extensive lifestyle offerings seen in a residential apartment project on the Gold Coast.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150017 project_image_fid=374053]

"We're seeing a clear move toward developments that offer more than just an apartment," Sherpa Group founder Christie Leet said.

"People want spaces that support how they actually live, whether that's working from home, staying active, or spending time with family and friends.

"That's where amenity becomes critical. It's not just about what's included, but how those spaces are designed to be used every day."

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150017 project_image_fid=374052]

The breadth of amenity has already attracted buyers across multiple demographics. Younger first home buyers have been drawn to Soleira's one-bedroom apartments, a product rarely delivered in Palm Beach, while families have responded to practical inclusions such as the shallow children's pool adjoining the main lap pool and the extensive communal recreation areas.

Instead of a single rooftop, Soleira delivers two distinct lifestyle zones.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150017 project_image_fid=372547]

The southern rooftop has been dedicated to wellness, featuring a gym, yoga and Pilates studio, work-from-home facilities, a wellness centre, spa, and hot and cold plunge pools.

The northern rooftop focuses on recreation and entertaining, incorporating a heated resort-style pool, private dining rooms, pizza ovens, barbecues, a golf simulator, children's recreation areas, and what is expected to be the Gold Coast's first rooftop basketball court, which will also double as a squash court.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150017 project_image_fid=374054]

Beyond the rooftops, Soleira will introduce 1,500 sqm of curated retail beneath the towers, creating one of Palm Beach's first genuinely mixed-use lifestyle precincts where cafés, restaurants and convenience retail become part of residents' everyday lives.

Sherpa has also retained management rights across the development, allowing it to oversee the long-term operation of the building through a 24-hour concierge model. The developer is also exploring additional revenue streams within the precinct aimed at helping offset ongoing body corporate costs for residents.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=150017 project_image_fid=370962]

While Soleira is the largest project Sherpa has delivered, the rooftop-first philosophy has been evolving for several years.

It began with <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/amargo-6-12-sixth-avenue-palm-beach-qld-4221">Flourish Amargo</a>, the first project released under the Flourish brand. Rather than competing at the ultra-luxury end of the market with oversized half-floor and full-floor residences, Sherpa focused on creating lifestyle-driven apartments supported by resort-style shared spaces.

Amargo introduced more than 800 sqm of rooftop amenity, combining wellness facilities, heated pools, entertaining areas, cabanas, pizza ovens and private dining spaces into what was designed as an extension of residents' homes rather than a facility used only occasionally.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=146527 project_image_fid=366550]

That approach continued with Flourish Oasis, where the same amenity-led philosophy was refined into a more boutique development. Strong demand from Sherpa's growing VIP database saw much of the project sold before it reached the broader market, reinforcing buyer appetite for apartment communities centred around shared lifestyle experiences.

Flourish Amargo is slated for completion mid-way-through next year, with Oasis to be delivered by late 2027. Flourish Soleira is expected to complete in 2030.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=150017]

Sherpa takes amenity to the sky as Flourish Soleira captures booming Palm Beach demand

As apartment living continues to evolve across Sydney's growth corridors, the quality and distribution of shared spaces is increasingly shaping how residents experience home. Rather than functioning as add-ons, amenities are being embedded into the daily rhythm of a building, supporting everything from quiet retreat to social interaction, often within a single vertical community.

At <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/aeris-melrose-park-nursery-street-melrose-park-nsw-2114">Aeris</a> in Melrose Park, this approach is resolved through a layered amenity offering that unfolds from ground level through to its upper podium. Developed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/sekisui-house-australia">Sekisui House Australia</a> in partnership with Hankyu Hanshin Properties, the project introduces 468 apartments across two towers and a mid-rise building, positioned at the highest point of the broader masterplan.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=426 project_image_fid=359199]

The amenity experience begins at street level, where two courtyards sit within a landscaped setting that connects residents to the wider network of parks and green spaces. These green spaces are not isolated pockets but part of a wider pedestrian network that links Aeris to the surrounding <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/melrose-park-nsw-2114">Melrose Park</a> precinct, including Central Park, future schools, and the Town Centre opening in July 2026. The result is a transition that moves from public to private without abrupt boundaries, allowing residents to pass through shaded, tree-lined environments before reaching the building itself.

Moving upward, the focus shifts to the level five podium, where the primary communal facilities are concentrated. This space brings together a 16-metre swimming pool, outdoor seating areas, and a communal BBQ zone arranged to take advantage of elevated outlooks. Seating is positioned beneath pergolas, creating pockets of shade that extend the usability of the space throughout the day. The pool edge aligns with views toward the wider district, reinforcing the sense of elevation that defines the project’s positioning.

In the adjacent building, this is complemented by quieter, more contemplative spaces, including an outdoor cinema set within the same level. Positioned to operate primarily in the evening, it introduces a different tempo to the shared environment, shifting from daytime activity to after-hours use without requiring separate zones.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=426 project_image_fid=360299]

The podium also accommodates an intimate private resident gym. Located on the lower levels, it gives residents convenient access to fitness facilities without leaving the building.

