Inner Sydney Voice’s Post

Developing better standards for apartments, then increasing their supply by expanding use of the Residential Growth Zone will unlock more housing choices for Victorians and make better use of our infrastructure. The Business Council of Australia is calling for extensive rezoning across Melbourne and major regional towns to encourage more medium- and high-density housing to be built near infrastructure and services Annika Smethurst reports in The Age today - https://lnkd.in/gYcvEzec Making greater use of the existing Residential Growth Zone mechanism in areas near public transport and services would be a good start. And we should combine this with clearer standards and design guidance on low-rise apartments in the Victorian Planning Provisions. Check out 'Our Home Choices' from Infrastructure Victoria for more detailed evidence, analysis and policy recommendations - https://lnkd.in/eeaNi4rb #housing #choices #zoning #reform #infrastructure

One of the policy changes that Infrastructure Victoria can make to improve housing affordability and fairness is to ask for rental property investors to pay commercial property taxes. As a business activity it seems only fair they pay business taxes. The additional taxes can be used to fund more affordable housing and social housing infrastructure.

"Labour's affordable housing plan 'needs to be more flexible'" - a bold headline for my debut in The Times but one that resonates with my opinion on the matter. We need to deliver more high quality sustainable housing (the high quality AND sustainable part is critical) and we clearly need to deliver more affordable housing, so that it can be easily accessed by everyone, no matter their position. Setting ambitious targets is a positive start and supporting this with innovative ideas like the Grey Belt is even better. However... deliverability is key. To expect that all grey belt sites will be able to deliver 50% affordable housing, is unrealistic. What ultimately determines the number and quality of homes that might be delivered is the viability of development sites. The majority of our homes are delivered by the private sector and no developer will be able to acquire land or gain funding if sites can't be made to stack up financially. The reality is that affordable housing costs developers nearly the same to build as private housing, but it only generates a fraction of the revenue (which in turn leads to much lower land values). An inflexible 50% affordable housing requirement could easily render a huge proportion of grey belt sites unviable therefore leading to the delivery of no homes at all, either private or affordable. I wanted to support my view with accurate data, so I let Viability loose on potential Grey Belt sites in the London Green Belt to quickly and accurately assess site viability. The conclusion - dropping the affordable housing requirement to 35% resulted in an overall increase in affordable housing delivery of 44%. Let me know your thoughts! #property #propertydevelopment #development #homebuilding #land #planning #affordablehousing #thetimes

On Wednesday, I had the privilege of attending the Housing Now! conference in Sydney as a guest of BusinessNSW. An array of distinguished speakers illuminated the severity of Sydney's housing crisis, yet no definitive "scalable solutions" were presented. Metropolitan Sydney- SMH-“An estimated 35,000 apartments must be built each year at a time when forecast completions over the next three years are running at 10,350 units a year, Charter Keck maintains.” Australia housing crisis: Apartment slump spoiling efforts to boost housing supply (smh.com.au) As the leader and proven Placemaker of the Thrive Alliance, I had the opportunity to engage one-on-one with crucial NSW Government figures, including the Premier, Planning Minister, State Treasurer, and Housing Minister. Their presence underscored the situation's gravity and their commitment to finding resolutions. Our Thrive Alliance focuses on innovative solutions like cross-laminated timber (CLT) construction derived from renewable forest trees. With a global portfolio of over 100,000 major CLT urban projects, we aim to efficiently and sustainably address housing needs in Australia and beyond. The Thrive Alliance CLT=stored carbon capacity is up to 40,000 “residential grade” inclusive” “Co-Living” midrise apartments per year, targeting the “Baby Boomers” and "Essential Workers " “student accommodation dormitories, Shelters for women/children including social housing on a scale (including disability workers) across Australia, including Regional Australia, built in up to 75% less time than current custom construction methods, in excellent designs, detailing and finishes with almost zero waste of valuable building materials. The Housing Now! conference emphasized the importance of collaboration among government, experts, and community leaders to overcome housing challenges and combat the prevalent NIMBY culture. By fostering innovation and unity, we can pave the way for a brighter future with accessible, affordable, inclusive and sustainable housing for all residents. (Source: Sydney Morning Herald - "Australia housing crisis: Apartment slump spoiling efforts to boost housing supply") #Sydney #HousingCrisis #HarropFactor #CLT #FasttoMarket #Placemaker

Melbourne's housing supply could see a significant boost through strata reform, according to new research by Urbis. The study identified over 1,000 strata sites within a 15km radius of Melbourne's CBD that could collectively deliver over 100,000 additional dwellings. "Repositioning underdeveloped strata sites has the potential to deliver a much-needed uplift in well-located housing supply," said Mark Dawson, Director at Urbis. Read more below. Author: Joel Robinson ------------ 📣 Was this update of interest to you?🔥 Join 17,000+ of your residential property development colleagues who follow Urban on LinkedIn. We regularly post free insights about: 💡  New project launches and updates 💡  What buyers are searching for on AU’s largest off-the-plan buyer platform 💡  Weekly interviews with industry leaders Follow Urban.com.au or connect with our CEO Mike Bird to keep your finger on the pulse of the apartment and townhouse market.

