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 52-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 52-storey tower, which has just shy of 250 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

International

<html><body>
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, and his wife Tash, have listed their five-bedroom property in Canterbury, outside of Christchurch. 
The property, at 42 Hamptons Road, won the 2016 New Zealand Master Builder of the Year Gold Award for excellence in workmanship, creativity and innovation for a new home over $2 million.
It has five bedrooms, a media room with sound system, bar area, built-in fridge and dishwasher.
Solar panels operate the individually zoned underfloor heating, while upstairs is a ducted heat-pump ensuring the stunning master suite remains ambient.
There are multiple outdoor living zones, including a pool and spa area, and an alfresco lounge with a kitchen that can be closed off when needed.
There is also a large five-bay shed with one fully enclosed bay for a gym or hobby room.
“We’ve loved everything about our beautiful home over the last four years, however, we’re now preparing for the next phase of our lives after rugby. It’s as simple as that,” the two-time world cup winning coach said.
In 2018, Hansen announced his intention to stand down from the top job after this year’s world cup in Japan.
The property is set for auction November 1.
</body></html>

wdavis-8cCN98p7xp

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen lists Canterbury home

<html><body>
Iririki Island, an island resort and casino near Vanuatu’s capital of Port Vila, has reportedly been sold.
<a href="https://property.jll.com.au/hotel-sale/port-vila/iririki-island-resort-casino-12025" target="_blank">The 28 hectare resort</a> is described as the jewel in the crown of Vanuatu and boasts the nation’s “premier” gambling den, according to selling agents Jones Lang LaSalle.
Its sale was reported by Nine Entertainment.
Meanwhile the local paper has reported Vanuatu government is talking with investors from Laos interested in setting up another casino in the country, with the capital of Port Vila and Luganville on Santo in the north excluded as locations because there was a need to boost growth and jobs on other Vanuatu islands. 
Iririki has 72 villas, five bars and restaurants and a day spa.
The Australian reported the JLL sales brochure didn't advise on a long-running legal fight with some of the owners of another 68 units on the island over a long list of issues including rent, body corporate fees and insurance.
Darren Pettiona, a former executive with funds management empire Van Eyk, co-owns it with his brother, Shane.
One of the unit owners is Melbourne man Raphael Sztrochlic.
“Anything that’s involved with Iririki is just a nightmare,” Sztrochlic told The Australian.
The dispute will be heard in Port Vila on June 11.
One of the issues centres on the proceeds of a $20 million insurance payout from QBE Insurance after 2015’s Cyclone Pam devastated the ­island
Pettiona has sold prior court hearings the resort was worth about $32 million.
In 2017 Melbourne's wealthy Zagame family put their Grand Hotel &amp; Casino resort in Vanuatu\up for sale with market expectations of around $25 million.
Built in 2003, the eight-level hotel overlooks the Port Vila Harbour and offers views towards Iririki Island.
It features 15 gaming tables, 136 slot machines, a VIP top-floor gaming room, a restaurant, conference rooms, four bars, a pool and spa.
The family's involvement in Vanuatu dates back to 2001 when they were part of the consortium of Victorian hoteliers that purchased the private island resort of Iririki.
Patriarch Victor Zagame established the family's hospitality business in 1971 with the opening of the Albion Charles Hotel in Northcote in Melbourne's north east.
Another of the key players in Vanuatu is Amax whose main businesses involves operating online gaming businesses in Vanuatu.
 
