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<p>Drones are already shaping the face of our cities, used for building planning, heritage, construction and safety enhancement.</p><p>But, as studies by the UK’s Department of Transport have found, swathes of the public have a limited understanding of how drones might be practically applied.</p><p>It’s crucial that the ways drones are affecting our future are understood by most people.</p><p>As experts in design futures and mobility, we hope this short overview of five ways drones will affect building design offers some knowledge of how things are likely to change.</p><p><strong>1. Creating digital models of buildings</strong></p><p>Drones can take photographs of buildings, which are then used to build 3D models of buildings in computer-aided design software.</p><p>These models have accuracy to within a centimetre, and can be combined with other data, such as 3D scans of interiors using drones or laser scanners, to provide a completely accurate picture of the structure for surveyors, architects and clients.</p><p>Using these digital models saves time and money in the construction process by providing a single source that architects and planners can view.</p><p><strong>2. Heritage simulations</strong></p><p>Studio Drift are a multidisciplinary team of Dutch artists who have used drones to construct images through theatrical outdoor drone performances at damaged national heritage sites such as the Notre Dame in Paris, Colosseum in Rome and Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.</p><div id="carousel-root" data-reactroot=""><image-carousel-remove-button><div class="rm-carousel-wrapper"><button id="rm-carousel" class="rm-carousel-btn">Delete</button></div></image-carousel-remove-button><div class="slider-wrap"><image-carousel><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="domus-studio-drift-drone-4.jpeg.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/5rOx5XYb9qW0gX4oVtgFxD/573589d350dfb4c4fb4f413e2987830c/domus-studio-drift-drone-4.jpeg.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/5rOx5XYb9qW0gX4oVtgFxD/573589d350dfb4c4fb4f413e2987830c/domus-studio-drift-drone-4.jpeg.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="1.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/6rKNnRqWXhfEB4D4FFYdKj/ffbebefd529b2b5f65a9ff743dbc6f38/1.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/6rKNnRqWXhfEB4D4FFYdKj/ffbebefd529b2b5f65a9ff743dbc6f38/1.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div><div class="slider-el"><img style="height: 100%;" title="domus-studio-drift-drone-5.jpg.f.jpg" src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1r7XVNH0C6qTva44BXxxJ2/b2f45763d92847c9ab7d1072312a7718/domus-studio-drift-drone-5.jpg.f.jpg" data-mce-src="http://images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/1r7XVNH0C6qTva44BXxxJ2/b2f45763d92847c9ab7d1072312a7718/domus-studio-drift-drone-5.jpg.f.jpg" data-mce-style="height: 100%;"></div></image-carousel></div></div><p><br>Drones could be used in the near future in a similar way to help planners to visualise the final impact of restoration or construction work on a damaged or partially finished building.</p><p><strong>3. Drone delivery</strong></p><p>The arrival of drone delivery services will see significant changes to buildings in our communities, which will need to provide for docking stations at community hubs, shops and pick-up points.</p><p>There are likely to be landing pads installed on the roofs of residential homes and dedicated drone-delivery hubs. Research has shown that drones can help with the last mile of any delivery in the UK, Germany, France and Italy.</p><p>Architects of the future will need to add these facilities into their building designs.</p><p><strong>4. Drones mounted with 3D printers</strong></p><p>Two research projects from architecture, design, planning, and consulting firm Gensler and another from a consortium led by Imperial College London (comprising University College London, University of Bath, University of Pennsylvania, Queen Mary University of London, and Technical University of Munich) named Empa have been experimenting with drones with mounted 3D printers.</p><p><span class="mce-preview-object mce-object-iframe" contenteditable="false" data-mce-object="iframe" data-mce-p-allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" data-mce-p-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pDKNEO0gDuE"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pDKNEO0gDuE" width="560" height="314" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><span class="mce-shim"></span></span></p><p><br>These drones would work at speed to construct emergency shelters or repair buildings at significant heights, without the need for scaffolding, or in difficult to reach locations, providing safety benefits.</p><p>Gensler have already used drones for wind turbine repair and researchers at Imperial College are exploring bee-like drone swarms that work together to construct blueprints.</p><p>The drones coordinate with each other to follow a pre-defined path in a project called Aerial Additive Manufacturing. For now, the work is merely a demonstration of the technology, and not working on a specific building.</p><p>In the future, drones with mounted 3D printers could help create highly customised buildings at speed, but how this could change the workforce and the potential consequences for manual labour jobs is yet to be understood.