Exciting news from the property and housing sector! Check out the latest article on news.com.au where our Managing Director, Steve Abbott shares his insights on Australia's ambitious goal to build 1.2 million new homes within the next 5 years. Steve Abbott warns of potential challenges, highlighting that this rapid development could lead to a 'ticking time bomb' effect. His thoughtful analysis sheds light on the delicate balance between meeting housing demands and maintaining quality. Dive into Steve Abbott's expert perspective here: https://lnkd.in/g4jxd3Gb Article by Shannon Molloy #HousingMarket #RealEstate #SJA #SteveAbbott #UrbanDevelopment #AustraliaHousing #NewsUpdate #News

The ALP Minns State Govt of NSW is taking steps to reduce a wide range of impediments. Today's announcement is a good step; however, in itself, it will not solve the chronic shortage of affordable apartments across Metropolitan Sydney, let alone meet the current shortage of around 25,000 inclusive quality residential grade mid-rise apartments per year required annually for the foreseeable future. Current custom construction methods are building around 10,000 apartments per year in Metropolitan Sydney over the next 3 years. A fast-track solution, the fast-to-market solution, is lacking and requires a significantly less skilled workforce on site because over 20,000 tradies left NSW last year. They, too, need affordable rental accommodation, and the State has the worst shortfall of enough availability in history. The Thrive Alliance's expertise is over 100,000 CLT major urban reference projects worldwide with Engineered wood into Cross Laminated Timber construction with great design, detailing and finishes, minimising expensive building materials waste going to landfills, which is unsustainable and making housing more expensive. The Thrive Alliance's capabilities are up to 40,000 "inclusive" quality residential grade mid-rise apartments per year for the next 5-7 years in Australia, led a proven "Placemaker" over the decades in all my previous major urban projects won at either State or Local Governments tenders with no mandatory requirements just through my initiative and sense of social responsibility setting aside between 30% to 50% for affordable housing, all these previous major urban projects have achieved above-average capital growth for decades and are tightly held. The Mayor of London requires that up to 50% of all London Council surplus land sold off suitable for residential use be set aside for affordable housing. To date, this policy has yielded over 30,000 affordable dwellings. #ThriveAlliance #AffordableHousing #CLT #SydneyHousingCrisis #fasttomarket #sustainability #inclusiveness #residentialgrade #midrise #townhouses #Harropfactor #advancedmodular #fasttrack

UDIA NSW has welcomed this morning’s announcement by the NSW Premier and Minister for Planning & Public spaces to rezone seven precincts with capacity for up to 58,000 new homes, but remains concerned the final proposals fail to fully capitalise on the full housing potential of these sites.  “The quick finalisation of these rezonings is welcome news. It shows with strong political leadership you can plan and rezone large scale housing sites quickly. We congratulate the Government and encourage them to continue to explore more opportunities to rapidly masterplan and rezone more housing sites across NSW,” said Stuart Ayres, CEO, UDIA NSW.  The rezonings announced today are for 4,000 fewer homes than exhibited. While areas for new housing have been added in some sites, UDIA is concerned we have lost an opportunity to deliver truly vibrant, well-connected precincts that mirror global cities like Hong Kong, Singapore, New York and Toronto.  UDIA NSW has been an advocate of more TODs to unlock higher density homes close to where people work. While TODs are great long-term policy, they take a long time to deliver and these sites are unlikely to contribute to meeting the 2029 Housing Accord targets.  Government should be realistic about development feasibility being constrained in the near term, closely monitor development activity in these areas and be prepared to adjust the settings and controls if it is clear the market is not responding. Our full media release can be found at this link https://lnkd.in/geBHCHBN

Bristol. Affordable housing delivery. This is complex. Cllr Parsons is right to focus on dealing with the existing Council-owned stock, bringing them all up to standard...a massive and costly task. We also all know that viability is extremely problematic in Bristol (and elsewhere). Will an RP be able to deliver everything that's been promised? I know our clients would be very interested in taking these two schemes on, but the commercial realities would mean they would have to unload a lot of costs to make it actually happen. One to watch. https://lnkd.in/et3jdpK6

This photo of a housing estate in Sydney has been shared and discussed to no ends lately - it seems to be a graphic representation of everything wrong with modern Australian housing estates today. As built environment professionals there’s really no need to even comment on this type of outcome - we all hold the same opinion. But what’s interesting is the unshakeable and immovable emotional attachment of the general public to this outdated “Australian Dream”. The 4 bedroom, 2 car garage with a yard seems to be non-negotiable when considering the housing needs of a young family. Density has come to be such a dirty word, but that’s exactly what this is. Density done poorly. So then how to we rebrand density? We have some amazing examples of density done well across Australia now and we have a history of successfully marketing units as sophisticated alternatives to suburban blocks (Brisbane 1920’s-30’s?). We’re at a critical point in time in Brisbane with cost-of-living and housing pressures, as well as a growing population and the impending Olympics and all of its associated infrastructure/development. We hold a lot of knowledge, opinions and experience as experts in our fields and I often take for granted that friends and family naturally understand the benefits of different (and denser) housing typologies - but that’s simply not the case. They’re still standing in line to buy one of the houses in this photo. I’d love to see/hear how we could start working towards a fundamental behavioural shift in attitudes towards density. How do we relinquish the long held sense of ownership and as a state (or nation) move towards a shared economy? How do we reframe the Australian Dream? How do we convince our pregnant sister/cousin/friend that moving to a townhouse/unit/apartment is a great idea and to not fall into line for another housing estate? We’re at a point now where we need rapid progression.