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This research assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patterns of housing supply and demand and how the Australian housing market has changed over recent time (including between the 2016 and 2021 Censuses). The pandemic showed just how quickly demand for housing can change and how prices and rents can rise rapidly as a result. The COVID-19 period, defined as mid-2020 to mid-2022 for the purposes of this study, saw robust price growth within Australian capital cities and even stronger growth in regional areas. In the rental market, vacancy rates fell across the country and rents rose sharply.COVID changed what households want from their dwelling: predominantly it was about having more space, both inside and out, and that was linked with the ability to work more from home. Overall, consumers continue to prefer houses over units in metropolitan areas. COVID-19 also created significant and distinct changes to population dynamics with low or negative growth within inner urban areas; growth in regional towns and cities, particularly those associated with sea and tree changes; and strong growth in traditional first home buyer areas, primarily on the urban periphery.Property sales in high-growth regions came significantly from investors who sold stock from the rental market (generally to first home buyers and second home buyers). This, in turn, reduced rental availability and vacancy rates and displaced private renters. Where investors did buy into the regional areas studied, these were at higher prices which were in turn reflected in higher rents.The research reiterates that increases in housing supply need to be carefully managed by governments, including the supply of social and affordable housing in regional areas.

This research investigates models for engaging private sector investors and developers in financing or delivering social and affordable housing, across different market segments and tenures in Australia and internationally. It also identifies key existing and potential players, and financial, regulatory, or development barriers to wider participation.Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, around 3,000 social and affordable dwellings were being produced per year, against an estimated annual need of around 36,000 homes. To meet the forecast demand, it is clear ‘hybridity’ of the housing system is essential, whereby social and affordable housing is increasingly financed, developed and managed by a combination of government, community-based and market providers, and cross-sector partnerships; no one sector can address the need alone. This study highlighted that a range of established and emerging affordable housing product types can be supported through collaboration with private not-for-profit and for-profit partners. These strategies include public private partnerships, mixed tenure developments, tax subsidies for affordable supply, home ownership schemes, build to rent and inclusionary planning mechanisms. These depend on different combinations of government subsidy, policy settings, and regulation, and are suitable for delivery across a variety of different development contexts.

This research examined how policy settings and new construction technologies and processes affect developer decisions to provide private sector housing supply and might improve affordability. The complexity of the development process, the structure of development organisations, the variety of products delivered, and land ownership issues mean the development decision-making process varies by organisation and site by site. Therefore, it is too simplistic to assume policy settings will have exactly the same impact on each and every developer and on each and every site.Development projects can take many years and generally developers estimate what their products would sell for in the current market using comparable evidence to determine potential sales prices and then apply a revenue escalation figure to try and forecast the actual sales price on project completion. This is fraught with difficulty due to price fluctuations even in the short term, let alone on development projects which may span 10 years. Developers usually adopt a conservative approach to price escalation to avoid overestimating revenues and delivering inflated return projections.The second biggest risk factor identified by interviewees was the planning process. Planning policy settings determine what a developer can do on a site. This means that the political stance of the local planning authority can actually deter a developer from operating across the whole of an LGA. The potential for timelines to blow out or last-minute changes forced upon developers increases risks and can reduce return, leading to developers avoiding certain areas. Modelling shows a more efficient development approval process, including planning, infrastructure and environmental approvals, which reduces timeframes has the potential to provide a major boost to project profitability.

This research reviewed Australia’s COVID-19 housing policy responses to better understand their intervention approach, underlying logic, short and long term goals, target groups and level of success.

This research tracks Australia’s population growth over the period 2006–16 to examine how actual growth differed from projected growth. It also examined key drivers of population mobility in Australia to inform future urban development policy responses to demands on infrastructure and housing.

This report considers evidence about the existence and scale of agglomeration economies, including in Australian cities. It examines whether city size affects productivity, and whether economic productivity, city size and rising housing costs are interdependent.

