Real Estate
When it comes to addressing critical housing shortages, no one does it better than South Australia, according to a new report.
The Housing Industry Association has named SA as a leader in housing policy nationwide, ranking the southern state in top position in its recently released Housing Policy Scoreboard.
The scoreboard assesses each Australian state and territory on ten crucial housing supply policies and mechanisms that help the growth of the housing supply.
The HIA report specifically commended the Malinauskas Labor Government’s Housing Roadmap, which consists of over 100 initiatives made to help the industry construct homes more rapidly.
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Artist impression of a 42-apartment building in Seaton under a proposal by the SA Housing Trust. Picture: Walter Brooke
Specifically, SA was praised for its “advantageous blend of planning innovation, skills investment, and housing affordability policies,” which have set a benchmark in the national housing sector.
“Governments across the country are making announcements aimed at improving housing supply and it is challenging to determine which policies will genuinely improve housing supply from those that are disguising new taxes,” HIA Senior Economist Matt King said.
“To assist in this the Housing Industry Association has released an assessment of housing policy announcements over the past two years and determined that South Australia, closely followed by Western Australia, have been the best at understanding the problem and initiating actions to improve the supply of homes.
“Despite these steps forward, neither South Australia nor Western Australia are on track to build the number of homes required to meet their contribution to deliver on the government’s 1.2 million homes target.”
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An artist impression of a new housing estate under development by Renewal SA at Noarlunga. Picture: Renewal SA
According to The Advertiser, at least 15,000 potential new homes across SA were announced or planned last year through rezoning bids or as part of major housing projects, official figures show.
They are part of more than 64,000 new homes announced by the SA government since it came to power in March 2022.
Last year’s major announcements include a 3600-home project at the former Port Stanvac oil refinery site – including 15 per cent affordable – and 3500 dwellings at Smithfield and Elizabeth South under a land rezoning.
Mr King said SA and WA both received significantly higher rankings than other states, thanks to decisive planning reforms, streamlined development approvals, and a strong focus on land release.
“At the other end of the spectrum ACT scored 4/10 and Northern Territory just 5/10 with their housing supply systems falling well short,” he said.
“This Report highlights the need for comprehensive policy reforms across planning and zoning, financial settings, taxation and skills development.
“Planning approvals need to be quicker in order to reduce the price of shovel ready land. The administrative processes required to bring land to market add significantly to the cost of a new house and land package, and new apartments.”
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