</body></html>

j.ballantyne1990-6AQqhLzZaK

iProsperity Group buys Vanuatu's casino-hotel resort Iririki Island

<html><body>
GUEST OBSERVATION
Tourism today has a problem and needs an entire rethink. Pundits are debating <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-might-be-at-risk-of-overtourism-99213" target="_blank">overtourism</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/were-in-the-era-of-overtourism-but-there-is-a-more-sustainable-way-forward-108906" target="_blank">peak tourism</a> and <a href="https://medium.com/@BComuGlobal/they-call-it-tourism-phobia-but-that-s-not-what-s-happening-in-barcelona-cb56b02da97b" target="_blank">tourismphobia</a>. Cities such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-stop-city-breaks-killing-our-cities-79132" target="_blank">Barcelona</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/06/venice-losing-fight-with-tourism-and-flooding" target="_blank">Venice</a> and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/dubrovnik-cruise-ship-cap-croatia-overtourism-two-dock-a8565166" target="_blank">Dubrovnik</a> are witnessing a backlash against imposed forms of tourism.
In response, new tactics have been tried, ranging from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/14/venice-stewards-stop-antisocial-behaviour--sandwich-poilice" target="_blank">tourist “police”</a> and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/edinburgh-city-tourist-tax-scotland-holiday-city-break-a8769141?fbclid=IwAR2q6q9woKiC226mLbvYkhJcFF5dr-7T2BjsGU9NXAgwn9vsz3uerfPyRlM" target="_blank">tourist taxes</a> to entry fees and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/sep/06/mass-tourism-environmental-damage" target="_blank">crowd control</a>. Cities are having to rethink their engagement with tourism if they want to keep the locals from <a href="https://amp.theguardian.com/cities/2019/apr/30/sinking-city-how-venice-is-managing-europes-worst-tourism-crisis?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Twitter&amp;__twitter_impression=true&amp;fbclid=IwAR1DvMXEHG0OFcWeLmuxzd7OBxPbFEGIlO5VDH2Oo--ZhHepL6q3gwVM0-8" target="_blank">rioting</a>.
Fundamental concerns are being raised. If tourism is to have a sustainable future, we need to reorient our focus and put the well-being and interests of local residents at the forefront.
Understanding tourism
Tourism is typically understood from two angles. On the one hand, the focus is on the tourists and the nature of their motivations and demand, in the hope of enticing more. On the other is the business side, focused on developing products and services to provide to tourists.
The industry seeks to grow tourism for profits. Governments support the industry for the jobs and revenues it provides. The result has been a relentless growth in tourism in forms that locals have often not appreciated.
Developments like Airbnb are placing tourists <a href="http://www.traveller.com.au/barcelona-tourism-overtourism-and-bad-behaviour-driving-locals-to-despair-h13vqy" target="_blank">in the heart of local neighbourhoods</a>, disrupting the rhythms of daily life. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517717301784" target="_blank">Events are imposed on communities</a>, driving out locals or blighting their quality of life. A case in point is the Newcastle 500 Supercars event, which <a href="https://wrongtracknsw.com/" target="_blank">some locals claim</a> has harmed local businesses and disrupted residents’ lives.
Public assets like the <a href="http://www.adelaide-parklands.asn.au/current-issues/" target="_blank">Adelaide Parklands</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/green-light-for-tasmanian-wilderness-tourism-development-defied-expert-advice-104854" target="_blank">Australian national parks and World Heritage areas</a> are being commercialised and privatised for tourism developments.
Shifting the focus to the local community
We could create a different future for tourism if it was reoriented to be centred on the local community. <a href="https://tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09669582.2019.1601732" target="_blank">Our recently published research paper</a> redefined tourism as: "The process of local communities inviting, receiving and hosting visitors in their local community, for a limited time duration, with the intention of receiving benefits from such actions."
Such forms of tourism may be offered by commercial businesses or made possible by non-profit organisations. But in this restructure of tourism, tourism operators would be allowed access to the local community’s assets only under their authorisation and stewardship.
The seeds of such a transition to more sustainable forms of tourism are already growing.
Respect and fairness go a long way
Venice provides a good example. In 2017, the authorities launched a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/venice-enjoyrespectvenezia-tourism-campaign-paola-mar-travel-campaign-litter-swim-canals-bridges-a7861321" target="_blank">#EnjoyRespectVenezia</a> campaign to overcome problems of poor tourist behaviour.
In 2019, Venetian authorities have gone even further by <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/venice-biennale-city-access-fee-1535137" target="_blank">introducing an entry fee</a> this year and, later, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/venice-booking-system-entry-fee-reserve-overcrowding-overtourism-a8765456" target="_blank">a booking system</a>. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said: "We intend to guarantee a better liveability for citizens and, above all, for the residents."
But local communities and organisations are not waiting for authorities to act. Community activists are organising to take control of tourism for themselves.
A grassroots initiative from Amsterdam and Venice has resulted in <a href="https://fairbnb.coop/" target="_blank">Fairbnb</a>. It’s a social cooperative designed to challenge the damaging and disruptive model of Airbnb. The new platform “provides a community-centred alternative to current vacation rental platforms that prioritises people over profit and offers the potential for authentic, sustainable and intimate travel experiences”.
Like Airbnb, Fairbnb offers a platform to book vacation rentals. The difference is that 50% of revenues will be directed to local community projects. It also has a “one host, one home” policy – only one property on the market for each host – to limit negative impacts on local residential housing markets.
Meanwhile in Australia …
Australia does not have the same level of <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-might-be-at-risk-of-overtourism-99213" target="_blank">overtourism</a> that places in Europe are suffering. But pressures are building right around the country from Byron Bay and the Great Ocean Road to our bigger cities like Sydney and Melbourne. Locals are complaining about housing affordability, congested roads and badly behaved tourists.
Australia would benefit from strategies to reorient tourism to local well-being and control. Some promising examples already exist.
<a href="https://www.lirrwitourism.com.au/" target="_blank">Lirrwi Tourism</a> in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, stands out. The Yolngu Aboriginal operators have embraced tourism access but only under a visionary set of <a href="https://www.lirrwitourism.com.au/guiding-principles" target="_blank">guiding principles</a>. These declare “Yolngu have a responsibility to care for country” and “Tourism should never control what happens on country”. It’s an example of tourism on the local community’s terms.
<a href="https://www.theurbanist.org/2015/09/16/melbourne-a-case-study-in-the-revitalization-of-city-laneways-part-1/" target="_blank">Melbourne’s laneways strategy</a> has demonstrated one way CBD revitalisation, resident well-being and visitor experiences can be brought together for great outcomes.
Tourists can play their part by meeting local communities halfway. In a resource-constrained world the pleasures of tourism must be balanced with some basic responsibilities.
Tourists must gain some basic understanding of local living conditions and shape their travel plans accordingly. The focus must be to give locals the maximum benefits from the visit with the minimum negative impacts. The recent campaign <a href="https://www.kathmandu.com.au/helpful-or-harmful" target="_blank">“Helpful or harmful: what sort of traveller are you?”</a> provides a place to start.
The long-term sustainability of tourism depends on ensuring visitors do not wear out their welcome. Reorienting tourism to enhance local well-being is the way forward.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116066/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;">
Freya Higgins-Desbiolles, Senior Lecturer in Tourism Management, University of South Australia
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/rethinking-tourism-so-the-locals-actually-benefit-from-hosting-visitors-116066" target="_blank">original article</a>.
</body></html>

Rethinking tourism so the locals actually benefit from hosting visitors

<html><body>
House Rules judge Jamie Durie has again adjusted the asking price of his Hollywood Hills home, following his return to Sydney.
<a href="https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2605-Laurel-Pass_Los-Angeles_CA_90046_M12262-67100" target="_blank">The Laurel Canyon home</a> reappeared on US listing websites this week with a reduced US$2.45 million ($3.5 million) asking price.
Durie will still make a big gain, despite­ the price being first adjusted in January down from its initial US$2,995,000 hopes.
It is one of the priciest homes on the market in the area.
Durie paid US$950,000 for the mid-century modern ranch style home in 2009, soon after he moved to the US to host TV show The Outdoor Room.
The trendy house was designed by Maitlin &amp; Chapman in 1957 and has three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
It’s no surprise that the outdoor is described­ as a tropical paradise on its Realtor.com listing.
There is a pool, outdoor dining area, shower and a number of deck spaces.
There’s also a recently built modern­ detached studio with its own entrance which acts as a home office.
The home sits just one canyon over from Australia’s radio jock Kyle Sandilands’ abode when he’s stateside.
With his latest TV role as the newest judge on House Rules bringing him back to Sydney, Durie is also busy with his burgeoning interiors design business.
While the reality TV veteran, who hosted The Block on its debut in 2003, has said “Channel 7 has me absolutely glued to the ground, not just (House Rules) but with other stuff too”, he’s still doing gardens — including one big home project on Pittwater.
Durie recently noted that people look for things that last nowadays.
“We’re looking for artisans and crafts people and the stories behind pieces,” he said.
He is just back from Milan’s Salone­ Del Mobile, the world’s most important design event, where he said he was impressed by the Krakvik &amp; D’Orazio presentation of a selection­ of furniture that explored sustainability.
This article was first published in the Saturday Telegraph. 
</body></html>