Above, the elevated podium sky deck extends the amenity offering, providing additional open-air spaces with elevated outlooks across the surrounding landscape. While more restrained in program, this upper level reinforces the project’s vertical progression, from ground-level greenery to elevated outlook, allowing residents to move between distinct spatial conditions within a single address.

This distribution of amenities reflects a deliberate response to how residents use space across the day. Sekisui House Australia Sales and Marketing Director Peter Kalaf points to the role these shared areas play in shaping buyer demand. Aeris has been conceived as more than a collection of apartments, with the podium pool, gym and outdoor cinema forming part of a broader lifestyle offering that extends the home beyond each individual residence.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=426 project_image_fid=360300]

What distinguishes Aeris is not the inclusion of these elements individually, but how they are arranged in relation to one another. Active, social, and passive spaces are layered vertically rather than separated, allowing residents to choose between them without leaving the building or moving far from their apartment. This proximity supports both routine use, such as a morning swim or evening workout, and more occasional gatherings, whether around the BBQ area or within the cinema setting.

The amenity design also sits within a broader framework of connectivity across Melrose Park. The Melrose Park Town Centre, anchored by Coles and Dan Murphys, features a mix of retail, dining, health and lifestyle offerings, bringing everyday convenience closer to residents. By the end of the year, more than five hectares of parks and open space, equivalent to around seven football fields of green space on residents' doorstep, will further enhance the precinct, allowing the internal facilities at Aeris to operate as an extension of the wider neighbourhood rather than a substitute for it.

Construction at Aeris continues to gather momentum, with ground floor slabs expected to be completed in late 2026 before the first sections of the buildings begin to rise above ground.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=426]

Elevated amenity anchors daily life at Aeris, Melrose Park

Housing Affordability

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EXPERT OBSERVATION
CoreLogic’s latest housing affordability report highlighted a subtle improvement in housing affordability based on a ratio of household incomes to dwelling prices.
Nationally, the ratio reduced to 6.81 over the June quarter, down from a record high of 6.84 over the March quarter of 2018.
The ratio simply means that for a typical Australian household, the typical dwelling price is about 6.8 times more than their gross annual income.
The improvement in affordability is attributable to a subtle rise in household incomes; up 0.3% between the March and June quarter, while dwelling prices slipped 0.2% lower over the quarter nationally based on the change in median selling price.
While the national view on housing affordability is important from a macro perspective, there is an extreme range of housing affordability across the country.
Some regional areas, particularly those associated with the mining sector where incomes tend to be high and housing prices have slumped substantially since the end of the mining boom, housing affordability is generally very healthy.
For example, in the Western Australian town of Leonora (about 240 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie), the median dwelling price is just $45,000 and the median household income is just over $57,000 per annum providing for a ratio of just 0.69.
At the other extreme, some of the areas around Sydney (Rose Bay- Vaucluse-Watsons Bay and Castle Hill East) show a dwelling price to income ratio upwards of 20.
Dwelling price to income measures across small geographic areas highlight the challenge isn’t confined to just the most expensive suburbs.
Across Sydney, where the overall dwelling price to income ratio is 9.1, every region of the city shows a ratio higher than 6.1 and almost half (49%) of the areas show a ratio higher than 10.
Areas where housing costs are relatively low such as the Outer West and Central Coast generally show a lower income profile which keeps the dwelling price to income ratio elevated even though housing prices are typically viewed as more affordable in these areas.
The widespread affordability challenges across Sydney highlight that fixing the affordability issue isn’t as simple as building more roads and highways in order to free up access to lower priced markets – even the areas located a long way from the city centre and key working nodes, with inefficient transport connections are woefully unaffordable in Sydney.
Affordability pressures are far less substantial in markets like Brisbane (dwelling price to income ratio of 6.0) and Perth (5.9).
Despite being Australia’s third and fourth largest cities, housing trends have been much softer in these areas.
Median prices have risen at the annual rate of 3.0% and 0.2% in each city respectively over the past five years while incomes rose at the annual pace of 1.8% and 0.7% over the same period.
Only three (1.3%) regions of Brisbane have a dwelling price to income ratio that is 10 or higher while in Perth only six (4.0%) regions have a ratio of 10 or higher.
With a federal election around the corner, no doubt we will see a lot more discussion around housing; after all housing comprises almost 55% of household wealth across the country and seems to always be a popular topic amongst voters.
Let’s hope the debate and policy announcements extend further than the topics of negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions and we see the federal government doing a lot more to work with state and local governments on housing affordability solutions.
TIM LAWLESS heads up the CoreLogic RP Data research and analytics team and can be contacted<a href="https://blog.corelogic.com.au/author/timlawless/" target="_blank"> here.</a>
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tlawless-5VLUrbAk9s

