The state government has set a target of 128,600 net new dwellings for Greater Geelong by 2050. Picture: Brad Fleet
Victoria’s urban development lobby is pushing to reset regional housing targets to reflect local realities at the top of its state election platform.
The Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) platform sets out 10 reforms for the state election, organised around three priorities, planning for regional growth, properly prioritising enabling infrastructure and removing the tax roadblocks to enable delivery.
UDIA Victorian chief executive Linda Allison told a Geelong industry lunch the lobby would press the case for relevant, appropriate regional development policy.
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“Regional housing policy is out of step with market realities and a recalibration is needed,” Ms Allison said.
The platform calls for the government to set housing targets for major regional cities that reflected the realities of different buyer preferences, price points, market rates, financing conditions and infrastructure constraints.
The state government set a target of 128,600 net new dwellings in Greater Geelong by 2051.
The UDIA states in the platform that current planning assumptions treat regional centres as if they will produce the same housing mix and development patterns as metropolitan Melbourne.
“Regional Victoria should deliver more housing choice, including townhouses, low-rise apartments, smaller lots and well-located infill housing, but that shift must be grounded in market evidence and supported by regionally appropriate design expectations,” the report states.
Geelong’s Armstrong Creek growth area. Picture: Alan Barber
UDIA also calls to maintain a rolling pipeline of zoned and serviced regional growth land, while excluding undevelopable land from future supply modelling and ensure development contributions are fair, proportionate and deliver local outcomes.
The lobby also wants funded regional infrastructure pipelines that identify the transport, utility and community infrastructure needed to unlock new homes and better tax and funding settings that make regional housing projects viable.
Ms Allison continued criticism of the recent state budget, telling the industry lunch it was particularly difficult to stomach the dressing up of revenue as funding.
“So $15m was highlighted in the budget for supporting the 10 Year Greenfields plan, but it has been confirmed to me that is a cost recovery exercise from third party funding,” she said.
“The ever-growing cost shifting onto industry for parts of the development cycle that used to be the responsibility of the state is alarming.
UDIA Victoria chief executive officer Linda Allison has called cost shifting to developers for government infrastructure “alarming”. Picture: Alan Barber
“The most-stark example of this in Geelong is the Creamery Road DCP where the cost per hectare is unprecedented, and the nexus between new developments and funding adjacent infrastructure grows more tenuous.
“The government taketh, then giveth,” she said.
The Creamery Rd Developer Contribution Plan, guiding development in Geelong’s west, has been the subject of a independent planning panel hearing to determine what developer Villawood Properties would be required to pay governments to fund infrastructure.
A key subject would have been the state government’s push for Villawood to fund a Midland Highway intersection upgrade, despite traffic studies showing the state should pay 87 per cent as the majority of vehicles using that road are travelling from Bannockburn.
Geelong-based developer Richard Bisinella said balancing affordability and lifestyle is key to the future of regional economies, such as Geelong.
Bisinella Developments managing direct Richard Bisinella, right, pictured with Humphrey Clegg of Geelong Gallery at the 2026 Future Geelong event at GMHBA Stadium. Picture: Alan Barber
“As demand has grown, so too has the challenge of preserving housing affordability without losing the lifestyle advantages that have made these communities so desirable in the first place,” the Bisinella Developments managing director said.
Mr Bisinella said rising property values have reshaped the market as buyers look for access to schools, childcare, transport, open space and community infrastructure on top of modern housing.
Rising price points driven by increased housing taxes, levies and building regulations, add to cost-of-living pressures that have further impacts across the economy, he said.
Geelong’s council is also advocating for major initiatives to support the region’s housing target, including a $2bn Residential Activation Fund to build essential urban infrastructure; a $1bn Regional Fund for community infrastructure and business development-enabling projects, and making central Geelong a special economic zone to revitalise the city centre and help jump-start 17 permitted CBD developments.
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