firstname1-iYD4UYzvBa

Jamie Durie tweaks Hollywood Hills asking price

<html><body>
GUEST OBSERVATION
Federal and state elections in coming weeks provide a timely moment for Australians to reflect on the increasingly obvious failure of governments to manage the triple crises of inflated property prices, lack of <a href="https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/providers/housing/affordable/about/chapters/what-is-affordable-housing" target="_blank">affordable housing</a> for people on low to moderate incomes, and property market volatility. The likely <a href="http://blogs.unsw.edu.au/cityfutures/blog/2018/12/shorten-places-housing-at-the-centre-of-the-2019-election/" target="_blank">prominence of housing in the federal poll</a> at least, if not in New South Wales, perhaps signals welcome political recognition that decades of complacency and inaction are to blame for housing system under-performance. And it’s <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/strengthening-economic-cases-housing-productivity-gains-better-housing-outcomes/" target="_blank">costing the country dearly</a>.
There’s a growing sense that core aspects of the governmental mindset that have underpinned housing policy since the 1980s are long overdue for a rethink. And not just in Australia. Our recent <a href="https://shapingfutures.gla.ac.uk/" target="_blank">knowledge exchange project</a>, involving academics, policymakers and professionals in Australia, Britain and Canada (the “ABC countries”), <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/shaping-futures-changing-housing-story/" target="_blank">tapped into these debates</a>.
A misplaced faith in markets
Our <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/shaping-futures-changing-housing-story/" target="_blank">Shaping Futures report</a> identifies important common housing features across the ABC countries. These include their overarching “liberal market” approach (for example, relatively light regulation of private rental housing) and the challenges of managing population-driven growth in cities.
In all three countries, a similar set of foundational beliefs has dominated housing policy for decades. One is an increasingly misplaced faith that housing markets are well-functioning systems. Another is that issues of poor housing and high housing costs are seen purely in terms of redistributive welfare. The impacts on growth and productivity are largely ignored.
Governments of the ABC countries have increasingly delegated responsibilities for coping with national and global pressures on housing. At the same time, they have provided little more autonomy and limited resources for cities and regions to respond to these pressures.
All three nations have seen falling home ownership rates for young adults and long-term declines in home ownership affordability – <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-8462.12174" target="_blank">among the most severe in the OECD</a>. Household debt rates are <a href="https://data.oecd.org/hha/household-debt.htm" target="_blank">close to the highest in the OECD</a>.
Inflated demand is increasing stress in private rental markets. It’s coming from growing numbers of frustrated middle-income aspirant homebuyers and from low-income tenants denied access to social housing by a proportionately smaller supply.
<a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/strengthening-economic-cases-housing-productivity-gains-better-housing-outcomes/" target="_blank">In Sydney in 2017</a>, moderate-earning and low-earning tenants paid, on average, more than A$6,000 a year in rent over and above 30% of their incomes. And that still didn’t spare them the growing costs and lost productivity of commutes commonly exceeding 90 minutes.
Research in <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au" target="_blank">Sydney</a>, <a href="https://council.vancouver.ca/20171128/documents/rr1.pdf" target="_blank">Vancouver</a> and <a href="https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/housing-london" target="_blank">London</a> demonstrates that to quantify the real burdens of city housing shortages we need integrated analysis of housing and transport outcomes.
Housing failures have broader consequences
Housing outcomes, including quality, price and location, have significant impacts on the “big goals” of governments.
Regressive subsidies (such as tax concessions for property owners) have worsened rather than offset the effects of rising rents and house prices on income inequality and wealth distribution. In all three countries inequality indices have increased over the last two decades. And in the UK, at least, <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/key-issues-for-the-new-parliament/social-reform/social-mobility/" target="_blank">social mobility is lower than in other developed countries</a>. Housing systems have been at the heart of these changes.
We should aim to boost economic productivity by enhancing human capital – that is, maximising people’s opportunities and capabilities. Instead, there is an emerging sense that growth dividends have been sunk into raising housing and land prices, through investor speculation. This rentier-driven, rather than entrepreneur-led, economic growth has reduced the housing market’s resilience to cyclical instability.
Piecemeal policies aren’t enough
At least until very recently, longstanding systemic housing problems have generally failed to evoke major policy responses. When interventions have been considered necessary, these have tended to be restricted to homelessness and to helping marginal homebuyers. This has often been done in ways that have proved counterproductive by pumping up demand.
With the possible exception of the UK devolved nations, government housing policymaking capacity has been largely emasculated across all three ABC countries over the past 10-20 years. Housing ministries and agencies have been abolished or “integrated” into human services departments.
Likewise, Shaping Futures stakeholders were unimpressed with recycled policy proposals. One example is suggestions that <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/human-services/reforms/report" target="_blank">income allowances for individuals should replace direct supports for housing supply</a>. Another is that planning is the prime cause of supply-side “stickiness” that holds up the delivery of new housing.
One response would be to join some of our academic colleagues in attributing such shortcomings to a misguided faith in managed markets. We might even echo calls to restore pre-1980s housing policy instruments such as big public housing, deep rent controls, tied subsidies and the like.
However, the reality is that markets are likely to remain a preferred basis for our housing systems. The above diagnoses and prescriptions also overlook the possibility that some post-1980s innovations have produced significant policy progress. The emergence – particularly in the UK – of regulated not-for-profit organisational models is an important case in point.
Nevertheless, minor tinkering will resolve none of the major housing system problems that have become all too apparent in the ABC countries since the turn of the century, and especially since the GFC.
Key features of a solution
As well as a commitment to housing as a higher priority for government spending, a new understanding of how housing systems operate and what housing outcomes achieve is urgently needed. In particular:
<ul>
<li>
The housing sector needs to make <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/strengthening-economic-cases-housing-productivity-gains-better-housing-outcomes/" target="_blank">stronger economic cases for support</a>, while treasury and finance ministries must improve their comprehension of housing markets. Advocates need to voice the productivity case for housing; policymakers need to take it seriously.
</li>
<li>
As failed economic thinking for housing policies has generated unstable and expensive housing outcomes, the conventional wisdom finds easy scapegoats in the regulatory planning system. Yes, unduly tight regulation will hinder supply, but no more so than failure to invest adequately in infrastructure and, indeed, shortages of construction labour and materials. Again, the challenge for treasuries is to resist the simplistic “economics 101” analysis that fails to recognise <a href="https://www.marsdens.net.au/assets/pdf/Peter-Phibbs-LE-2018.pdf" target="_blank">the special qualities of housing and land markets</a>.
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
Far from further downgrading its influence, planning needs to be cast in a more central role to extract infrastructure-and-planning-induced gains. Critical here is the recognition that “<a href="https://theconversation.com/england-expects-40-of-new-housing-developments-will-be-affordable-why-cant-australia-94581" target="_blank">inclusionary zoning</a>” essentially taxes “scarcity rents”. And – unlike tax-funded housing expenditure – it creates no drag on growth and productivity.
</li>
<li>
Governments in Australia and Canada need to fully recognise <a href="http://blogs.unsw.edu.au/cityfutures/blog/2017/04/ready-for-growth-has-australias-affordable-housing-industry-got-what-it-takes/" target="_blank">the potential of non-profits</a> to deliver not just low-income housing but mixes of renting, owning and shared ownership. This creates opportunities for younger households as well as better neighbourhoods.
</li>
<li>
Governments must reshape young adult routes into home ownership. At the same time, they must avoid over-reliance on crudely designed central bank policies on deposit limits and lending ratios uniformly applied across diverse local housing markets.
</li>
</ul>
Reforms to ensure better housing outcomes in the ABC countries are possible. Significant modernisation of private rental regulation in <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-open-letter-on-rental-housing-reform-103825" target="_blank">Scotland, Victoria</a> and <a href="https://engage.gov.bc.ca/app/uploads/sites/381/2018/12/RHTF-Recommendations-and-WWH-Report_Dec2018_FINAL.pdf" target="_blank">British Columbia</a> provides recent cases in point.
Most such steps will depend, however, on governments providing additional or redirected resources. Even more, they require housing systems to be administered at regional and local level with evidence-based understanding and commitment.
Many of the housing problems that distress urban communities across the ABC countries stem from “a veil of ignorance”. There’s an official disregard for evidence and mistaken adherence to simplistic narratives that play down significant market failures.
Households, communities and cities deserve better futures. <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/shaping-futures-changing-housing-story/" target="_blank">Shaping them is feasible</a>.
A convincing pitch to do so could well prove critical in swinging young voters’ allegiance and, as a result, the results of Australia’s imminent elections.
Duncan Maclennan, Professorial Research Fellow in Urban Economics, UNSW; Professor of Strategic Urban Management and Finance, University of St Andrews; Professor in Public Policy, University of Glasgow
Hal Pawson, Associate Director - City Futures - Urban Policy and Strategy, City Futures Research Centre, Housing Policy and Practice, UNSW
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/housing-policy-reset-is-overdue-and-not-only-in-australia-112835" target="_blank">original article</a>.
</body></html>