Subtle improvements in housing affordability identified: Tim Lawless

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GUEST OBSERVATION
Jeannie loves her apartment. It has a separate bedroom, a small bathroom, and an open-plan kitchen, lounge and dining area. It’s compact, but sliding doors open onto a generous balcony to create a larger living space. Jeannie often takes her meals on the balcony, where she can sit surrounded by pot plants and enjoy a view across houses with leafy backyards.
Jeannie’s three-year-old apartment is one of 57 single-bedroom units in Caggara House, a five-storey affordable housing development. It’s in a quiet street in Brisbane’s Mount Gravatt, within easy reach of shops, a medical centre, cafes and public transport.
Jeannie has spent much of her life in public housing on Brisbane’s south side. She brought up her three children in a three-bedroom commission home in nearby Holland Park.
After they had all flown the nest she downsized to a two-bedroom townhouse in Annerley. “It was more central,” she says, “just five to ten minutes from the city, which was good when I was working on call as a casual.”
Eventually, though, getting up the stairs became a problem, and Jeannie felt a bit unsafe living at ground level. At Caggara House there is a security entrance, a lift to her third-floor apartment, and wide passageways and doorways, so it is both safe and easy to navigate for someone with limited mobility.
Caggara is split into two buildings with a landscaped garden in between to give the complex a “green lung”. There is a shared barbecue area, a communal laundry, and a common room for parties, meetings and exercise classes. The development has won prizes for an energy-efficient design that provides for both privacy and social interaction.
Yet the real innovation is in the concept — it provided well-located, high-quality housing for low-income residents aged 55 and over, while freeing up resources to add to Brisbane’s overall stock of affordable housing. This might sound like a magic pudding, too good to be true, but Caggara’s residents previously lived alone in state-owned houses that were too big for their needs. Those houses were worth about A$500,000 each. It cost a little more than half that much to build each of the units in Mount Gravatt.
In this way, an investment of A$15 million in Caggara freed up A$25 million worth of assets that could be put to better use, either by accommodating families on the waiting list for social housing or by being sold to raise capital for new buildings.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zpArAtKjkmc?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" width="440" height="260"></iframe>
Caggara House was created for former public housing tenants over the age of 55.
Community housing pioneers around the country
Caggara House is an initiative of the not-for-profit Brisbane Housing Company. It’s a provider of what is often called community housing, to distinguish it from the public housing supplied by state authorities (even though they serve a common client base of low-income tenants). Since it was set up in 2002, BHC has built 1,300 affordable rental dwellings and earned the same AA- credit rating as the Commonwealth Bank.
Housing First (previously the Port Phillip Housing Association) is another innovative community-housing provider. It has 1,200 dwellings scattered around Melbourne. And, like BHC, it forms strategic partnerships with private developers, other community organisations, and all tiers of government to build energy-efficient homes with low running costs.
In Sydney, affordable housing provider BlueCHP has a portfolio of 1,600 properties. In November 2017 it opened Macarthur Gardens, a mix of apartments clustered in three towers close to Macarthur Railway Station, Macarthur Square Shopping Centre, and Western Sydney University. BlueCHP manages 56 of the dwellings as below-market rentals for low-income households and is selling the other 45 to help finance the project.
Macarthur Gardens is the largest residential complex in Australia built from cross-laminated timber. BlueCHP was the first developer in New South Wales to use this cost-effective, environmentally friendly technology.
In theory, state housing authorities could innovate like the Brisbane Housing Company, Housing First and BlueCHP. In practice, this rarely happens. Governments tend to be overly cautious in a sector that is crying out for flexibility. David Cant, who was chief executive of BHC for its first 15 years, says: "Not-for-profits can take risks. They can work quicker and smarter."
Community housing providers also “know their residents and know their geography”, Cant adds.
Australia has a pressing need for more social and affordable housing. More than half of all low-income tenants in the private market spend at least 30% of their disposable income on rent (and often much more than that). This can lead them to skimp on essentials like food, heating, transport, health care and schoolbooks. In the long term this sort of rental stress can damage physical and mental health, stunt educational attainment, and limit opportunity.