Spatial urban housing submarkets are now widely used constructs. Recent housing market modelling strategies have emphasised the need for flexibility in modelling approaches in order to best accommodate submarkets which account for spatial variations in hedonic prices. But this raises important unanswered questions concerning the stability of submarket structures over time, and the role of housing market dynamics in breaking down or shifting submarket boundaries. The influence of new supply, in particular, may have a stabilising or destabilising effect on differences in hedonic prices, depending on the wider housing market context. In this paper we examine the temporal influence of new supply, intra-urban migration and socio-economic change as a means of understanding the impact of key drivers of submarket boundary change. Using the Greater Perth region of Western Australia as a case study, we estimate income elasticities of demand for housing services that vary spatially within the urban area. We find evidence that higher income elasticities, new development, socio-economic change and intra-urban migration are associated with changes in the spatial structure of housing prices within the metropolitan housing market. The information, practices and views in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Royal Geographical Society Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Each year the proportion of Australians who rent their home increases and, for the first time in generations, there are now as many renters as outright homeowners. Researchers and policy makers, however, know very little about housing conditions within Australia’s rental housing sector due to a lack of systematic, reliable data. In 2020, a collaboration of Australian universities commissioned a survey of tenant households to build a data infrastructure on the household and demographic characteristics, housing quality and conditions in the Australian rental sector. This data infrastructure was designed to be national (representative across all Australian States and Territories), and balanced across key population characteristics. The resultant Australian Rental Housing Conditions Dataset (ARHCD) is a publicly available data infrastructure for researchers and policy makers, providing a basis for national and international research.

Key points • Diversifying housing supply in response to changing demographic profiles and declining housing affordability has become a significant policy aspiration in Australia's major cities. • However, despite this aspiration, the majority of housing is delivered in the form of detached housing in greenfield locations and, to a lesser extent, high-rise apartments, both of which are sold at market rates to owner-occupiers and small-scale buy-to-let investors. • In this context, this study engaged the expertise of 50 housing and built-environment professionals in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth on Investigative Panels to examine barriers and challenges within the housing system for delivering housing supply that is more diverse in terms of size and built form, tenure, development model and, importantly, affordability level. • Across these three cities, the housing industry and built-environment experts who took part in the study perceived a need for: greater diversity in housing types and sizes, particularly in lower-density suburban areas; medium- and higher-density housing forms able to accommodate a wider variety of household types and lifestyle preferences; rental housing that can offer greater security of tenure; and, more housing supply across tenures that is affordable to very low to moderate income households. • In addressing these gaps, panellists saw a need for more mediumdensity housing such as townhouses and other attached housing types with ground access; dwelling designs that cater to different household needs and preferences (in terms of size, facilities, adaptability, etc.), and alternative processes for developing new supply, including deliberative development models managed by future residents/owners. Panellists also emphasised the importance of affordable home ownership and rental housing options and increased supply of social housing. • The Investigative Panels revealed that these types of projects can face a range of development challenges. In terms of the planning system, challenges can include difficulty accessing sites where medium- and higher-density built form is permitted and financially viable; lack of clarity as to the permissibility of unconventional housing or development types within land-use zones; lack of flexibility in development controls to allow for design innovations, such as reduced car parking; and uncertainty around the time frame and outcome of development assessment decisions. • Uncertainty has a particular impact on less conventional developments with tight development margins, which are less able to cope with unexpected costs associated with time delays. At the same time such projects-often lower cost rental or home ownership developments -can also face greater community opposition in established areas, potentially prolonging assessment processes and uncertainty regarding an application outcome. • Other important challenges relate to factors beyond the planning system. These include high urban land costs; challenges obtaining development finance; and a lack of appropriate skills and expertise in the housing industry. • Competing for access to land and finance can be particularly difficult for housing projects that do not constitute highest value land use and that are initiated by start-up organisations and small developers without significant balance sheets or development track records. • Projects designed for long-term affordability and affordable housing projects by not-for-profit housing providers face additional economic viability challenges, while subsidies to support project viability are limited and inconsistent. • The drive for innovation in new housing supply must ultimately come from the private housing development industry, which currently produces more than 97 per cent of Australia's new homes. • However, all levels of government can play a role in de-risking and supporting the viability of diverse housing projects through subsidies in the form of land, grants, and access to special mortgage products for purchasers of diverse housing products; as well as through access to development finance, and special development assessment pathways. • State and local governments can ensure that land-use zoning allows for or requires a range of dwelling densities in different locations. Zoning rules can also be designed to limit competition from higher value land uses where a particular form or tenure of housing is desired. • Flexibility and concessions on development requirements and fees and charges, where appropriate, could also help to support the viability of diverse housing projects. • While planning-based interventions can play an important role in supporting the permissibility and viability of projects delivering diverse housing dwelling types and sizes, tenures and development models, deeper forms of subsidy are required to support significant supply of housing that is affordable to low-income groups. • All levels of government can play an important role in communicating the need for more diverse housing supply and enabling more diverse housing supply through strong leadership. In addition to Commonwealth financial support, state governments should take a leadership role in establishing targets and strategic directions for increasing diversity of housing supply; and supporting innovation through demonstration projects that can be replicated across the industry. Local governments have a crucial role in building support for housing designed to meet the full spectrum of needs in their communities, and in helping developers and community organisations interested in delivering diverse types and tenures of housing and development models to navigate the planning system.

