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The Real Estate Institute of Australia is calling for the federal and state governments to amend planning approval times to help prevent shortage and boost housing supply.
Adrian Kelly, president of REIA, said there is a need for the industry and the government to collaborate to develop a long-term plan for housing to address the current challenges.
For example, Victoria recorded a 21% decline in transactions over the past five years while listings in Western Australia fell by 45% over the past year. These indicate a chronic shortage of housing.
Kelly said the changes should include reducing the cost of the development of application process, developing rezoning reforms, improving the approval times for development applications, introducing land release programs, and establishing a government-led mechanism for reliable data on housing demand and supply.
"In the rising market of 2021, these issues continue to be excessively politicised and has become a conversation of public versus private, state versus federal, young versus old, wealth versus poor, and civil society versus business groups," he said.
Pre-pandemic forecasts by REIA indicated a housing shortfall of 150,000. A separate forecast by the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation showed a 12% decline in project completions by 2022, with the demand only expected to rebound by 2023. This could result in a supply crunch.
“There is no current government planning process to manage this. Without improved supply planning, we can expect to see prices jump as supply does not keep pace,” Kelly said.