Australia can learn from UK housing providers
Cant thinks the best way to reduce rental stress is to build up the community housing sector, even though it currently provides less than 1% of all Australian dwellings. He is confident this can be done, based on 25 years working in Britain.
Before the Thatcher government sold off council houses in the 1980s, local government was the largest and most established provider of low-cost rental dwellings in Britain. Today, housing associations are more significant: 170 individual housing associations own 2.49 million homes – more than 10% of all housing in Britain. Local government now accounts for just 7%.
Oona Goldsworthy, chief executive of the Bristol-based not-for-profit housing association United Communities, says the sector matured relatively quickly. On a visit to Australia to she told me: "Housing associations in the United Kingdom grew out of an ideological and political push that the state is not necessarily the best provider of housing."
The view was that smaller organisations that were closer to the community could do a better job. Goldsworthy says British housing associations were able to borrow proactively, capturing a relatively small amount of public subsidy and matching it with lending from other sources. That’s exactly the sort of agility that gives community housing an edge over public-sector providers in Australia.
In the 2017 federal budget, the then treasurer, Scott Morrison, announced two measures designed to enable not-for-profit associations to build more housing: the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation and an affordable housing bond aggregator. Together, they are designed to make it easier and cheaper for housing providers to borrow money by acting as a bridge between community-housing providers and superannuation funds.
While community organisations can and do borrow from banks, each loan must be separately negotiated. Super funds won’t deal one on one with individual providers in this way, so the NHFIC aims to offer them a standardised, rated investment product.
Since it has the backing of both Labor and the Greens, the NHFIC should survive any change of government. Yet the most important tool for repairing housing in Australia is still missing — a substantial amount of government money.
Cant, who was recently appointed to the NHFIC board, says poor people are generally reliable rent-payers because they know housing underpins the rest of their lives. Offered a deal along the lines of “be a good neighbour, pay your rent and you can stay here as long as you like”, they will grab it with both hands and enjoy a sense of pride and ownership that is indistinguishable from an owner-occupied home. Yet the rent they can afford to pay is not enough to cover the cost of building and maintaining community housing.
Cant says: "If you want to house people on lower incomes then you have to find a bit of a subsidy."
The holy grail of superannuation funds investing in affordable housing will not be achieved unless government tops up the rents paid by low-income households to generate an acceptable rate of return.
Piers Williamson is the chief executive of the Housing Finance Corporation — Britain’s equivalent to NHFIC — and has been advising the Australian government on setting up the NHFIC. He told the tenth National Housing Conference in Sydney that Britain’s affordable housing model was underpinned by £45 billion (A$75 billion) in grant money. “Grants are one of the things missing over here,” he said. “Subsidised housing requires a subsidy.”
Australia badly needs more rental accommodation that does not leave low-income tenants living in stress. The only proven way to increase the supply of social and affordable dwellings is to increase public investment in the sector — in other words, to spend more taxpayers’ dollars.
Why should wealthier Australians agree to subsidise the housing of poorer Australians through the tax system? For David Cant, social justice is reason enough. 
As a nation, we are sleepwalking into inequality. The settings we have got are dividing the community.
As housing inequality worsens it will touch more and more people. One day it could be an old friend, a sibling, a child, or a parent facing housing troubles. One day it could be you or me.
<hr>
This is an edited extract from <a href="https://www.textpublishing.com.au/books/no-place-like-home-repairing-australia-s-housing-crisis" target="_blank">No Place Like Home: Repairing Australia’s Housing Crisis</a>, published by Text on September 17.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102840/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;">
Peter Mares, Adjunct Fellow, Centre for Urban Transitions, Swinburne University of Technology
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-community-fix-for-the-affordable-housing-crisis-102840" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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j.ballantyne1990-6AQqhLzZaK