With the construction industry long being held up as an ideal mechanism for delivering economic stimulus in periods of economic recession and stagnation, this research assesses how the housing industry can help rebuild the Australian economy both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

This report explores the housing constraints facing diverse populations of lower income Australians.

This report delivers a comprehensive account of the diverse housing circumstances of Australians at mid-life.

This research examines the quantity, composition and distribution of new housing supply across Australia 2006–16 and seeks to explain variations in local rates of production with reference to demand-side considerations (e.g. population drivers, market cycles) and supply-side considerations (e.g. regulatory barriers, construction costs).

This research examined the extent to which downsizing forms part of older Australians’ housing preferences, the actual and perceived benefits of moving as well as the availability of downsize housing options. The research proposes a number of policy strategies for delivering housing alternatives to meet older Australians’ downsizing aspirations.

This paper provides an analysis of spatial and temporal patterns in housing supply in Australia over the period 2005–06 to 2015–16. It shows that by international standards, per capita housing supp...

This research investigated the short and longer term housing aspirations and the housing aspirations gap among ‘emerging adults’ aged 18–24 years and ‘early adults’ aged 25–34 years in order to better understand how their aspirations are linked to a ‘broader life project’ across areas such as education, employment and family formation.

This research examined the housing aspirations of older Australians (i.e. aged 55 years and over), including home owners and renters in the private market and in social housing, to provide the evidence-base for policies needed to deliver their required housing and housing assistance.

This study examined the range of strategies and initiatives governments have used to leverage affordable housing supply across the continuum of housing needs (i.e. from social housing to affordable rental and home ownership) in a constrained funding and increasingly market driven context across a range of different jurisdictions and markets.

In recent decades, housing affordability has been increasingly linked to household financial outcomes where high housing costs relative to income are perceived to negatively affect financial well-being. However, the traditional measure of housing affordability in Australia is housing stress, which is subject to widespread criticism as an inadequate representation of overall financial stress. This methodological paper first determines the extent to which housing stress correlates with experiences of financial stress and, second, demonstrates ways in which the measure can be modified to deliver a more reliable indication of how housing costs affect financial well-being. The study contributes to the international literature by showing how the use of longitudinal data can improve the measure of housing stress providing a more accurate assessment of the relationship between housing costs and financial well-being.

This project examined state government-led innovations in affordable housing through analysis of two state-level strategies and two state-level programs. The research shows effective strategies and programs rely on strong political leadership; adopt a whole-of-housing industry approach to consultation and implementation; communicate objectives effectively to all stakeholders; are resilient to changes of government; and are best run from a central agency with a flexible organisational structure that can respond quickly to opportunities.

This research developed a housing need simulation to quantify the need for affordable housing and identify the supply required to meet the demand for housing. This information is important for resource allocation, market monitoring, setting affordable housing targets, housing assistance budgeting and evidence for affordable housing contributions via planning policy.

