Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Affordable Housing - Is it still on the agenda?

I attended the HIA Outlook breakfast in Brisbane last week. The message that came out of the morning was that housing in Queensland is in a pretty depressed state and there is not much relief in store for this current financial year.

The confusing thing is that Queensland has been building around 11,000 houses fewer than the number which our population growth would indicate are needed for the last four or five years. It's a pretty scary thought that some day there will need to be a catch-up.

A big factor is that first home buyers have left the market in droves since the stimulus first home buyers grants finished and interest rates turned upwards.

So I guess the question arises. Are house prices pushing home ownership out of reach of the average first home buyer?

If so I would love to hear what you think the real reason is and where the solution lies. Some suggestions I've heard so far include:
Interest rates,
government/local government fees, charges and taxes,
that the current generation wants too much too soon,
building codes add too much cost.

With the cost of electricity and water increasing along with a looming price on carbon we may wonder if housing will become more affordable any time soon. In fact is affordable housing still on the agenda?

What do you think?

4 comments:

  1. Affordable housing is a catch cry and only that.
    With the cost of existing land and the infrastructure cost that councils are imposing on developers for new land, no one starting out can afford to buy.
    With the cost of added local, state & federal regulatory requirements and possible new cyclone area cutoff movement the cost has risen and could in future. What about the added effect of the proposed Carbon Tax? More cost!!
    Land developers won't release large amounts of land becuase they want to maintain a high price and not flood the market.
    The typical new home owner also wants 4 bed, media, ensuite etc. This makes it unaffordable.

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  2. Land costs are high, and to maximise their investment, home owners are finding it is prudent to pay an extra $50,000 in building and get a much bigger home. This is why we are building the 4 bed with media, study etc.
    Housing affordability is driven by the cost of land. Smaller lots, with a equally smaller price tag would mean that building a smaller home makes sense.

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  3. In late 2009, the "Owner Builder" magazine published an article on housing affordability entitled 'Container Housing', which can be accessed here:-
    http://www.theownerbuilder.com.au/articles/155%20Container%20housing.pdf

    This is not the only article that attempts to describe a solution – it is just an example of what has been offered.
    So why hasn’t Australia taken this solution, or some other solution, to affordable housing up?

    I guess it must be because no-one has yet resolved the intricacies of the relationships between “affordability”, “sustainability” and “acceptability” – not governments nor general communities - large or small. (Every client says that they want to use sustainable design features. Every client also advises of budgetary constraints. Every client also has their ‘dream home’ in their mind’s eye. Not many can see the discrepancies that often exist between the 3 views.)

    Till that day comes, it would seem that market forces will continue to be the dominant force in determining what gets built, with various levels of government using legislative means to try and achieve outcomes that are ‘good for us’ – at an individual level, a community level and at a national level.

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  4. There are currently 75,000 houses for sale in SE Qld. If you had the option of purchasing an existing home closer to the city or a new one in woop woop, which has very little infrastructure and even less chance of obtaining the expected services in the near future. Which would you choose? I like the affordability, sustainability, acceptability comment. Acceptability is the major reason people live beyond their means, over capitalize, and disappear out the back door.

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