As more Australians move to the regions, governments must deal with chronic shortage of housing stock, peak body says
The Real Estate Institute of Australia has called on state governments to address the chronic shortage of housing stock in regional Australia.
REIA President Adrian Kelly said that “there has been a lack of coordinated policy” for both regional and city housing markets. He said that remote work trends and regionalisation have both been amplified or cemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that these trends have changed the housing market.
“This has highlighted the need for supply of high-quality properties and social infrastructure to support them,” Kelly said.
REIA recently asked the state institutes about changing trends, improving markets in cities and regions, and the unintended consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Feedback included the observation that people were moving “further afield,” with a clear increase in interstate migration and a transition from cities to regions and outer suburbs.
Kelly said that detached houses were far more in demand than apartments, and that with the number of jobs in regional areas on the rise, housing supply is needed to service the growth.
“Vacancies across the regional towns are at all-time lows compared to the capital cities,” he said. “The vacancy rate for the capital cities was down to 3.1% as of June this year, with the regionals closer to 1.0%.”
Read more: REIA pushes for governments to address housing supply
Research by The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organisation predicts that by 2060, the density of major cities will increase by 60% to 88%, and will be based around hubs.
“By 2060, 5 million more citizens will choose to live outside capital cities, leading to the creation of a dozen or so satellite cities,” Kelly said. “These will be located roughly two hours from the capital cities, so the need for additional housing, improved transport, and land-use planning are paramount to easing the burden of a starved market.”