This report forms part of an AHURI Inquiry into housing policies, labour force participation and economic growth. This study addresses the following research question: What are the key drivers of housing supply responsiveness, and what do the identified effects imply for policies seeking to increase housing supply responsiveness in Australia?

This paper presents national data and two case studies investigating the links between housing market failure and the context of Australia's recent resource mining boom. It demonstrates how unprecedented international demand for mineral resources resulted in critical, local housing issues in mining communities. We conclude that without careful strategic planning and understanding of the economic and social role of housing, international market dynamics can create local housing situations that are vulnerable to market and social failures. While this paper highlights the challenges inherent in managing housing issues in Australia during a mining boom, there are likely to be lessons which can be applied in international settings. These challenges include the diversity in scale, cyclical and often unpredictable nature of booms; differences in housing policy and institutional arrangements across jurisdictions and the importance of leadership in growth management and planning.

What the research did: This report examines the supply of subsidised affordable housing via the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) in Australia and the international approaches of the Low Income Housing Taxation Credit (LIHTC) scheme in the US and the Affordable Rents program in England. The research focusses on NRAS developments in NSW, Qld, Vic and WA from the perspective of affordability, spatial and investment return outcomes. What the research found: While NRAS was flawed in its administration it did achieve considerable success. There was an increase in the supply of subsidised affordable rental housing in Australia with 27,606 extra dwellings as at June 2015 and 37,583 expected in total (DSS data). Subsidising rents by 20 per cent below market level increased the number of suburbs accessible to income eligible households with the potential to lift a third of all eligible households out of housing stress. NRAS properties are predominantly in suburbs with mid-range investment potential, ie. where subsidised rents are 60-80 per cent of the metropolitan median. The model encouraged a diversity of housing delivery, unlike the US which was directed to apartments. The scheme assisted community housing providers to produce financially viable developments. The LIHTC was made permanent in the US after 7 years while NRAS was discontinued after 7 years. The US example showed that the market needs time to mature and tax reform is needed to attract large scale institutional investment. There is now a gap in the provision of affordable rental supply in Australia with the added concern that current NRAS properties lose their tax incentives after a staggered 10 year period and may return to full market rent.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the investment decision‐making process of major stakeholders in the property sector, with a specific focus on determining the impact of location quality (the quality of the immediate and wider environment within which the site is located) on the property investment decision.Design/methodology/approachThe research was undertaken in the context of UK business parks in two regional property markets; South Yorkshire and the South East. Interviews were undertaken with key stakeholder groups adopting an innovative approach utilising graphics and visualisations to explore the impact of landscape quality on investment decisions.FindingsWhen landscape quality in business parks is considered holistically, it has only an indirect role to play in the property investment decision. Occupiers in South Yorkshire and the South East have low expectations of landscape quality on business park sites, but there are elements of landscape quality that occupiers appreciate and consider to add to the quality of the site. However, investors and developers do not consider landscape quality plays a role in their decision process. There exists the potential for the “removed” perspective of investors and developers to result in a dislocation between their perception of occupiers' requirement and reality.Originality/valueThis study represents the first attempt to explore, in detail, the role of landscape quality in property decisions of key stakeholders in the UK property market. It also uses innovative methods to convey complex concepts of landscape quality to non‐technical participants.

The objectives of the study were: first, to determine the prevalence of traditional medicine (TM) and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use in head and neck cancer patients in Ireland; second, to educate ourselves on the plethora of CAM/TM options available to patients outside the dominion of conventional medicine. The study design consisted of a cross-sectional survey carried out in three head and neck cancer centres. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 110 head and neck cancer patients attending the three cancer centres and data were collected for statistical analysis. A total of 106 patients completed the questionnaire; 21.7% of the participants used CAM/TM since their diagnosis with head and neck cancer. CAM/TM usage was higher in female (34.3%) than in male patients (16.2%). CAM/TM use was more common in the 41-50-year age group, in patients with higher educational levels and those holding strong religious beliefs, and also in married than single patients. The most common types of CAM/TM used were spiritual and laying on of hands. The most common reasons reported for using CAM/TM were to counteract the ill effects of treatment and increase the body's ability to fight cancer. Sources of information on CAM/TM were friends (65%), family (48%) and media (21%). This survey reveals a high prevalence of CAM/TM use in head and neck cancer patients, hence emphasising the need for otolaryngologists to educate themselves on the various therapies available to be able to provide informative advice. There is an urgent need for evidence-based investigation of various CAM/TM therapies currently offered to patients.