</p><p><strong>5. Agile surveillance</strong></p><p>Drones offer new possibilities for surveillance away from the static, fixed nature of current systems such as closed-circuit television.</p><p>Drones with cameras and sensors relying on complex software systems such as biometric indicators and “face recognition” will probably be the next level of surveillance applied by governments and police forces, as well as providing security monitoring for homeowners.</p><div id="73ofElEltVtNHVYiCV3IWi"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/5rvhF8iKdj8evyPz43407I/ac15f27e49709387ffa4c1153b4de9c3/2.jpg" alt="null" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/5rvhF8iKdj8evyPz43407I/ac15f27e49709387ffa4c1153b4de9c3/2.jpg"></picture><div><span style="opacity: 0.8;" data-mce-style="opacity: 0.8;">▲ The role of drones in security at all levels will increase.<br><br> </span></div></div><p>Drones would likely be fitted with monitoring devices, which could communicate with security or police forces.</p><p>Drones used in this way could help our buildings become more responsive to intrusions, and adaptable to changing climates. Drones may move parts of the building such as shade-creating devices, following the path of the sun to stop buildings overheating, for example.<br><br></p><hr><p><br>Authors</p><p>Paul Cureton<br>Senior lecturer in Design (People, Places, Products), Lancaster University</p><p>Ole B Jensen<br>Professor of Urban Theory and Urban Design, Aalborg University</p><p>&nbsp;This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the&nbsp;<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-ways-drones-will-change-the-way-buildings-are-designed-195611" data-mce-href="https://theconversation.com/five-ways-drones-will-change-the-way-buildings-are-designed-195611">original article</a>.</p>

Drones are already shaping the face of our cities, used for building planning, heritage, construction and safety enhancement, but how it will their use disrupt the status quo?

Why No One is Developing Larger Apartment Stock in Melbourne

<div class="row" data-reactroot=""><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Melbourne’s inner-city is awash with small apartments and high vacancy rates, while families and residents looking for more space are forced out of the inner- and middle-ring suburbs. </p><p>Melbourne’s apartment market has languished in the wake of Covid-19 and the substantial reduction of international migration. </p><p><a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/melbourne-housing-market-update">Median unit prices</a> have grown about 6 per cent during the past 12 months in Melbourne, while <a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/articles/melbourne-housing-market-update">house prices have increased by about 12 per cent</a> according to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria. </p><p>Data compiled by Ignite, a not-for-profit research group supported by the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, shows a significant shortfall in larger apartments being developed in Melbourne’s inner and middle-ring suburbs. </p><p>According to the <em>Victoria in Future 2019</em> report, 27,690 one to two-bedroom apartments, and 5112 three to four-bedroom apartments were required to be built each year to meet the forecasted population growth of Melbourne. </p><p>Ignite’s research data indicates that Melbourne is experiencing a significant shortfall in new housing with about 8352 one- to two-bedroom apartments, and 2144 three- to four-bedroom apartments coming online each year. </p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><strong>Melbourne housing shortage</strong></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/76286fb4-c75f-441a-a5c3-cea354d8e71f.png" width="500px"/></picture><div><span style="float:right;opacity:0.8">Source: Ignite</span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>Developers’ perspective</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>But for developers building in Melbourne striking the right mix of apartments is a balancing act according to Samuel Property development director Romy Jackson.</p><p>“In terms of financial viability, it can be a difficult balancing act as naturally with increased space comes increased cost,” he said.</p><p>“However if the product is designed right and placed in a location that can support the pricing, while still representing an acceptable percentage of the buyer’s house value, it can stack up for both parties.</p><p>Jackson said there had been a strong appetite for the boutique developers’ three-and-four-bedroom product, which had appealed to the “downsizer” looking to stay in their hyper-local area and still have a spare room and study.</p><p>Lendlease head of residential developments Ben Christie said the developer made apartment mix and design decisions “with a customer lens”. </p><p>“Generally speaking, one- and two-bed apartments are in greater demand among renters, and therefore more attractive to investors who traditionally make up a large portion of apartment purchasers,” he said. </p><p>“However larger apartments are becoming more popular in line with the pace of urbanisation, as families are prioritising amenity over space. </p><p>“While this trend has slowed in the short term due to the pandemic, our forecasts show it will increase again over time.”