Housing policy reset is overdue, and not only in Australia

<html><body>
GUEST OBSERVATION
Immigration policy will be a critical issue in forthcoming state (Victoria, NSW) and federal elections. The disproportionate impact of immigration on population growth and public infrastructure in Sydney and Melbourne is the key issue.
If we look to the example of another immigrant-friendly country, Canada, however, we can see how giving states and territories a greater role in immigration target setting and selection can help take the pressure off major cities without drastically reducing immigration rates.
Immigration certainly impacts on Australia’s population to a greater degree than most Western nations. Among OECD countries, only Switzerland and Luxembourg have a higher percentage of foreign-born people than Australia.
Today, 28% of the Australian population <a href="http://migrationcouncil.org.au/policy/#the-economic-impact-of-migration-2015" target="_blank">was born overseas</a>. The key issue for Australia is that immigrants are more likely to live in large cities than smaller cities or regional areas. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/lookup/4102.0main+features102014" target="_blank">85% of immigrants</a> live in major urban areas, compared to just 64% of Australian-born people.
Indeed, <a href="https://publications.iom.int/books/world-migration-report-2015-migrants-and-cities-new-partnerships-manage-mobility" target="_blank">according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM)</a>, Sydney is now equal-fourth in the world (with Auckland and Los Angeles) with the highest percentage of foreign-born residents (39%), while Melbourne is not far behind (35%). Nearly two-thirds of residents in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/census-2016-migrants-make-a-cosmopolitan-country/news-story/da01bec138fc8600ea7bb84d1844ea80" target="_blank">have at least one parent who was born overseas</a>.
A new state-based approach?
The stress that rapid population growth has placed on Melbourne and Sydney has recently become a topic of much debate. This week, <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-prime-minister-foreshadows-cut-to-migration-settings-107262" target="_blank">Prime Minister Scott Morrison pledged</a> to reduce the annual permanent immigration cap of 190,000. Australia <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jul/13/industry-brands-australias-10-migration-intake-drop-disappointing" target="_blank">accepted just 162,417 immigrants</a> last year, the lowest level in a decade.
Morrison has also called for a <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/states-in-best-position-to-determine-skilled-migrant-numbers-morrison" target="_blank">major rethink</a> of the “top-down” approach to immigration in Australia, allowing states and territories to request the number of skilled migrants they’d like to admit each year.
The states and territories currently have a limited ability to nominate applicants for <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/skilled-nominated-190" target="_blank">certain skilled visas</a>. But state-nominated and regional visa approvals <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-13/regional-migration-approvals-stalling-five-year-bush-visa/10488204">have fallen in recent years</a> to just over 36,000 last fiscal year <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/punjabi/en/article/2018/07/02/state-nomination-changes-skilled-visas-leave-visa-seekers-lurch" target="_blank">following tighter restrictions</a>.
Morrison <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/population-plan-not-working-scott-morrison/news-story/f469e167d2e490b55c769b8a69d10c60" target="_blank">wants to see</a> a bigger role for states and territories:
"This is a blinding piece of common sense, which is: how about states who plan for population growth and the Commonwealth government who sets the migration levels, actually bring this together?"
What we can learn from Canada
The Canadian government gave provinces a say in setting targets and selecting economic immigrants – similar to Australia’s skilled migration intake – in the early 1990s. Quebec was first to <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/politique-du-quebec-immigration" target="_blank">receive a high degree of autonomy</a> in the process – it was given the right to set its own level and selection criteria for all economic immigrants. (The ability to speak French was a must.)
Quebec was also granted the right to set all of its integration programs, funded by Ottawa every year. The payments <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-quebec-to-get-50-million-boost-in-immigration-funding-even-if-it/" target="_blank">reached C$540 million this fiscal year</a>, or C$13,500 for each newcomer.
After Quebec was given this authority, the other Canadian provinces demanded the same. But they received far more limited rights than Quebec. They can <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/provincial-nominees/works" target="_blank">nominate the number of economic migrants</a> they need as part of the national immigration target set by the federal government, but they can’t independently set their intake target and selection criteria like Quebec.
While provinces nominate – or in Quebec’s case, decide – annual intakes, all cases are still routed through Ottawa for application integrity testing and vetting for criminality, health and security. Ultimately, final approval rests with Ottawa.
Last year, the Canadian government set an <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/immigration-canada-2018-1.4371146" target="_blank">ambitious target</a> of admitting 1 million total immigrants from 2018-2020. The target for next year is 330,000 immigrants, of which about <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/notices/supplementary-immigration-levels-2019" target="_blank">190,000 will be economic migrants</a>. The remainder will enter under the family reunification category and the refugee, humanitarian and protected category.
About one-third of the economic migrants (61,000) will be admitted through the Provincial Nominee Program. This figure excludes Quebec, which will set its numbers separately.
How the Canadian system encourages rural immigration
Giving the provinces a greater immigration policy role has helped to dramatically shift the settlement of immigrants beyond Canada’s biggest cities.
According to immigration statistics, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/migration/ircc/english/pdf/pub/annual-report-2018.pdf" target="_blank">34% of economic migrants in 2017</a> landed in destinations outside Canada’s three most populous provinces, Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia – compared to just 10% in 1997.
After immigrants arrive, the key issue for the provinces is retention, since immigrants can leave at any time. The provinces put a strong emphasis on ensuring that economic migrants receive a strong welcome on arrival and are provided with support programs, including education, access to local migrant community networks and assistance finding a job for those who are not sponsored by employers.
One of the biggest success stories of the Provincial Nominee Program is thinly populated Manitoba, which has <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/provincial-nominee-program-anniversary-immigration-manitoba-1.4907396" target="_blank">added 130,000 migrants since 1998</a>. Ninety percent have gotten a job within a year of arriving and nearly the same number has ended up staying in Manitoba permanently. New arrivals also <a href="https://umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/research/media/A_Manitoba_Success_Story.pdf" target="_blank">express some of the greatest feelings</a> of belonging of all immigrants in western Canada.
Why this could work in Australia
South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory – as well as other regional and rural areas across Australia – want more immigrants and refugees.
Attracting immigrants to less-populated states is the easy part: those willing to settle outside Sydney and Melbourne can receive more points if they are skilled migrants, possibly making the difference as to whether they come to Australia or not. The key issue is retention.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/refugees-are-integrating-just-fine-in-regional-australia-101188" target="_blank">My fieldwork with refugees in Australia</a> has shown that the majority of these migrants love living in regional communities and have received a warm welcome from locals. Our research also found they are willing to stay in regional areas if they can get jobs there. Another way of encouraging more immigrants to settle in regional areas could be to offer them priority in the family reunion process.
Importantly, Canada also doesn’t politicise immigration policy. Australia should follow Canada’s lead by giving the states a bigger seat at the immigration policy table and resisting the temptation to blame immigration for complex growth problems in our overcrowded cities.
Reducing the immigration intake cap will have no significant impact on reducing congestion or strain on public infrastructure in Sydney and Melbourne, but it could <a href="http://migrationcouncil.org.au/policy/#the-economic-impact-of-migration-2015" target="_blank">severely constrain economic growth</a>.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107283/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;">
Jock Collins, Professor of Social Economics, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney
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/why-canadas-immigration-system-has-been-a-success-and-what-australia-can-learn-from-it-107283" target="_blank">original article</a>.
</body></html>

Why Canada’s immigration system has been a success, and what Australia can learn from it