A number of commentators and policy makers believe that a potential solution to housing affordability is available through large scale release of newly subdivided land on the urban periphery. The argument follows that releasing more land increases supply and, through market forces, leads to lower new land and house prices. This will, in turn, lead to improved affordability within the stock of existing houses. Despite this view, there has been very little empirical research investigating how large scale land release on the urban fringe actually affects housing affordability. This question has important implications for both planning policy and affordability within local housing markets, but also within the wider aggregate urban housing market. This paper explores this issue by quantifying land release in a number of Perth (Western Australia) Metropolitan suburbs and comparing the extent of land release with changes in land and house prices. Our analysis indicates only a weak relationship between la...

The policy to generate land and finance for affordable housing through the land use planning system in England has now been in place for fifteen years – and is fast becoming the most important mechanism for adding to the stock of affordable housing. It is therefore an appropriate time to assess the extent to which the policy is achieving its objectives. To address this issue the paper draws on a number of complementary research projects to look at how the policy has developed and then at the evidence of outputs and outcomes. It first examines the numbers being achieved and the proportion of total output that this represents; it then looks at the regional and the tenure distribution of this output and lastly at the nature of other contributions made by developers. Finally the implications of the findings are discussed in the context of proposed policy changes

The importance of levering private finance and investment into urban regeneration is a central consideration of policy. Attention has focused on institutional investors' motives for holding regeneration investments and on how they might be encouraged to put more money into inner-city areas. The paper argues that, while helpful, the impact of such an approach upon urban regeneration will be limited. This is because, by definition, institutional investors are only interested in institutional property and buildings which do not conform to this frame of reference will not be of interest to them. However, other actors see things differently. Independent developers embrace the challenge presented by fringe locations, mixed uses and the local urban culture and aesthetic—and translate these characteristics into development values. Urban policy needs to address the contrasting ways in which the nature, construction and application of investors' strategic rationality intercept with local development conditions. In particular, greater emphasis should be given to encouraging independent, locally based forms of property investment and development.

This article discusses the future of property valuation data provision by examining a new data initiative designed to increase valuation data availability known as a National Valuation Evidence Database (NVED). This NVED will be an on‐line source of comparable evidence which, when combined with the National Land Information System, will provide valuers with a single source of on‐line valuation evidence. It is argued that the future of valuation data provision will revolve around these two initiatives and that it is up to property professionals to take the lead in encouraging these initiatives, to indicate to their clients a progressive attitude towards property service provision.

Much of the housing sub-market literature has focused on establishing methods that allow the partitioning of data into distinct market segments. This paper seeks to move the focus on to the question of how best to model sub-markets once they have been identified. It focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of multilevel models as a technique for modelling sub-markets. The paper uses data on housing transactions from Perth, Western Australia, to develop and compare three competing sub-market modelling strategies. Model 1 consists of a city-wide 'benchmark'; model 2 provides a series of sub-market-specific hedonic estimates (this is the 'industry standard') and models 3 and 4 provide two variants on the multilevel model (differentiated by variation in the degrees of spatial granularity embedded in the model structure). The results suggest that the more granular multilevel specification enhances empirical performance and reduces the incidence of non-random spatial errors. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The implementation of affordable housing policies has grown apace during the past two decades, with housing affordability as a policy issue rising ever more quickly on the agendas of numerous governments in very recent years. Before examining the rationale, form and consequences of affordable housing policies later in the chapter, we consider first the meaning of affordability. In particular, the chapter puts forward the idea that this commonly used term is really a label for a number of closely related housing, social and economic issues. The chapter goes on to examine affordable housing policies in a number of countries, and to assess the impacts of these. The chapter presents a case study of the use of planning agreements in the UK as a policy lever to deliver a greater supply of affordable housing units. Refereed/Peer-reviewed