The Urban Developer
AdvertiseEventsWebinars
Urbanity
Awards
Sign In
Membership
Latest
Menu
Location
Sector
Category
Content
Type
Newsletters
URBAN LEADER AWARDS ARE BACK! START YOUR NOMINATIONS
URBAN LEADER AWARDS ARE BACK! START YOUR NOMINATIONS
LEARN MOREDETAILS
TheUrbanDeveloper
Follow
About
About Us
Membership
Awards
Events
Webinars
Listings
Resources
Terms & Conditions
Commenting Policy
Privacy Policy
Republishing Guidelines
Editorial Charter
Complaints Handling Policy
Contact
General Enquiries
Advertise
Contribution Enquiry
Project Submission
Membership Enquiry
Newsletter
Stay up to date and with the latest news, projects, deals and features.
Subscribe
ADVERTISEMENT
SHARE
print
Print
OtherStaff WriterSun 19 Nov 17

Increasing Supply is no Panacea for Housing Affordability

housing-market

Claims that the housing crisis is a dearth of supply has been challenged by new modelling that shows that boosting supply alone will not deliver affordable housing.

Despite government and the development industry consistently calling for the release of more land to address an undersupply of housing, a new study by the Australian National University has found the opposite may be true.

The Regional Housing Supply and Demand in Australia Working Paper, by Associate Professor Ben Phillips and researcher Cukkoo Joseph of the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods, analysed 15 years’ worth of Census data and building approvals.

They estimate there is an oversupply of 164,000 dwellings in Australia.

The modelling found that Australia had an oversupply in some markets such as parts of inner city Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Many regional centres, particularly those in mining-sensitive areas such as North Queensland and Western Australia, also retain housing surpluses.

Many regions in the middle and outer rings of our major capital cities, particularly Sydney, face modest housing shortages.

“The surplus is not particularly substantial, but certainly suggest that housing supply in and of itself is probably not the primary driver of house-price growth in Australia. There are other factors that are going on,” Phillips said.

“We’ve looked at factors like changes in household types and dwelling types and unoccupied dwellings which we don’t think have been taken into account in other studies in any substantial way in the past, and certainly not at the regional level.

[Related reading: Building Approvals Rise Again in September]Phillips said that often the behaviour of property prices at the regional level "has nothing to do" with underlying fundamentals for housing demand, including population growth.

"Housing is an asset and assets don't always reflect the fundamental underlying value -- [supply] does matter, but there are lots of other things at play that can swamp that impact … that means improving affordability is not as straight forward as fast-tracking a bit of supply to solve the problem."


The Regional Housing Supply and Demand in Australia Working Paper is available here.

ResidentialAustraliaPlanningPlanningSector
AUTHOR
Staff Writer
"TheUrbanDeveloper.com is committed to delivering the latest news, reviews, opinions and insights into the best of urban development from Australia and around the world. "
More articles by this author
ADVERTISEMENT
TOP STORIES
Scape PBSA Kingsford EDM
Exclusive

It Takes More Than a Room: PBSA Evolves to Meet Student Demands

Clare Burnett
7 Min
Exclusive

Soheil Abedian: What’s Driven the Man Who’s Transformed a City

Phil Bartsch
7 Min
Exclusive

Robots Not a Miracle Cure for Housing Productivity Crisis

Vanessa Croll
6 Min
Exclusive

Where 600 Wealthy Families Are Putting Their Millions

Taryn Paris
6 Min
Brique Projects EDM
Exclusive

Brique Thrives in Cauldron of SE Queensland Development

Clare Burnett
7 Min
View All >
Queen's Whard EDM
Hotel

Star Back to Square One After Queens Wharf Deal Collapses

Clare Burnett
Industrial

ISPT Files Plans for Dandenong Mega-Logistics Project

Salvos Coliving EDM
Residential

Investa, Salvos Reveal Co-Living Plan for Sydney CBD

Clare Burnett
The 17-storey project in the CBD would rise on the site of The Salvation Army’s headquarters in the capital…
LATEST
Queen's Whard EDM
Hotel

Star Back to Square One After Queens Wharf Deal Collapses

Clare Burnett
3 Min
Industrial

ISPT Files Plans for Dandenong Mega-Logistics Project

2 Min
Salvos Coliving EDM
Residential

Investa, Salvos Reveal Co-Living Plan for Sydney CBD

Clare Burnett
2 Min
Scape PBSA Kingsford EDM
Exclusive

It Takes More Than a Room: PBSA Evolves to Meet Student Demands

Clare Burnett
7 Min
View All >
ADVERTISEMENT
Article originally posted at: https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/housing-oversupply-building-industry