The Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) has put pressure on the government to address the regional housing crisis, noting the matter requires urgent scrutiny.
The Announcement:
Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) is calling on governments to urgently address the chronic shortage of housing stock in regional Australia.
REIA President, Adrian Kelly said REIA has been a long-time commentator on city and regional markets adding, “there has been a lack of coordinated policy for both”.
Mr Kelly said that working from home and regionalisation have been amplified or cemented during the pandemic with these trends changing the housing market.
“This has highlighted the need for supply of high-quality properties and social infrastructure to support them,” he said.
Recently, REIA asked the state Institutes about changing trends, improving markets in cities and regions, and ‘unintended’ consequences of COVID-19 with the feedback including an observation of people moving ‘further afield’ with a clear increase in interstate migration and transition from cities to regions as well as outer suburbs.
Mr Kelly said housing is far more in demand than apartments and with the number of jobs increasing in regional areas, housing supply to service the growth is urgently needed.
“Vacancies across the regional towns are at all time lows compared to the capital cities. The vacancy rate for the capital cities was down to 3.1 per cent as at June this year of this year with the regionals closer to 1 per cent,” he said.
Research by CSIRO suggests that by 2060, density of major cities will increase by 60-88 per cent and be based around hubs.
Mr Kelly said semi-detached homes and townhouses will make up just over 50 per cent of the housing stock in 2060.
“By 2060, five million more citizens will choose to live outside capital cities leading to the creation of a dozen or so satellite cities.
“These will be located roughly two hours from the capital cites so the need for additional housing, improved transport and land-use planning are paramount to easing the burden of a starved market,” he said.
Source: Real Estate Institute of Australia