<html><body>
GUEST OBSERVATION
Imagine planning a public transport system for a large city by providing one bus at a time on one route that might serve a few dozen people (but nobody knows how many). That is what planning for housing affordability looks like in most Australian capital cities: innovative projects take years to develop and never get scaled up into a system.
Who can we learn from? In July, the lead author returned to three cities comparable to Melbourne that she visited in 2015 – Vancouver, Portland and Toronto – to re-interview key housing actors and review investment and policy changes over the past three years. All have big housing affordability problems, caused by a strong economy and 30 years of largely unregulated speculative housing. A lack of federal government involvement has exacerbated these problems.
But these four cities have recently developed very different approaches to housing systems planning, with increasingly divergent results. Toronto has gone backwards. Vancouver and Portland, though, are reaping the rewards of good metropolitan policy, from which we have drawn ten lessons for Melbourne.
Before we discuss these, let’s take stock of the affordable housing challenge in Melbourne.
Who needs affordable housing, and how much of it?
The Victorian state government has recently defined <a href="https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/policy-and-strategy/affordable-housing" target="_blank">affordable housing incomes and price points</a> for both Greater Melbourne and regional Victoria for households on very low (0-50% of median income), low (50-80%) and moderate (80-120%) incomes. It has enshrined “affordable housing” as an explicit aim in the Planning and Environment Act. <a href="https://engage.vic.gov.au/fairersaferhousing" target="_blank">Better protection for renters</a> has also been developed.
These are great steps, but we need to go further in the next term of government.
The Australian government estimated that <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2018/housing-and-homelessness/rogs-2018-partg-sectorg-attachment.pdf" target="_blank">142,685 lower-income</a> renter households in Victoria were in housing stress in 2015-16. Over 30% and in many cases over 50% of their income was going to rent or mortgage payments.
Our research team at Transforming Housing has more recently calculated a deficit of <a href="https://theconversation.com/put-unused-and-lazy-land-to-work-to-ease-the-affordable-housing-crisis-102720" target="_blank">164,000</a> affordable housing dwellings. Over 90% of the deficit is in Greater Melbourne.
A simplified version of the price points necessary for households to avoid housing stress (one that leaves out household size and <a href="https://theconversation.com/affordable-housing-is-not-just-about-the-purchase-price-75859" target="_blank">additional costs and risks of poorly located housing</a> on the city fringe) looks like this:
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237830/original/file-20180925-85785-al4fz6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237830/original/file-20180925-85785-al4fz6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
<a class="source" href="/news" target="_blank">Palm, Raynor &amp; Whitzman (2018)</a>, Author provided
Affordable home ownership bears no resemblance to the current market in which the median unit price is well over <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-01/sydney-melbourne-housing-property-market-royal-commission/9713738" target="_blank">$700,000</a>. Median rents are affordable to many moderate-income households, at about $<a href="https://dhhs.vic.gov.au/publications/rental-report" target="_blank">420</a> a week. Whether such housing is available, with a vacancy rate of less than 1%, is another issue, <a href="https://www.sgsep.com.au/news/latest-news/rental-affordability-index-may-2018-results-available-now" target="_blank">particularly for very low-income households</a>.
The Victorian government has a <a href="https://www.planmelbourne.vic.gov.au/" target="_blank">metropolitan planning strategy</a> that states the need for 1.6 million new dwellings between 2017 and 2050. That’s almost 50,000 new homes a year. Using the new definitions, we can calculate ideal ten-year new housing supply targets to meet the needs of all residents of Greater Melbourne.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237834/original/file-20180925-82029-1hcrqn1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237834/original/file-20180925-82029-1hcrqn1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
Author provided
The biggest problem is not overall supply. In the six months from February to July 2018, there were <a href="http://stat.data.abs.gov.au/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=BA_GCCSA" target="_blank">28,602</a> dwelling unit approvals in Greater Melbourne. At that rate there would be 572,040 new units by 2028, which is more than the total need projected by Plan Melbourne.
The problem is that the price points of these dwellings are beyond the means of 64% of households – 456,295 would need to be affordable, appropriately sized and located to meet most people’s needs. <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/pretty-vacant-20000-properties-empty-across-inner-melbourne-20171109-gzi55w" target="_blank">All too many</a> will be bought as investments and remain vacant.
Plan Melbourne doesn’t provide targets for affordability, size or location. This is left to six subregions, each with four to eight local governments, which have not produced these reports in the 18 months since the plan was released.
Affordable housing targets that exist in state documents are woefully inadequate. <a href="https://www.vic.gov.au/system/user_files/Documents/housing/FINAL%20PDF%20DTF046_Q_housing01.pdf" target="_blank">Homes for Victorians</a> has an overall target of 4,700 new or renovated social housing units over the five-year period 2017-22.
An <a href="https://www.vic.gov.au/affordablehousing/housing-supply-and-planning/inclusionary-housing" target="_blank">inclusionary zoning</a> pilot on government-owned land might yield “as many as” 100 social housing units in five years. <a href="https://dhhs.vic.gov.au/public-housing-renewal-program" target="_blank">Public housing renewal</a> on nine sites is expected to yield at least a 10% uplift, or 110 extra social housing units, in return for sale of government land to private developers. This is certainly not maximizing social benefit.
What can we learn from Vancouver and Portland?