A community fix for the affordable housing crisis: Peter Mares

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GUEST OBSERVATION
Greater Melbourne officially became home to 5 million people last month – that’s almost 90% of the state’s population. With these figures in mind, the state government is taking important steps to address the growing affordable housing crisis.
According to the amended Planning and Environment Act 1987, affordable housing is “housing, including social housing, that is appropriate for the housing needs of very low, low and moderate-income households”. And Victoria faces a dire shortage.
Since the launch in February 2017 of Plan Melbourne, the metropolitan planning strategy, and Homes for Victorians, the affordable housing strategy, the Planning Act has included affordable housing as a crucial aim.
This allows voluntary agreements with developers to provide 5-10% of new dwellings that will be affordable to households on very low, low and moderate incomes. An inclusionary zoning pilot on government land will result in “at least” 100 affordable housing units. The private development-led Public Housing Renewal Program will result in “at least” another 1,100 units.
But, given the scale of the problem, how much difference will this make? To make a real difference to housing stress and the risk of homelessness, Plan Melbourne’s commitment to using vacant or under-utilised government land needs to be scaled up and refocused. Our new report provides details on where, why and how government land could be used to boost affordable housing.
We mapped 195 hectares of government-owned land across 255 sites (see map below). This map shows Victoria has the opportunity to gain much more social benefit from its public land assets.
How big is the affordable housing shortfall?
When the state government strategies were released, we argued that the affordable housing strategy’s modest goal of 4,700 dwellings between 2017 and 2022 is a drop in the bucket.
According to our report, Victoria faces a deficit of roughly 164,000 affordable homes for very low and low-income households – and that’s before accounting for population growth of over 2% a year.
To highlight the sheer scale of the issue, we have compared the number of very low and low-income households with the availability of affordable units.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234977/original/file-20180905-45175-pmximu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
The shortfall of affordable and available units by income group In Victoria. Author provided
Well-located unused and lazy land
If we look at Vancouver in Canada, the city’s 2017 Housing Strategy aims for the equivalent of 300,000 dwellings for lower-income households by 2027. An essential part of this strategy is using all suitable and well-located vacant and under-utilised government land.
In April 2018, Vancouver also committed to provide 600 units of modular supportive housing for homeless people on vacant government land. By August, half of these units were complete or being built.
To identify such land in Melbourne, we started with a dataset of over 12,000 government-owned properties identified through title searches and Freedom of Information Act requests. We limited our search to government sites that were surplus, vacant or “lazy” – “lazy” land already houses low-rise facilities like community centres, health clinics, libraries, government offices, car parks and childcare centres but is also compatible with accommodating affordable housing. We excluded parkland and green space.
We then limited our search to sites that scored highly on our Housing Access Rating Tool (HART).
This is a 20-point tool that measures critical amenities and social services within walking distance of each parcel of land. HART takes its inspiration from the 20-minute city concept in Plan Melbourne. We included public transport, childcare centres, public schools, parks, libraries, grocery stores, community centres and healthcare services.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234978/original/file-20180905-45169-1vornnd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
Map of well-located government land (based on HART scores) for social and affordable housing. Author provided
Making the most of scarce land
It will come as no surprise that land costs are highest in the city centre and inner suburbs where existing transport and services are strongest. This makes it difficult for non-profits to develop social housing in these rapidly gentrifying areas. In fact, Australian research suggests land costs can consume up to 30% of the cost of development.
Government can lease its land to non-profits for a nominal fee to eliminate this cost for housing providers. Construction and building permit exemptions, expedited planning permits, low-rate construction loans and mortgages as well as ongoing Commonwealth Rent Assistance subsidies attached to projects can all help to reduce affordable housing costs.
Cause We Care House in Vancouver is an example of creative use of “lazy” public land. There’s a library on the first floor, which is topped by five floors of housing for women escaping domestic violence. Through a combination of local government land, senior government subsidy and philanthropic donations, 21 mothers and their children have found stable and secure housing as a result of the project.
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/257809771" frameborder="0" width="500" height="281"></iframe>
 Cause We Care House, built over a library, is an example of how Vancouver is creatively using ‘lazy’ land for affordable housing.
We are working with the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation and the City of Darebin on an Affordable Housing Challenge to build philanthropically funded social housing on a local government car park close to Preston Market. The City of Port Phillip has already successfully trialled this kind of housing that sits above car parks.
Non-profit housing providers, architects and builders have the expertise and experience to rapidly scale up affordable housing in fast-growing cities like Melbourne. So, what are we waiting for?