</p><p>Christie said Lendlease built a residential portfolio with a mix of studios, one, two, three and four-bedroom apartments, as well as the ability to amalgamate apartments. </p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/f922f80d-5d12-4583-8d52-47cdd3f24b33.jpeg" width="500px"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">▲ Samuel Property&#x27;s Caspian in Melbourne is spearheading the demand for boutique bigger apartments. </span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><br><strong>Investment value proposition</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>MaxCap chief investment officer Bill McWilliams said higher price points and lower yields meant the market for larger apartments was geared towards owner-occupiers. </p><p>The median property price for a three-bedroom apartment in inner-city Melbourne was $940,000 at the end of March according to realestate.com.au.</p><p>“I think there are a number of developments that are more tailored to the owner-occupiers … with a higher-end fit out and they take a lot longer to [sell],” McWilliams said. </p><p>“The reality is it’s probably easier to get a better yield on one to two bedroom apartments. </p><p>“The higher [price] per square metre makes the yield a lot less attractive on bigger apartments from an investment perspective.”</p><p>McWilliams said the high price and lack of stock of bigger apartments meant it was not an attractive value proposition for investors. </p><p>He also believed the market was largely based in the high-end downsizer owner-occupier presently. </p><p>McWilliams said developers relied on the sale of one- to two-bedroom apartments off the plan to investors to help underwrite the costs of construction, as the larger three and four-bedroom apartments took longer to sell.</p><p>“People will absolutely come back into the CBD, it’s not a matter of if, it’s when. There has absolutely been a change in demography … people will return to the CBD market, it will just take some time.”</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/a9db3710-4743-4ee0-9edf-06931becac93.png" width="500px"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">▲ Non-bank lender MaxCap says price point too high while yields are low on bigger apartments, which makes it less appetising as an investment. </span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong><br>The family-friendly future of our cities</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Demographer and co-founder of The Demographics Group Simon Kuestenmacher said he believed more needed to be done to develop larger family-friendly apartments in Melbourne’s inner city. </p><p>“I think from a developer perspective if you build a big tower you make more money as one or two bedroom apartments, everything you put online sells,” he said.</p><p>Kuestenmacher said millennials were the “procrastination generation” who had delayed relationships and families to live in inner-city suburbs across Australia. </p><p>“All of a sudden millennials are having 1.7 kids and need a zoom room,” he said.</p><p>“So they are now seeking family friendly housing of three to four bedroom dwellings.</p><p>“When it comes to property everybody needs to make compromises, but one thing that people don’t want to compromise on is the number of bedrooms. </p><p>“They will go out to the suburban fringe … they’re not going to stay in the inner suburbs because there’s no housing available.”</p><p>Kuestenmacher said we needed to develop large European-style family-friendly apartments that normalised families living in four or five-bedroom apartments in inner-city suburbs. </p><p>He said the tyranny of distance meant many families had long commutes into the CBD. Kuestenmacher said he believed there was a market for building stacked townhouses and in doing so developers could help to regenerate Melbourne’s lockdown-ravaged inner-city and boost the diversity of its social landscape.</p><p>University of Queensland Professor of Urban and Regional Planning Neil Sipe said Australian Bureau of Statistics Census data indicated families with children moved to the suburbs, while young adults, singles and childless couples moved to inner-city suburbs. </p><p>One-third of Melbourne’s inner-city residents were aged between 25 and 34 in 2016.</p><p>“Despite their smaller housing sizes, the inner cities offer more convenience and accessibility to work, study and recreation. But they’re failing to meet the needs of families in terms of space, amenities and affordability,” Sipe said.</p><p>“Australian planners must find ways to facilitate a shift toward more compact living to create more diverse neighbourhoods, bring people closer to their jobs, and give families more flexibility.</p><p>“Future policies should integrate people’s non-negotiable needs and wants, including a desire for ample space, privacy, quietness and liveability. </p><p>“Developers should be required to offer mid-rise buildings with affordable and sound-proofed three or four-bedroom units. Inner-city units should include multiple bathrooms, storage rooms and large porches where residents can keep plants and pets.”</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><strong>You are currently experiencing </strong><strong><em>The Urban Developer</em></strong><strong> Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. </strong><a href="https://www.theurbandeveloper.com/membership-plans"><u><strong>Click here</strong></u><strong> to learn more.</strong></a></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/8ede760f-3b4f-48a2-b08a-48b8044e409b.png" width="800"/></picture><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>

Melbourne’s inner-city is awash with small apartments, while families and residents looking for more space are forced out of the city...