Although <a href="https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/2018-housing-vancouver-annual-progress-report-and-data-book.pdf" target="_blank">Vancouver</a> has huge housing affordability issues, it has been able to scale up housing delivery for very low-income households – about 15 times as much social and affordable housing as Melbourne over the past three years. Both <a href="https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/rental-incentive-guidelines.pdf" target="_blank">Vancouver</a> and <a href="https://www.pdx.edu/sba/sites/www.pdx.edu.sba/files/01-Missing-Condos-Seidman.pdf" target="_blank">Portland</a> have ambitious private sector <a href="https://theconversation.com/build-to-rent-could-be-the-missing-piece-of-the-affordable-housing-puzzle-82320" target="_blank">build-to-rent</a> programs, with thousands of new affordable rental dwellings near transport lines.
Both cities have influenced senior governments. Canada is investing C$40 billion (A$42.6b) over the next ten years in its <a href="https://www.placetocallhome.ca/pdfs/Canada-National-Housing-Strategy.pdf" target="_blank">National Housing Strategy</a>.
In contrast, Toronto has had a net loss of hundreds of units of social housing. This is due to disastrous lack of leadership at local and state (provincial) levels.
Our new report highlights 10 lessons for the Victorian government:
<ol>
<li>
Establish a clear and shared definition of “affordable housing”. Enabling its provision should be stated as a goal of planning. This has been done.
</li>
<li>
Calculate housing need. We have up-to-date calculations, broken down by singles, couples and other households, as well as income groups, in this report
</li>
<li>
Set housing targets. Ideally, you would want a target of 456,295 new units affordable to households on very low, low and moderate incomes. Both <a href="http://www.infrastructurevictoria.com.au/30-year-strategy" target="_blank">Infrastructure Victoria</a> and the <a href="http://everybodyshome.com.au/" target="_blank">Everybody’s Home</a> campaign have suggested a more attainable ten-year target: 30,000 affordable homes for very low and low-income people over the next decade. This would allow systems and partnerships between state and local government, investors and non-profit and private housing developers to begin to scale up to meet need.
</li>
<li>
Set local targets. The state government, which is responsible for metropolitan planning, should be setting local government housing targets, based on infrastructure capacity, and then helping to meet these targets (and improve infrastructure in areas where homes increase). We have developed a simple tool we call <a href="https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer?webmap=98830487b4d348de8bd81bba1669a0c2&amp;extent=144.8533,-37.8711,145.1062,-37.7585" target="_blank">HART: Housing Access Rating Tool</a>. It scores every land parcel in Greater Melbourne according to access to services: public transport, schools, bulk-billing health centres, etc.
</li>
<li>
Identify available sites. We have mapped over 250 government-owned sites, not including public housing estates, that could accommodate well over 30,000 well-located affordable homes, with a goal of at least 40% available to very low-income households. Aside from leasing government land for a peppercorn rent, which could cut construction costs by up to 30%, a number of other mechanisms could quickly release affordable housing. Launch Housing, the state government and Maribyrnong council recently developed <a href="https://theconversation.com/portable-units-and-temporary-leases-free-up-vacant-land-for-urgent-housing-needs-86753" target="_blank">57 units of modular housing</a> on vacant government land, linked to services for homeless people. The City of Vancouver and the British Columbia provincial government recently scaled up a similar pilot project to <a href="https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/temporary-modular-housing.aspx" target="_blank">600 dwellings built over six months</a>.
</li>
<li>
Create more market rental housing. <a href="https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/creating-new-market-rental-housing.aspx" target="_blank">Vancouver</a> has enabled over 7,000 well-located moderately affordable private rental apartments near transport lines in the past five years, using revenue-neutral mechanisms. <a href="https://www.pdx.edu/sba/sites/www.pdx.edu.sba/files/01-Missing-Condos-Seidman.pdf">Portland</a> developers have almost entirely moved from speculative condominium development to more affordable build-to-rent in recent years.
</li>
<li>
Mandate inclusionary zoning. This approach, presently being piloted, could be scaled up to cover all well-located new developments. <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/71274" target="_blank">Portland</a> recently introduced mandatory provision of 20% of new housing developments affordable to low-income households or 10% to very low-income households. If applied in Melbourne, this measure alone could meet the 30,000 target (but not the current 164,000 deficit or 456,295 projected need).
</li>
<li>
Dampen speculation at the high end of the market. This would help deal with the oversupply of <a href="https://www.economy.com/dismal/analysis/datapoints/292072/A-Tax-on-Luxury-Homes/" target="_blank">luxury housing</a>. <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-new-bc-tax-on-high-value-homes-goes-largely-unnoticed/" target="_blank">Taxes on luxury homes, vacant properties and foreign ownership</a> could help fund affordable housing.
</li>
<li>
Have one agency to drive these changes. The impact of an agency like the <a href="http://vaha.ca/" target="_blank">Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency</a> is perhaps the most important lesson. The Victorian government has over a dozen departments and agencies engaged in some aspect of affordable housing delivery. We suggest repurposing the <a href="https://vpa.vic.gov.au/" target="_blank">Victorian Planning Authority</a> with an explicit mandate to develop and deliver housing affordability, size diversity and locational targets set by the next state government.
</li>
<li>
A systems approach is essential to build capacity. It will take time, coordination and political will for local governments to meet targets, non-profit housing providers to scale up delivery and management of social housing, private developers and investors to take advantage of affordability opportunities, and state government to plan for affordable housing. Eradicating homelessness and delivering affordable housing for all Victorians is possible. But it needs a systems approach.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102852/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;">
</li>
</ol>
Carolyn Whitzman, Professor of Urban Planning, University of Melbourne
Katrina Raynor, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Transforming Housing Project, University of Melbourne
Matthew Palm, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Transforming Housing Research Network, University of Melbourne
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-lessons-from-cities-that-have-risen-to-the-affordable-housing-challenge-102852" target="_blank">original article</a>.
</body></html>