Matthew Palm, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Transforming Housing Research Network, University of Melbourne
Carolyn Whitzman, Professor of Urban Planning, University of Melbourne
Katrina Raynor, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Transforming Housing Project, University of Melbourne
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/put-unused-and-lazy-land-to-work-to-ease-the-affordable-housing-crisis-102720" target="_blank">original article</a>.
This article has been updated to make it clear the authors are not advocating that the government sell off public land, which can instead be leased to make it available for housing.
This is an edited version of an article co-published with <a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/" target="_blank">Pursuit</a>.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102720/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">
Main photo: Getting more out of ‘lazy’ land, such as this community housing built over a Port Phillip City Council-owned car park, is a key strategy to reduce the shortage of affordable housing. City of Port Phillip
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Put unused and ‘lazy’ land to work to ease the affordable housing crisis

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GUEST OBSERVATION
Public concern about housing affordability in Australia is well documented. It would be reasonable to assume our local governments are giving the supply of affordable housing the attention it deserves. However, our national survey reveals that while it’s a growing concern for many local governments across the country, especially in metropolitan areas, most councils do not view the provision of affordable housing as a priority for them.
The survey results strongly suggest that local governments do not feel they have the capacity to intervene in a meaningful way.
The survey included a range of questions about local governments’ engagement with housing-related activities in their area. We asked about the priority given to housing issues, how important housing is relative to other council issues, and what kinds of policies and initiatives they plan to implement to help resolve the problem.
All 546 local governments in Australia were invited to participate in the survey. We received 213 responses. The majority, 72%, came from non-metropolitan areas (there are a lot more non-metropolitan local governments).
Do councils think it’s a problem in their area?
Almost all the metropolitan councils saw housing affordability as an issue (Figure 1). Half saw it as a very substantial or substantial issue. Only 13.5% said it was not an issue.
In contrast, only 26.6% of non-metropolitan councils responded that housing affordability is a substantial or very substantial issue.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234743/original/file-20180904-41711-mht0p6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
Author provided
The responses to the question about what proportion of housing stock in the council area is affordable were remarkable (Figure 2).
Half of the metropolitan councils said only 5% of the housing in their local government area (LGA) was affordable. Three-quarters said 10% or less. Even in the non-metropolitan areas, 43% of councils said only 15% of housing was affordable.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234744/original/file-20180904-41723-21krxm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
Author provided
What are councils doing about it?
Despite recognising the problem, very few councils appear to be making the provision of affordable housing a priority. Just 13.5% of respondents from metropolitan areas and 15.5% from non-metropolitan LGAs said their councillors gave housing affordability a substantial or very substantial amount of attention (Figure 3).
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234745/original/file-20180904-41735-1fu95ai.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
Author provided
Linked to this lack of attention, few councils viewed “finding ways to provide adequate affordable housing” in their LGA as a priority (Figure 4). Not one metropolitan council answered to a “very substantial extent”. Only a quarter said to “a substantial extent”.
About four in ten metropolitan councils and over half of the non-metropolitan councils viewed finding ways to provide adequate affordable housing locally as a non-priority. These councils had put this on the far backburner.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234747/original/file-20180904-41729-1w5bv83.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
Author provided
Local governments were also asked what priority had been given to housing relative to other council issues (Figure 5). Just 1.8% of respondents in metropolitan areas and 5.2% in non-metropolitan areas said housing had been given “very high” priority.
More encouraging was that about four in ten councils in metropolitan areas did say they had given it high priority relative to other issues. Very few non-metropolitan councils, about one in five, said housing was a high priority or very high priority relative to other issues.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234748/original/file-20180904-45166-1n7xnwk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
Author provided
Do councils have policies, targets or strategies in place?
Fewer than half of those surveyed said they had a “housing policy, housing plan or housing strategy” in place (Figure 6).
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234758/original/file-20180904-45172-1rapyhg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
 Author provided
Those that reported having a formal policy said it focused on such issues as housing affordability, residential land development, population change, urban design, social and public housing, and energy efficiency.
However, our survey reveals that those policies are not perceived as being particularly extensive. Figure 7 shows just one in four local governments in metropolitan areas and 10% from non-metropolitan areas believe their council’s housing policies are “comprehensive” to a very substantial or substantial extent.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234749/original/file-20180904-45139-mecft3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
Author provided
The data suggest that having an explicit housing affordability target was viewed as unrealistic. Only 17.3% of metropolitan councils and 10.1% of non-metropolitan councils said they had an explicit target (Figure 8).
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234757/original/file-20180904-45139-ow2do5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
Author provided
Whose responsibility is it to provide affordable housing?
It’s noteworthy that, out of 213 councils, only one felt local government should be primarily responsible for “addressing the problems associated with housing in Australia” (Figure 9). The overwhelming sentiment was that state government or a combination of all levels of government should be responsible.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234752/original/file-20180904-45139-magd94.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
Author provided
The results suggest that improving housing affordability in a meaningful way is beyond the remit of local government. State and federal governments need to take the lead.
Although many councils are well aware that housing affordability is an issue in their area, they feel unable to respond in a meaningful way. An explanation for this is a unanimous view that Australia’s housing affordability problem is beyond the capacity of local governments to resolve. Almost all councils believe the provision of affordable housing is the responsibility of state and/or federal governments.
This is not surprising when we consider that local government accrues only 3.5% of all tax revenue. Local councils lack the fiscal capacity to develop affordable housing.
Further, state governments often override local governments’ efforts through the planning approvals to ensure all new developments have an affordable housing component.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97461/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;">
Alan Morris, Research Professor, University of Technology Sydney
Catherine Davis, Research assistant, University of Technology Sydney
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/local-councils-put-affordable-housing-supply-in-the-too-hard-basket-97461" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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Local councils put affordable housing supply in the too hard basket

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Aussie Home Loans boss James Symond believes home buyers will enjoy better buying conditions in the 2018-2019 financial year, with housing affordability improving on the back of weaker property prices.
The Aussie chief executive says that while sluggish wages growth and ever-tightening lending conditions are still cause for concern, the easing or reversal of price growth in some markets will be a welcome change.
 <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2018/8/3/TRENDS%201.jpg" alt="">
Souce: CoreLogic
“The Housing Industry Association’s recent report showed easing property prices have improved affordability in five of Australia’s capital cities in the June 2018 quarter, with Hobart, Adelaide and Melbourne the exceptions," Symond said. 
“Perth continues to be Australia’s most affordable capital city and represents excellent value for first home buyers and investors. I expect we will see a return to growth in that market very soon as buyers capitalise on its market conditions."
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2018/8/3/TRENDS%202.jpg" alt="">
Symond pointed to Aussie’s recent <a id="m_3069420768199052246LPlnk39779" href="http://www.aussie.com.au/25years" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=http://www.aussie.com.au/25years&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1533340884865000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHtnWg1otE9jLxq9MhZpUaipuIh1g">25 Years of Housing Trends report</a> which showed loan serviceability levels have improved over the last 25 years.
The proportion of annual household income required to service a mortgage (based on a 20% deposit) is currently tracking at 36%, up from 27% in 2001, but down from its peak of 51% of annual income in June 2008.
“A new report released this week by Deloitte Access Economics shows that mortgage brokers make mortgage markets work better, providing information and improving choice and competition for borrowers. It’s for these reasons and more that there’s never been a better time for a borrower to use a mortgage broker," he said. 
"Brokers intimately know the various lending criteria and policies of different lenders, and so can help borrowers secure the right loan faster and easier than going it alone.”
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2018/8/3/TRENDS%203.jpg" alt="">
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Housing affordability improving for buyers in new financial year: Aussie Home Loans 