Census Unoccupied Homes Hero Sept 5.jpg

<p>The recent release of 2021 Census data revealed a shocking “one million homes were unoccupied”.</p><p>This statistic sent housing commentators, government agencies and policymakers into a spin. At a time of significant housing shortages, these extra million homes would surely make a big difference. They could provide housing for some homeless, ease the rental affordability crisis, and get first-home owners into their first home.</p><p>There has been a great deal of speculation about how this has happened. Has it been caused by overseas millionaires buying up housing and leaving it as an empty investment? Is it Airbnb taking up homes that could be used for families? Or are cashed-up Gen-Xers double-consuming by living in one house while renovating another?</p><p>So, why were 1,043,776 dwellings empty on census night?</p><p>In fact, we’ve got a pretty good idea of what’s going on.&nbsp;</p><p>First, it’s not a new phenomenon. When we compare 2021 with previous censuses, a slightly smaller percentage of our private dwelling stock was classified as unoccupied—just under 10 per cent, compared with nearly 11 per cent at the previous census in 2016.</p><p>Since the release of the data, many journalists have pointed to this startling number of empty homes, portraying them as abandoned or left empty. There is almost certainly a much more ordinary and less startling story to tell. We suspect there are three main explanations.</p><p>A big part of the story is how the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) determines whether a dwelling is occupied or not.&nbsp;</p><p>In short, it does its best by using a variety of methods but, for the majority of dwellings, occupancy “is determined by the returned census form”. If a form was not returned, and the ABS had no further information, the dwelling was often deemed to be unoccupied.</p><p>This is important to our interpretation of the empty homes story. At any one time, lots of things are going on in the housing market and most of it is a long way from being abandoned or empty.</p><p>For example, 647,000 dwellings were sold in 2021. This means many thousands of dwellings were unoccupied on census night because they were up for sale or awaiting transfer.</p><p>The second and perhaps most important contributor to the empty homes story is holiday homes.&nbsp;</p><p>Estimates vary, but we know 2 million Australians own one or more properties other than their own home. It’s estimated up to 346,581 of these properties may be listed on just one rental platform, Airbnb.</p><p>It’s part of the census design to pick a night of the year when the most Australians are at home.&nbsp;</p><p>If you think back to Tuesday, August 10, 2021, it was a Tuesday night in mid-winter, so many of Australia’s holiday homes would have been empty—and counted as unoccupied.</p><h2>Where are these unoccupied dwellings?</h2><p><br>If we map the distribution of unoccupied dwellings across Australia, two things stand out.</p><p>Firstly, unoccupied dwellings tend to be concentrated in sea-change and inner-city holiday spots, such as Victor Harbor in South Australia, Lorne in Victoria and Batemans Bay in New South Wales. This reinforces the holiday homes explanation.</p><p>It’s also striking how few unoccupied homes are in our major cities. Sydney is a great example. The map below shows a very uniform absence of unused housing across the whole metropolitan area.</p><p><strong>Local areas categories by numbers of unoccupied homes,Sydney</strong></p><div id="1RnbfQSLE0BUTJ8JWBZQH8"><picture><img src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/6WMOjOKdBV9bAw3XZbmISY/7babc286051263c1062612f34f467b30/million_homesmap.jpeg" alt="million empty homes map" data-mce-src="//images.ctfassets.net/8pr762qjocl3/6WMOjOKdBV9bAw3XZbmISY/7babc286051263c1062612f34f467b30/million_homesmap.jpeg"></picture></div><div><sup>Source: author provided</sup><br><br></div><p>So, should we worry about the ‘million unoccupied homes’?</p><p>Yes and no. An unknown proportion in that million are not empty, just assumed to be vacant because a census form wasn’t returned. We should regard this as a systematic error in the counting process. No doubt the ABS will be aiming to reduce this in future censuses.</p><p>Some of that million are genuinely vacant due to the way the housing market works. This includes, for example, the sales process and the need for vacant possession.</p><p>Yet, even if there are substantially fewer than a million vacant dwellings, the reality is that there are too many ways homes in Australia can be left unoccupied for weeks, months, years—and it’s costing all of us.&nbsp;</p><p>Those who are homeless are paying the highest price. But the rest of us feel the pain through higher rents, increased rates to pay for infrastructure constructed for housing that isn’t occupied, and greater difficulties in getting into the housing market.</p><p>We need to find ways to ensure houses are full of people, not left empty as owners wait for investment opportunities to mature, or for absentee owners to go on holiday. We know there are solutions out there.&nbsp;</p><p>Removing caps on council rates and treating short-term rentals as commercial properties essential to the tourism industry are just two ways we can get better occupancy of our stock.&nbsp;</p><p>We just need to find the will to implement them.