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Ensuring WA is Housing Ready

Col DuttonSponsored
UDIA WA President Col Dutton.
Camera IconUDIA WA President Col Dutton. Credit: The West Australian.

As I have mentioned several times in this column, Western Australia is grappling with a critical housing supply shortage that is threatening longer-term affordability.

To that end, UDIA WA’s new Housing Ready report outlines the relevant issues and sets out four clear recommendations to enable the State Government and industry to work together to avoid a crisis.

Housing affordability is one of the key issues that impacts every Western Australian in one way or another, and it is important that we look to how we can ensure as many people as possible can afford their own home.

Even though Perth is one of the most affordable cities in the country, with a very enviable lifestyle, if we don’t act now that position could be lost.

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While a balance of greenfield and infill development is what drives Perth’s housing and land supply, our report shows that we have diminishing supply in both segments of the market.

One of the most concerning findings in the report is that we only have about six years of supply left in current major greenfield projects. That diminishing greenfield supply is exacerbated by low infill development yields that will fail to meet increasing demand at the current rate.

In terms of infill development, many projects have been put on hold due to critical worker and material shortages, coupled with a range of long-standing issues that challenge the delivery of quality infill development such as infrastructure constraints and land fragmentation.

The Housing Ready report is focused on ensuring a pipeline of affordable supply through four key recommendations, including the development of an accurate, single source of truth on housing supply so that we have a more accurate picture of the housing supply pipeline.

We also recommend the creation of a collaborative governance framework, which includes establishing a housing supply advisory group to oversee the delivery of an annual housing supply report, as well as a growth areas team to oversee development in strategic growth corridors.

A commitment to urgently progress a strategic environmental assessment to release the blockages to development-ready land would also be welcomed, along with the State Government working with industry and local government to establish an agreed lead infrastructure program to unlock housing supply across Perth and the Peel region.

UDIA WA is looking forward to working with stakeholders on our recommendations so that, as an industry, we can continue to deliver the broad range of housing options that are needed to meet our growing community’s needs.

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