Urban Development Institute of Australia’s national policy platform for the 2022 Federal Election, launched today, provides real solutions to kickstart the economy, create jobs, address the affordability crisis and ensure there is a home for all Australians across the housing spectrum.
“A Plan for Prosperity is a suite of actionable initiatives that are vital for all sides of politics to kickstart Australia’s economic recovery, whilst tackling the challenging issue of housing supply and affordability.” said Max Shifman, UDIA National President.
The development and construction industry has been an essential engine room of the economy throughout the pandemic, delivering $360 billion in economic output, 1.145 million jobs and 9% of Australia’s GDP in the last year.
“Development and construction can continue to push the economy forward post-pandemic. All it needs is the adoption of some important policy choices. But failing to act will risk stalling the recovery, allow affordability issues to overwhelm the market and jeopardise Government’s ability to provide housing support.” said Mr Shifman.
Historically thin and continually declining supply pipelines, together with pandemic-driven material and labour shortages, mean that Australia is set to experience further deterioration in housing affordability unless the market is primed now to stimulate supply to meet demand.
As population growth returns to normal levels – which is essential to underpin labour growth and employment – housing demand will only increase further.
Many parts of Australia are already experiencing a severe housing affordability crisis. Home ownership is declining despite research confirming more than 90% of millennials believe home ownership is important.
UDIA’s State of the Land Report 2022 confirms that critically low housing supply levels in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne are restricting housing delivery and holding back families from finding a new home. Sales of new lots could plummet as much as 43% this year, but will be sold at ever increasing prices due to lack of supply, not lack of demand.
Severely unaffordable housing should not be an issue in a country like Australia, but it requires strategic planning, commitment and investment to deliver supply across the housing spectrum.
“Many of the solutions in A Plan for Prosperity are relatively simple and inexpensive, such as streamlining administration, removing excessive planning delays and freeing up enabling infrastructure to deliver development ready land. The economic benefits of such measures outweigh any extra investment by orders of magnitude,” said Maxwell Shifman. Without action, the looming affordability crisis will impact everyone, from first homeowners, through to affordable rentals and vulnerable Australians relying on subsidised housing.” he added.
To underpin Australia’s recovery after two incredibly challenging years, all sides of politics should adopt the UDIA Plan for Prosperity which calls for:
- A Home for Everyone – Deliver incentives for greater housing supply, development-ready land, choice and affordability across the spectrum.
- Population for Prosperity – Restart immigration, close the pandemic population gap and plan for growth.
- Core Infrastructure for More Liveable Communities – Overhaul planning, funding and delivery of enabling infrastructure linked to better outcomes that grow cities and housing supply.
- Make Planning Systems Work More Effectively – Incentivise better planning and productivity reforms by the States for efficient delivery of cities and housing, with monitoring/reporting by the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC).
- Streamline Environmental Approvals – Starting with the recently proposed, single point of contact system to improve the administration of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
- Keep Capacity & Create Efficiency – Keep credit available, expand the first home deposit scheme to 15,000 places annually on new homes. Develop broad based tax reform including incentivising increased stamp duty thresholds to bring down costs for median priced houses.
“The industry can not only pull the economy into the next phase of growth, but it can also deliver the increased supply and housing needed to avoid a spiralling affordability crisis across Australia. UDIA looks forward to working with Australia’s political leadership to shape Australia’s economic recovery and ongoing prosperity,” said Maxwell Shifman
The UDIA National Policy Platform “A Plan for Prosperity” is available online.
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Media: Deanna Lane |National Media & Communications Manager | 0416 295 898 | media@udia.com.au