Lessons from cities that have risen to the affordable housing challenge

<html><body>
Three Australian cities have made the top 20 for global prime residential price growth in a new international residential property report.
Knight Frank’s Prime Global Cities Index – Q2 2018 tracks prime residential prices, defined as the top 5% of the housing market, across 43 global cities worldwide. 
Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane came in at 15th (5.7% prime price growth), 17th (5.4%) and 20th place (3.4%) respectively in the report, with Perth just coming in 23rd place (2.7%).
Overall the index increased by 2.6% in the year to June 2018, with Guangzhou topping the list of cities with 11.9% price growth.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2018/8/29/cities.png" target="_blank">Click to open in new window</a>
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2018/8/29/cities.png" alt="">
Knight Frank’s Head of Residential Research, Australia, Michelle Ciesielski said that the Australia’s prime residential market continues to perform well compared to its international comparisons.
“Despite a cooling mainstream market off the back of tighter lending practices, the prime market this quarter has continued to be resilient with buyers less impacted by these measures,” Ciesielski said.
The firm linked the growth in ‘ultra-wealthy people’ (defined as those with net assets of US$50 million or more) to price rises in the market segment.
Australia’s ultra-wealthy population swelled by 9% in 2017 – taking the population to 1,260, with a combined worth of US$269 billion, the report said.
More people are set to enter the category in the near future, said Knight Frank’s Head of Residential, Australia, Sarah Harding.
“Prime properties are dependent on increasing wealth flows, taking away the reliance the mainstream market has on income growth,” Harding said.
“Over the next five years, Australia’s ultra-wealthy population is projected to increase by 37%.
“We are seeing more of our prestige buyers seeking their second and third homes, not for income-producing purposes.
“This has resulted in these buyers not releasing a property to market before buying another, limiting the number of prime opportunities.”
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/images/2018/8/29/citires%201.png" target="_blank">Click to open in new window </a>
<img src="https://www.urban.com.au/images/2018/8/29/citires%201.png" alt="">
</body></html>

