Allowing three story unit blocks on all residential land in Australian cities could slash house prices by 100-thousand dollars per home. The Grattan Institute has found early efforts by some state governments to boost building rates are bearing some fruit, but the national target remains out of reach. Builders say their biggest problem is a shortage of workers.
00:00On the outskirts of Australian cities, builders are busy.
00:07Now the interest rates are dropped, there's a bigger demand, more clients are starting to buy.
00:14But builders and experts agree building out isn't enough to get Australia to the government's target of 1.2 million homes in the next four years.
00:22One solution from the Grattan Institute, building up.
00:26The reality is Australian cities are some of the least dense of their size in the world.
00:30We haven't allowed enough housing in those areas where Australians most want to live, in those inner and middle ring suburbs of our capital cities.
00:36Grattan wants a green light for three storey dwellings on every residential block, adding 67,000 new homes a year and saving $100,000 a house by filling in the missing middle.
00:47Townhouses and low rise apartment buildings can help fill that gap, as can high rise apartment buildings around key transport hubs and commercial centres.
00:55The philosophy behind it, much like the housing ministers.
00:59The more housing we build, the more affordable housing becomes for Australians.
01:03But hitting the target might not be that simple.
01:06176,000 homes were built in the first year of the National Housing Accord.
01:11To reach the target by 2029, we need more than 250,000 new homes each year for the remaining four years.
01:18Problem is, there aren't enough builders to do the job.
01:22Skilled labour is still the number one issue that the building industry across Australia needs to tackle.
01:29Red tape has long been a complaint from the industry, but governments appear to be starting to listen.
01:34New South Wales and Victoria have unlocked the kind of high density apartment buildings that we hope to see around transit hubs and other major commercial centres.
01:42Green shoots in the growing problem of housing Australia.
01:45Green shoots in the growing problem of housing Australia.
Be the first to comment