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The quickest path for first home buyers to purchasing a house in Greater Hobart is Brighton, according to a report released this week by Domain.
<img src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b16c0b957ea98f662ab985606/images/b7d9b0c3-df73-4669-a275-9750aee501f7.png">
For those looking to buy a home, Greater Hobart is one of the most accessible capital cities in Australia with the lowest entry price for houses.
"However, when LGAs are considered, accessibility is driven by the affordable outskirts," the report said.
The LGA of Hobart takes approximately 6.3 years to save for an entry price home deposit, which is almost on par with the average time to save for a deposit in Greater Sydney (6.7 years).
<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2018/6/29/Hobart%20Home.jpg" alt="">
Indicative of Brighton's price potential, 23 Andrew Street, Brighton (pictured above) the two bedroom, one bathroom house sold for $230,000 last month.
However even though Greater Hobart requires the shortest time to save of all the capital cities, this has increased by three months for houses and four months for units compared to last year, a result of a strong, growing market outpacing wage growth.
<img src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b16c0b957ea98f662ab985606/images/965aee85-8e99-4381-9cbb-e52d9cb42f11.png">
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Brighton ranked the quickest FHB path to house ownership in Greater Hobart: Domain

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GUEST OBSERVATION
If property prices are rising, it is commonly assumed we must be facing a shortage of supply relative to demand. So if we’re ever going to reduce housing affordability problems, we’re simply going to have to build our way out of it. After all, as anyone who’s sat in an introductory economics class would tell you, basic economics is sufficient to at least suggest that if prices are rising in the long term, then supply must be lagging behind demand.
It’s true the housing market is largely subject to the forces of supply and demand. The deficiency of this argument lies, not so much in any perceived cracks in the supply-demand framework taught in Economics 101, but in the fact that the appropriate “price” indicator is not property prices. It’s rent.
What’s the ‘price’ of housing?
The problem with relying on rising property prices as a “price” signal of a supply shortage is that the dwelling an owner-occupier buys is both a consumption and an investment good. It offers a place to live as well as an asset in which the owner invests a substantial part of their wealth. Hence, property prices are at best a murky indicator of the balance of supply and demand for housing as a home to live in and an asset to own.
It is well established in the housing economics literature that the “price” signal for the adequacy of supply relative to demand for housing services is rent. Rent reflects the cost of consuming housing or, to put it another way, the cost of living in a home. So if housing supply is lagging behind demand for housing as a place to live in, we should expect to see rents rise.
Are rents keeping pace with property prices?
Property prices have clearly surged over the long term in Australia, as the chart below shows.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229557/original/file-20180727-106496-o78kv5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
The Residential Property Price Index (RPPI), adjusted for inflation and averaged across all capital cities, climbed by nearly 30% from 2008-18. Property prices in Sydney and Melbourne, where the real RPPI surged by 54% and 43% respectively, largely drove this average increase.
But housing economics principles tell us this can only be attributed to a supply shortage if rents have also soared.
It turns out real rents have remained relatively flat in most capital cities over the last decade. The chart below shows the real weekly rent of three-bedroom houses across all capital cities over the past decade. The weighted average has shifted upwards by a mere 10%, from $389 to $429.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229537/original/file-20180727-106508-55w8qi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
For two-bedroom units, the average real weekly rent has also shifted slightly from $393 to $446. That’s a mild 13% increase over a decade.
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229538/original/file-20180727-106499-19q6lgj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="">
The real rent increases have been relatively minor compared to the nearly 30% surge in real RPPI across all capital cities. There are again some differences between cities, but only Sydney had a noticeable increase in real rents. This still lagged behind the spike in real RPPI in the city.
Dealing with the crux of the affordability crisis
Overall, rent increases are clearly not keeping pace with soaring property prices in all major capital cities in Australia. So claims that a housing shortage is the principal cause of a lack of affordable housing are unfounded. Supply-side solutions, while important, will need to be targeted directly at low-income groups who find it difficult to compete in private rental markets to meet housing needs.
On the other hand, successive governments have offered preferential tax treatments of housing assets. These have encouraged a significant build-up of wealth in housing assets.
Some of these favourable tax advantages have undoubtedly been capitalised into rising property prices. That has made it harder and harder for renters to break into the home ownership market.
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100383/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">These are structural problems embedded within our tax policy settings. Hence, their impacts on house prices will not magically disappear any time soon unless policymakers are willing to undertake meaningful tax reform that shifts the emphasis away from treating housing as a commodity back to affordable housing as a fundamental right of all Australians.
Rachel Ong, Professor of Economics, School of Economics and Finance, Curtin University
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-rents-not-property-prices-are-best-to-assess-housing-supply-and-need-driven-demand-100383" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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Why rents, not property prices, are best to assess housing supply and need-driven demand