<br><br></p><hr><h2><br>Authors<br><br></h2><p>Emma Baker<br>Professor of Housing Research, University of Adelaide</p><p>Andrew Beer<br>Executive Dean, UniSA Business, University of South Australia</p><p>Marcus Blake<br>Senior Data Scientist and Manager, Australian Geospatial Health Laboratory, University of Canberra</p><p><br></p><p>This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/look-where-australias-1-million-empty-homes-are-and-why-theyre-vacant-theyre-not-a-simple-solution-to-housing-need-189067?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20September%202%202022%20-%202390723879&amp;utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20September%202%202022%20-%202390723879+CID_12fefe62e13b544f15f65960499a4645&amp;utm_source=campaign_monitor&amp;utm_term=Look%20where%20Australias%201%20million%20empty%20homes%20are%20and%20why%20theyre%20vacant%20%20theyre%20not%20a%20simple%20solution%20to%20housing%20need" data-mce-href="https://theconversation.com/look-where-australias-1-million-empty-homes-are-and-why-theyre-vacant-theyre-not-a-simple-solution-to-housing-need-189067?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20September%202%202022%20-%202390723879&amp;utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20September%202%202022%20-%202390723879+CID_12fefe62e13b544f15f65960499a4645&amp;utm_source=campaign_monitor&amp;utm_term=Look%20where%20Australias%201%20million%20empty%20homes%20are%20and%20why%20theyre%20vacant%20%20theyre%20not%20a%20simple%20solution%20to%20housing%20need">original article</a>.</p>

How Australia Lost Control of House Prices


<div class="row" data-reactroot=""><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Real home prices across Australia have climbed 150 per cent since 2000, while real wages have climbed by less than a third.</p><p>Sydney and Melbourne rank among the most expensive cities in the world. Australia-wide, home ownership levels <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/sites/public-purpose/files/iipp-wp-2020-08-rentierization-of-australian-housing-market.pdf">have fallen</a> from 70 per cent to 65 per cent in the last 20 years and home equity levels have fallen from 80 per cent to 75 per cent. Younger workers have been completely priced out of the major cities.</p><p>Among those who can afford homes, the increase in household debt to income ratios is weighing on consumption and increasing financial fragility.</p><p>We are often told the problem lies in supply—we don’t have enough homes in the places people want them. </p><p>And while it’s true a reduction in the supply of housing relative to the population will reduce housing per person and increase housing rents, what we are seeing is something different—a growing divergence between rents and the price of housing as a financial asset that’s increasing much more quickly.</p><p>Australia has become something of a world leader in demand-driven home price inflation. Australians have been increasingly buying housing for the purpose of securing financial returns—both capital gains and rental income, in a process often described as the <a href="https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-2427.12522">financialisation</a> of housing, but one that we think can be more accurately thought of as “<a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/sites/public-purpose/files/iipp-wp-2020-08-rentierization-of-australian-housing-market.pdf">rentierization</a>”.</p><h2><strong>How it happened</strong></h2><p>In a working paper <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/sites/public-purpose/files/iipp-wp-2020-08-rentierization-of-australian-housing-market.pdf">published on Tuesday</a> by the University of Sydney and the University College London Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, we argue “rentierization” best describes the increasing use of housing to extract land rents, in the form of capital gains on property and rents from tenants—a process in which Australia is well advanced.</p><p>Despite multiple major boom and bust cycles, including Victoria’s 1880s land boom and the 1890s recession that followed, land values and home prices were relatively low compared to the total value of economic activity right up the 1960s.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><strong>Long-term Australian real price index for housing and construction prices</strong></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/151d78ad-1fd7-42b9-9714-4e287d2bfc27.jpg" width="800"/></picture><div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><sup><sub>^Ryan-Collins and Murray (2020).</sub></sup></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>In contrast, we show, real Australian home prices have soared 215 per cent since 1980 and have shown few signs of reversion to long-term trends, despite brief corrections in 2009-10 and 2017-2019.</p><p>The graph shows the rise in home prices has been driven by rising land values rather than construction costs, which have grown at a rate closer to general price inflation.</p><p>It’s tempting to ascribe the takeoff in home prices to low interest rates. Low rates enable households to take out larger mortgages relative to their incomes.</p><p>But rates were also low in the 1960s (close to rates in the 2010s, when home prices were soaring) and didn’t much push up prices then.</p><h2><strong>More from the house than the wage</strong></h2><p>Low rates appear to be a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for soaring prices. Among the other things that seem to be needed are increased access to finance, declining public involvement in housing, and tax breaks that reflect the political power of owners.