jonathanchancellor-7SQnKwU6yx

Australia's prime residential market outperforming other global cities

<html><body>
EXPERT OBSERVATION
Australia has record levels of supply of new properties but despite various government interventions, housing still remains unaffordable for many.
Our study found the government could use more direct methods to deliver homes for people on low and moderate incomes, while leveraging the market. These methods, widespread across the United Kingdom and in major cities of the United States, are known as “inclusionary planning”.
This includes requiring developers to make a financial contribution towards affordable housing, or to dedicate completed dwellings, as part of the development approval process.
We studied the outcomes of inclusionary planning programs in parts of the United States and the United Kingdom, and more recent approaches in South Australia and New South Wales.
What techniques can ensure affordable housing in the mix
“Inclusionary zoning”, a common type of inclusionary planning, was first developed in the United States to counteract land use rules which excluded the lower end of the property market. For example, where rules would only permit large homes on single allotments.
Some states in the US have also adopted “anti-snob” laws. Under these laws, developers whose schemes include affordable housing can bypass local zoning controls, if an area has insufficient affordable housing for those on low and moderate incomes.
More recently, inclusionary planning programs are being used in many US cities in a bid to ensure that transport and infrastructure investment does not price out or displace lower income renters.
There are now more than 500 inclusionary planning schemes operating in municipalities across the US. Some require developers to include affordable housing as part of development in a particular zone (usually a fixed percentage of units or floor space).
For example inclusionary planning programs in the city of San Francisco, California (population of around 830,000) generate around 150–250 affordable units per year (around 12% of the city’s total supply).
Other schemes allow variations to planning rules in return for affordable housing. These variations might permit additional density in certain areas or waive certain requirements that would normally apply or expedite the development assessment process.
Other schemes require financial contributions from developers to offset the impact of a project on affordable housing demand or supply.
These programs provide a way for governments to ensure affordable housing for lower income residents even in rapidly gentrifying neighbourhoods.
How this plays out in England and Scotland
In England and Scotland, the supply of affordable housing is negotiated through the planning process. The general expectation is that 20 to 40% of new housing developments will be affordable. But proportions of affordable housing are allowed to vary on a case by case basis in light of the housing market and the costs of undertaking the development.
The main methods for this in England are section 106 agreements. These agreements, which come under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, specify the amount and type of affordable housing to be provided as part of a development.
Section 106 agreements have steadily gained traction since the 1990s. Between 2005–16, 83,790 affordable dwellings were secured through these agreements in England. This included 9,640 new dwellings in 2015–16.
Section 106 agreements have resulted in different types of affordable housing, including social housing, discounted home ownership, share equity schemes and affordable rental housing (offered at 20% less rent than for comparable properties in the same local housing market).
Our study found that when inclusionary planning model requirements are predictable and applied in a consistent way, developers accept them because they can factor costs into the price paid for land.
We also found most models work in conjunction with other government funding or subsidies, extending the value of this funding by reducing the cost of land for social or affordable housing.
What usually happens in Australia
Only the South Australia and New South Wales governments have similar types of planning schemes in Australia, although there are signs that other states may follow.
The SA government’s inclusionary planning target, announced in 2005, aims for 15% of significant new housing developments to be affordable.
By 2016 more than 2,000 affordable homes had been built and a further 3,476 homes committed. This amounts to about 17% of new housing supply in South Australia.
In NSW, inclusionary planning schemes only deliver affordable rental housing.
In the mid 1990s an inclusionary zoning scheme pilot was introduced to Pyrmont and Ultimo. This scheme was then extended to Green Square.
These schemes require that developers dedicate 0.8 to 3% of the floor area of developments for affordable housing, or that a monetary contribution be made in lieu of direct affordable housing provision.
However, to date, the NSW state government and many in the development sector have favoured voluntary mechanisms (such as density bonuses for providing affordable housing) over mandatory ones to supply affordable rental housing.
For our study, we estimated the volume of affordable housing delivered through voluntary planning agreements and state policy giving a density bonus for affordable housing inclusion by examining individual development approval records.
We found that voluntary measures have so far delivered about 1,300 dwellings or between 0.5 to 1% of Sydney’s housing supply between 2009 and 2017.
How viable is inclusionary planning?
We found that voluntary planning incentives can encourage affordable housing, but as part of incremental residential development, within the existing planning framework.
However, affordable housing should be mandated when land is rezoned for residential development, when planning rules are varied for particular projects, or following major infrastructure investment.
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94581/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">Inclusionary planning can’t replace government funding in providing housing for those on the lowest incomes. However, inclusionary planning schemes can reduce land costs and ensure that affordable homes are well located near jobs and services.
Nicole Gurran, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Sydney
Catherine Gilbert, Research Assistant and PhD Candidate, Urban Housing Lab, University of Sydney
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/england-expects-40-of-new-housing-developments-will-be-affordable-why-cant-australia-94581" target="_blank">original article</a>.
</body></html>

England expects 40% of new housing developments will be affordable, why can't Australia?

<html><body>
Dream Island, designed as the first large-scale leisure destination in Russia, is set to create new opportunities for family recreation in Russia.
There will be an indoor amusement park, the riverfront scheme provides a regional shopping centre, outdoor leisure facilities, a 400-key 4-Star hotel, a concert hall and a yacht club.
Details were presented at the international investment exhibition MIPIM in Cannes last week.
The Dream Island city resort includes the world's largest indoor theme park with 29 most modern amusement rides, a city promenade with more than 200 shops and 50 restaurants and cafes, cinema and a concert hall, and a spacious landscape park with a sports area. 
The opening of the first stage of the project is planned in 2019 in Moscow, in the picturesque Nagatinskaya bottomland. 
Dream Island is a socially significant project not only for Moscow, but for all Russia, representatives advised.
<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/2018/3/21/DREAM2.jpg" alt="">
 It will improve the quality of the urban environment, investment attractiveness and competitiveness of Moscow against the background of foreign megacities.
In 2017 Dream Island won several Russian and international awards at once: “Best Project in Field of Commercial Real Estate" according to PROESTATE AWARDS 2017 federal prize, the best project in the nomination "Public Areas" in Good Innovations 2017 competition, as well as the victory in the regional stage of the prestigious international European Property Awards in the nomination “Leisure Development”. 
Theme parks around the world are powerful drivers for development of the tourism industry. 
It is expected that their role will increase in the future, so key principles of their deployment will have an increasing impact on both regional and international tourism.
 The Dream Island family city resort will become one of the most visited sights of the capital. 
It is expected to host about 50 million people annually, including flows of the local tourism (the Moscow metropolitan area), internal and external tourism. 
The opening of the Dream Island Park is supposed to increase tourist flows to Moscow by 16%, which is about 3 million new tourists annually, and the share of tourism consumption in the gross regional product (GRP) of Moscow – by 70 billion rubles, Amiran Mutsoev, Chairman of the Board of Dream Island holding company, said.
<a href="http://www.chapmantaylor.com/projects/nagatino-theme-park" target="_blank">Chapman Taylor</a> provided the masterplan and concept design.
Architecturally the building expresses its purpose of amusing children by appearing as a wonderland. 
The concept design is loosely related to historic Kremlin architecture that can be found in many ancient Russian cities. It is also inspired by imposing Gothic buildings of Western Europe.
<h3 data-lang="en_gb"> </h3>
</body></html>

International

Editor's Picks

Have something to contribute?

Developments

New apartments

New townhouses

News

International

Editor's Picks

Receive the latest news stories to your inbox

Have something to contribute?

Developments

New apartments

New townhouses

News