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EXPERT OBSERVER
The Draft Affordable Housing Policy to be considered by the City of Parramatta Council at tonight’s Council meeting, needs to better understand market conditions.
The City of Parramatta Council recently deferred it’s Draft Planning Agreements Policy to an independent panel for review and the same should occur for its Draft Affordable Housing Policy due to be considered at its meeting tonight.
The Planning Agreements Policy included mandatory affordable housing contributions as a significant component so if the council was concerned about the impact on the market of the Draft Planning Agreements Policy and deferred this to an independent panel then clearly the same should occur for the Affordable Housing Policy.
The two policies are clearly intrinsically linked and should be reviewed together.
The draft policy for Affordable Housing includes a proposal to phase affordable housing contributions out of the Planning Agreement process and to replace this with an Inclusionary Zoning approach that requires developers to give 10 percent of new housing projects back to council for affordable housing.
Presumably the Planning Agreement Policy will still have the 50% of uplift to be given to council so developers will be contributing even more back to council.
In the current environment where the feasibility of new housing projects is diminishing as prices are dropping across Sydney the Affordable Housing Policy will only make projects less feasible and potentially stop them from going ahead.
It is vital that the City of Parramatta Council get input from the risk taking real world of the development industry before locking in this Affordable Housing Policy.
The independent panel already appointed by council should involve industry in the review of these new policies.
The opportunity to also involve two recent appointments by the NSW Government should also be taken by the independent panel.
The appointment of a NSW Productivity Commissioner and of a NSW Chief Economist includes a brief for both to look at housing affordability from an economic system perspective.
Their input into the approach proposed by the City of Parramatta Council would benefit the potential roll out of affordable housing policies to all of Sydney’s councils that could flow from Parramatta’s leadership.
The Urban Taskforce is keen to be involved in discussion with all parties involved in Affordable Housing Policy to ensure that a sustainable, market based, approach occurs.
Chris Johnson is Urban Taskforce CEO.
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cjohnson-8xfqfuuCSq

Parramatta Council affordable housing policy needs to understand the market: Chris Johnson

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The quickest path for first home buyers to purchasing a house in Greater Perth is Kwinana, according to a report released this week by Domain.
 <img src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b16c0b957ea98f662ab985606/images/de4c147f-bda1-4dc1-9cd5-4070fbdc225e.png">
Greater Perth is the second most accessible capital city in the nation for purchasing a home with a relatively low entry price and quick path to purchase.
Domain stated, “softening market conditions in Greater Perth has made the path to home ownership quicker for houses and units".
"First home buyers are making the most of purchasing conditions, with the state having the highest proportion of entry-level buyers of all the states and territories in Australia."
Indicative of Kwinana's price potential, <a href="https://www.realestate.com.au/property/6-meridian-way-kwinana-town-centre-wa-6167" target="_blank">6 Meridian Way, Kwinana</a> (pictured above) a three bedroom, two bathroom house sold for $282,000 four months ago. It fetched $300,000 in 2010.
It is a month quicker to save for an entry price house deposit compared to last year, and two months quicker for entry price units.
Mandurah is the quickest way to unit home ownership.
<img src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b16c0b957ea98f662ab985606/images/e92ca46b-7a18-423f-add6-22dd4aad822b.png">
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Kwinana ranked the quickest FHB path to house ownership in Greater Perth: Domain

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EXPERT OBSERVER
The NSW Labor Party targets announced by Shadow Minister for Social Housing, Tania Mihailuk, that 15 to 25 percent of housing on privately owned land would be mandated to be affordable would make most housing projects economically unviable.
A heavy handed policy that simply adds an excessive tax to housing supply will mean many housing projects do not proceed.
The current housing supply market is slowing down through restrictions on lending from banks and from the uncertain climate of potential levies from councils.
To add another tax of 15 to 25 percent to a market that is slowing down will have a very negative impact on the number of new homes that will be built in future years.
The NSW Government is removing the cap on local infrastructure levies that could add around $40,000 to the cost of an average home.
On top of this councils like the City of Parramatta are proposing to apply excessive value capture taxes on all development.
The recent Reserve Bank research on the impacts of restrictive zoning in Sydney indicated that this has added $489,000 to the cost of an average house and around $400,000 to the cost of an average apartment.
The clear message from the RBA research is that interference in the market place by government and council regulations will increase the cost of housing.
Those well-meaning politicians and community housing providers who believe the developers of new housing can give away a significant percentage of their new homes must understand how the economics of the complex supply system works.
The banks will not fund the 15 to 25 percent proportion that Labor wants to give away and developers will find it very difficult to make a project viable without some incentive.
The report on housing affordability for the NSW Government by the former Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Glenn Stevens, made it clear that housing affordability was linked to housing supply and that the planning system in NSW was too slow and complex and that standards that add to housing costs should be reviewed.
Claims by the Community Housing sector that England and America provide massive percentages of affordable housing must be moderated by an understanding of the tax systems and incentives applied in these countries.
We have proposed an incentive based policy for affordable housing that could provide 40,000 new affordable rental homes over a 10 year period.
The policy is based on the NSW Government’s Affordable Rental Housing SEPP and could provide 20 percent of a project as affordable housing for a 10 year period with a 20 percent floor space uplift.
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