</p><p>The return to land in the form of capital growth has climbed from around 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product before 1960 to 16.7 per cent of GDP since 2000.</p><p>It has become so high as to rival and at times dominate wages as a source of household income.</p><p>The graph below compares the annual return to a typical home over a year with the annual return to labour in the form of a wage, both nationally and for Sydney (where only recent data is available).</p><p>When the measure is greater than one it implies that the average home had a greater return, made up of rent and capital gains, than the average worker.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><strong>Total return from housing compared to wages</strong></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/7a5b66f5-b11c-4ff1-b7b0-729dd6c972a7.jpg" width="800"/></picture><div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><sub><sup>^Ryan-Collins and Murray (2020).</sup></sub></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>In 16 of the 29 quarters leading up to June 2019, the median Sydney home earned more than the median full-time worker earned from wages.</p><p>In Australia, housing is overwhelmingly privately owned. For a brief period in the 1950 and 1960s, public housing was created on a significant scale, but a huge privatisation program soon followed and today it represents just a few percent of new supply.</p><p>Into this environment was thrown the removal of controls on lending from the 1980s, enabling banks to expand property-related lending.</p><p>More credit flowing in to a finite supply of land generates a <a href="https://medium.com/iipp-blog/why-cant-you-afford-a-home-9c5cf009be21">feedback cycle</a> as rising prices and collateral values stimulates more lending and higher prices.</p><p>In Australia, mortgage lending grew from just under 20 per cent of GDP in 1990 to over 80 per cent today. By way of comparison, business lending climbed 35 per cent to 40 per cent.</p><p>The vast majority of mortgage lending is for the purchase of existing, rather than new, homes.</p><h2><strong>Investors push up prices for everyone</strong></h2><p>The investor share of new mortgage lending has grown from 10 per cent in the early 1990s to 40 per cent. It has given owner occupiers and first home buyers price competition they didn’t previously have to face.</p><p>Australia’s <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/hot-property/">unusually generous</a> tax concessions for investors helped. They are granted discounts on capital gains tax, while being able to deduct the full costs of operating their properties, (including interest costs) against income from any source.</p><p>Where the deductions exceed rental income, the process is known as negative gearing.</p><p>A lot will need to change in order to shift things. Mortgage credit will need stronger regulation. It may be time to revisit the credit controls used in Australia in the 1950s and 1960s, which directed investment into new rather than existing housing and helped increase home ownership.</p><h2><strong>The case for a central housing bank</strong></h2><p>Taxes should focus on land rents, in the form of increasing residential property values or windfalls from changing land use. Taxing away future rents would dent speculation.</p><p>Broadening annual land value taxes to primary residences as well as investors housing would be part of the change, introduced at a low initial rate and with options for delayed payment or borrowing against future sales for those on low incomes.</p><p>Tax advantages extended housing investors, such as negative gearing and discounted capital gains taxes, should be scrapped.</p><p>And there’s a case to reintroduce direct government involvement. A central housing bank could use its ability to supply and sell new housing to set a “<a href="https://medium.com/fresheconomicthinking/a-central-housing-bank-proposal-for-a-crisis-and-beyond-98ba2c73c992">home price corridor</a>” to ensure home prices did not rise rapidly and dampen potential falls in prices.</p><p>It could also be used to provide a variety of alternative stable tenures for households, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-nsw-is-skewing-its-tax-system-toward-build-to-rent-apartments-and-away-from-mum-and-pop-landlords-143594">different kinds of renting</a>, public housing and selling dwellings to social housing providers at discounted prices.</p><p>Challenging vested interests will be hard, but the current downturn offers hope.</p><p>As rates of home ownership fall, renters struggle to make ends meet and central banks run out of leverage to stimulate the economy with interest rates already at rock-bottom, reforms that previously appeared politically impossible might gain traction.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>Authors</strong></h2><p>Cameron Murray, Research Fellow, Henry Halloran Trust, University of Sydney.</p><p>Josh Ryan-Collins, Head of Finance and Macroeconomics, Institute of Innovation and Public Purpose, UCL.</p><p>This article is republished from <em>The Conversation</em> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-houses-earn-more-than-jobs-how-we-lost-control-of-australian-house-prices-and-how-to-get-it-back-144076">article</a>.</p></div></div></div></div></div>

Real home prices across Australia have climbed 150 per cent since 2000, while real wages have climbed by less than a third. 

Covid-19 has disrupted our big cities and regional planning has to catch up fast.

