Australia's Greenfield Lots On The Rise

The number of greenfield residential lots being offered for sale nationally in 2014 increased 31 per cent over a 12-month period, according to a new report.

The 2015 UDIA State of the Land Report, which utilised data from the National Land Survey Program (NLSP), also found that new land supplies increased throughout most states in Australia.

“The NLSP data highlights that Melbourne and South East Queensland led the way in new residential land supply being made available to purchasers in 2014, with new lots released increasing by 61 per cent in Melbourne, and 55 per cent across South East Queensland,” said Charter Keck Cramer Director, Robert Papaleo.

“Sydney also experienced a strong 29 per cent increase in new lots released, although Adelaide experienced a small decrease in greenfield releases.”

UDIA National President Cameron Shephard said that whilst the lift in new lots released was great news for new home buyers and the development industry, it was not an excuse for governments to be complacent about new housing supply.

“The increased activity identified in the 2015 State of the Land Report is great for the Australian economy, housing affordability, and jobs in the construction industry, but in many ways it has masked a number of underlying problems with Australia’s housing market,” he said.

“Nationally, Australia still suffers from a marked undersupply of new housing stock, caused by inadequate investment in urban infrastructure, slow planning and approvals systems, and high taxes and charges on new housing supply.

“Even now, we’re still not building enough new homes to meet underlying demand.

“Whilst low interest rates and strong market conditions have helped to create the current uplift in new lots released, these conditions won’t last forever.”

“What’s really needed is for governments to take action to remove the underlying structural barriers to new housing supply."Some of the recommendations to the Federal Government in the 2015 State of the Land Report included: assisting state governments with the removal of stamp duty on property and replacing it with more efficient forms of taxation; providing additional funding for investment in new urban infrastructure, in order to unlock land; incentivising state governments to improve their performance on key land supply measures with performance linked funding; ceasing plans to shift the cost of providing the National Broadband Network to new home buyers through up front connection, network and backhaul charges and continuing to encourage foreign investment into residential real estate, by supporting Australia’s existing foreign investment policy framework.

The 2015 UDIA State of the Land report was undertaken in partnership with Charter Keck Cramer and Research.

Fast Facts*

*Based on data from the National Land Survey Program (NLSP) 

 To see the report, click

here