SJA’s Post

What is holding back the delivery of residential buildings in the "housing crisis"? Perhaps it is a lack of skilled labour and management, which has resulted in an ever increasing plethora of defects impacting home owners and investors alike undermining confidence in the market? Are the government settings (State and Federal) relevant and at all feasible against this backdrop? Have a read of SJA Managing Director, Steve Abbott',s experienced and learned viewpoints in the interview included in article attached. My view is we have a system which as currently structured is not capable of delivering to government policy or aspiration without a substantive and pragmatic long term overhaul of the residential construction industry and associated supply chain. Thoughts??

Good to contribute to the conversation with Simon Johanson from #theage today about the supply of affordable housing in Australian cities, which has reached a crisis. With construction cost escalation over the last few years well above inflation, development feasibilities simplify don't work at the affordable end of the market. Governments need to incentivise development, without compromising on livability, to accelerate much-needed supply of affordable & social housing. #affordablehousing https://lnkd.in/gA9y54FD

"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

Check out our latest Insight on Australia's Multi-Unit Housing Trends! #housingmarket #propertytrends #economicoutlook2024 #industryinsights https://lnkd.in/grNCmBXm

There was a big win in parliament this week for the Federal Government's Help to Buy Scheme & legislation being passed to support tax incentives for BTR developments. It's important to recognise though that our affordability & housing supply challenges need to be a multi solution approach. 'The Missing Middle: The Greatest Opportunity for Medium-Density Development’, by CoreLogic Australia & Archistar.ai lifts the lid on a huge opportunity within our capital cities. Often people identify strata high density high-res development, but medium density is potentially the greatest opportunity that exists. A few key takeaways 👇 ✅ 1.3 Million potential sites across our capital cities could provide 3 Million new dwellings. ✅ Average of 2.5 units per site ✅ 500,000 or 16% are low complexity sites ✅ 57% are within 2km of an existing train station Tim Lawless CoreLogic's research Director rightly pointed out "Importantly, this analysis isn't identifying or recommending high-rise apartments as a solution to the housing crisis. It identifies opportunities for low-rise strata units that would typically take the form of townhouses, duplexes or triplexes." Read the full article below 👇 where you can also access the full report. #housing #strataliving #residentialrealestate #capitalcities Stephen Thompson Barrie Q. Sarah Edwards Tim McKibbin Caitlin Ellis Tom Coad Eliza Owen Michael Buckland Dr. Benjamin Coorey

The missing middle in inclusive residential-grade mid-rise apartments and townhouses is a challenge in Australia due to the lack of "inclusive policies" governing the use and sale of surplus land by the Federal, State and Local Governments across Australia Public Land suitable for residential use. In contrast, the Mayor of London mandates up to 50% of such land for affordable housing, resulting in over 30,000 affordable dwellings on surplus land sold off suitable for residential use. As a proven "Placemaker" with a track record of winning tenders for major urban projects, I have voluntarily set aside 30% to 50% for affordable housing, leading to above-average capital growth and long-term value retention in all my previous major urban projects with no mandatory requirements, just through my initiative and sense of "social responsibility." All my previous major urban projects have achieved above-average capital growth for decades and are tightly held. Also missing across Australia today is a fast-track solution, a fast-to-market solution instead of relying upon slow, inefficient custom construction methods with vast shortages of tradies, a more sustainable solution in advanced modular construction platforms built from Renewable plantation forest trees into Cross Laminated Timber construction with great design, detailing and finishes minimising expensive building materials waste going to landfills which is unsustainable. The Thrive Alliance's expertise is over 100,000 CLT major urban reference projects worldwide, all of which use Engineered wood in Cross-Laminated Timber construction. #Harropfactor #Placemaker #SocialResponsibility #Inclusiveness #residentialgrade #midrise #townhouses. #ThriveAlliance #AffordableHousing #CLT #SydneyHousingCrisis #fasttomarket #sustainability #ThriveConstruct #EssentialWorkers

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.

Australia's housing crisis often circles back to a single refrain: we need to build more homes.  However, the trend toward high-rise apartments does not align well with market demands or affordability. High construction costs have pushed the price of a modest 100m² apartment beyond the million-dollar mark, making these homes both too small and too expensive for most. Consumer resistance is clear as potential buyers, strained by current economic conditions, reject these steep prices. This mismatch contributes to a broader issue of housing undersupply, as the focus on apartments fails to meet the demand for more suitable, cost-effective housing solutions. The solution may lie in encouraging the development of smaller, affordable homes and adapting policies to better reflect the realities of today’s market. To read more: https://lnkd.in/dA7ijY67 #HousingCrisis #UrbanDevelopment #RealEstateAustralia #AffordableHousing #PropertyMarket #UrbanPlanning #RealEstateTrends #Homebuying #ConstructionCosts #SustainableLiving

Great analysis by Michael Matusik 👏 Check out the link below.