<div class="row" data-reactroot=""><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Since the 1950s, the world has experienced a sixfold increase in the number of people living in cities. </p><p>City dwellers now outnumber rural residents globally and in many individual countries. But the Covid-19 pandemic has begun to disrupt the trajectory, scale and form of urbanisation.</p><p>Cities, by virtue of their size, have recorded more deaths than surrounding rural areas, though this may not be linked to density. </p><p>In the US, small cities and towns have been hit hard. And social and economic disruption appears worse in cities in the developing world.</p><p>The pandemic is refocusing planners’ attention on the vulnerability of cities to natural hazards and other threats. </p><p>Securing food, water and energy, sustaining health services and maintaining critical supply chains are seen as more important than ever. Planners are also concerned about rising social inequality.</p><h3><strong>The pandemic has fast-tracked some trends</strong></h3><p>In developed nations such as Australia, more city dwellers are moving to the suburbs and beyond, believing they offer better security and quality of life. </p><p>Australian Bureau of Statistics data from 2020 show our capital cities experienced a net loss of 11,200 people from outward migration. This is also happening in less developed countries, where rural-urban migration patterns have in some cases reversed.</p><p>It’s too early, though, to tell if these shifts are permanent.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/6b7d52f7-67cb-44e9-806c-9aa3c9597e72.jpg" width="920"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">▲ What do the changes brought by Covid-19 mean for regional planning?</span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p></p><p>The impacts of Covid-19 have heightened de-growth and counter-urbanisation trends. Reduced public transport use (down by as much as 52 per cent nationally in 2020) and lower demand for commercial space (occupancy rates fell to as low as 24 per cent in some cities), are changing the look and feel of many central business districts. Business profits and government revenue have been reduced.</p><p>The opposite is occurring in some suburbs and towns. These areas are experiencing a squeeze on rental availability, rising property prices and more traffic congestion.</p><p>Some commentators are suggesting the future of cities will be radically different. So what does this mean for urban planning?</p><h3><strong>Cities require co-ordination to function properly</strong></h3><p>Cities are complex entities. They require a high degree of co-ordination in providing services (such as water supply, waste management), housing and infrastructure (for example, energy generation and distribution). Regional planning often performs that role.</p><p>Regional planning was developed following the second world war to co-ordinate decision-making across jurisdictions within metropolitan areas. </p><p>To achieve desired city planning objectives, planners needed a way to better manage rapid population growth and the many interactions of landowners, property developers, businesses and local governments.</p><p>Regional plans developed by Australian states from the 1940s to 1970s, for example, sought to contain and focus urban growth pressures. </p><p>This was done by managing land use, designating urban growth corridors and boundaries and protecting key resources (forests, water catchments, farmland) from incompatible development. </p><p>Most regional plans were based on a central core surrounded by suburbs, with radiating transport lines (railways and freeways) connecting the two.</p><h3><strong>Beware quick fixes that ignore new trends</strong></h3><p>As countries recover from the pandemic’s impacts, the temptation is to use quick fixes to stimulate economic activity — such as unlocking large areas of land for housing. </p><p>But planning urban areas to meet the needs of present and future generations requires strategic decision-making. </p><p>Will we need all those new houses or large infrastructure projects if our urban populations grow more slowly than expected?</p><p>The forces currently driving people away from cities and the impacts this is having on built environments and urban populations cannot be ignored. We need to ask if they are temporary, or if they signal a long-term change to our cities.</p><p>We also need to recognise that huge investments in urban infrastructure have been made since the 1950s. It is unlikely we will simply abandon our cities.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/8f265303-ec6b-4995-a55e-b345e80c15d9.jpg" width="920"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">▲ Planning must adapt to the &#x27;new normal&#x27; or become irrelevant.</span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p></p><p>Even with larger numbers of people moving to suburbs and the countryside, we will still need to supply infrastructure such as new roads, powerlines, water pipes, sewers and waste management facilities.</p><p> But regional planning must adapt to the “new normal”, as the current approaches might no longer be fit for purpose.</p><h3><strong>What does the future hold?</strong></h3><p>Trends in working from home, online shopping, peer-to-peer transport such as Uber, distributed energy generation (from rooftop solar and other local sources), waste recycling (such as circular metabolism) and new models of finance and funding (such as modern monetary theory) are all affecting the complex systems needed to keep urban areas functioning.</p><p>Although vaccines may help life return to some level of normality in the coming years, many of the drivers of counter-urbanisation will continue. Some people will want to keep working from home. Other will want more opportunities to interact with nature. Many will want to live in what planners are calling 20-minute neighbourhoods.</p><p>Changing supply chains may result in a rise in new types of local manufacturing. Hydrogen-based energy could make new modes of transport viable — such as smaller, on-demand buses for suburban public transport. We may see the rise of more polycentric cities, like Los Angeles, where suburban centres of employment include local manufacturing.</p><p>Regional planning must adjust to these trends. Some large-scale infrastructure projects might need to be rethought. Transit systems will likely need to include autonomous vehicles. Large-scale greening of cities will be necessary to reduce higher temperatures accompanying climate change, if we are to prevent avoidable deaths among older populations.</p><p>We will probably also experience new ways of involving citizens in decision-making, such as co-design.</p><p>Regional planning has the capacity to stimulate innovation in housing provision, alternative forms of employment and co-ordinating new systems of transport and energy distribution. But planners must catch up fast if they are to play a role in shaping the future of our cities.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><strong>Author</strong></p><p>Jason Byrne</p><p>Professor of Human Geography and Planning, University of Tasmania</p></div></div></div></div></div>

Covid-19 has disrupted our big cities and regional planning has to catch up fast...

Coronavirus Lays Bare 5 Big Housing System Flaws to be Fixed

<div class="row" data-reactroot=""><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Australians had become used to walking past rough sleepers. Policymakers too, seemed unmoved by the people huddled in doorways or sheltering in parks under plastic sheets. </p><p>That’s until the Covid-19 pandemic rendered rough sleepers visible, because we’ve all been told to stay home and anyone without a home presents a risk of passing on the virus.</p><p>State governments have suddenly found tens of millions of dollars to create <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/homeless-get-access-to-victorian-aged-care-facilities-to-recover-from-coronavirus">pop-up accommodation</a> or book rough sleepers into <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/hotel-coronavirus-homelessness-pandemic/12177452">hotel rooms. </a></p><p>But such short-term fixes also highlight the entrenched failings of Australia’s housing system. This crisis has laid bare five major vulnerabilities.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>1. Thousands are sleeping rough</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Before the pandemic, street homelessness affected about 8,000 people on any given night, as indicated by census data. But this is almost certainly an underestimate.</p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-51398425">Recent UK research</a> showed the number of people sleeping rough in any given year was five times as many as captured in census-type snapshots. There’s no reason to think it’s much different in Australia.</p><p><a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/2049.0">Many more people</a> are on the fringe of rough sleeping — couch surfing, for example.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>2. More than a million in rental stress</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Our second housing system vulnerability is the body of people – far larger again – living in insecure and unaffordable rental housing. </p><p>Even before this current crisis, housing costs had pushed around <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9789811507793">1.3 million Australians</a> into poverty. After paying rent they didn’t have enough money left for essentials like food and electricity.</p><p>Now many of these renters will have lost jobs or work hours. Government schemes like JobKeeper and JobSeeker will temporarily help only some—<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/apr/23/australias-coronavirus-relief-exclusions-prove-we-are-not-all-in-this-together">temporary migrants </a>and many casual workers are excluded.</p><p>Measures like the <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/property/2020/04/24/australia-tenancy-laws-coronavirus/">moratorium on evictions</a> are welcome (provided they prove <a href="https://www.tenants.org.au/blog/what-you-need-know-covid-19-evictions-and-rents">robust</a>). The same goes for mortgage pauses by the banks, which might help property owners avoid having to sell if tenants can’t afford the rent.</p><p>But these are only stop-gap efforts.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>3. A shrunken social housing sector</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>The third vulnerability is the shrivelled state of social housing, where rents are fixed at an affordable share of income. </p><p>Relative to population, the <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/de/book/9789811507793">number of properties let </a>by public housing agencies and community housing providers has halved since 1991.</p><p>Across most of Australia, waiting lists for social housing are <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/housing-assistance/housing-assistance-in-australia-2019/contents/priority-groups-and-wait-lists#pg4">huge</a>. In most jurisdictions the sector lacks the capacity to offer long-term housing to all the rough sleepers and others currently in hotels.</p><p>Only through emergency unit acquisitions or head-leasing will this be possible.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>4. A mountain of debt</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Our fourth housing system vulnerability is housing-related debt. If the pandemic-induced downturn persists and unemployment stays high, this mountain of debt could make the recession much worse.</p><p>In the early 1990s household debt equated to about 70 per cent of disposable household income. In March 2019, the<a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2019/sp-ag-2019-03-20.html#household-debt"> RBA warned</a> the debt-to-income ratio had risen to 190 per cent. The increase was mostly due to increased borrowing to buy homes and investment properties.</p><p>Even before the pandemic, <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/one-in-five-households-facing-mortgage-stress-despite-low-rates-20191223-p53mfn">one in five mortgage holders were struggling</a> to meet repayments. If large scale unemployment were to force mass property sales, this could compound the crash as homes flood the market.</p><p>We know from the GFC experience in the USA, Ireland, Spain and elsewhere that a sharp fall in property prices can have severe and long-lasting economic consequences that worsen inequality. </p><p>In the USA, <a href="https://provisionaluniversity.wordpress.com/2016/02/01/vulture-landlords-an-in-depth-interview-with-desiree-fields/">vulture landlords stepped in </a>to buy up large numbers of distressed properties and create rental property empires. Renting from owners of this kind is not an attractive prospect.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/3766a19d-a6f7-48bb-b283-50b7ecfdfc62.png" width="800"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">▲ Falling prices as the market was flooded by properties whose owners had defaulted on loans deepened the GFC impacts on the US</span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><br><strong>5. An unbalanced housing system</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Our housing system is vulnerable to shocks because it is unbalanced, our fifth system frailty. Residential construction depends almost entirely on private developers building for sale to individual buyers.</p><p>These buyers are highly sensitive to the outlook for property values. The resulting herd mentality magnifies booms and slumps – a particular problem when they are totally dominant in the market. </p><p>A magnified downturn can bring residential construction to a grinding halt. And while quick to shed labour, construction is slow to re-employ because of risk and long project lead times.</p><p>Construction normally employs more than 1 million Australians with a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-focus-of-stimulus-plans-has-to-be-construction-that-puts-social-housing-first-136519">range of skill levels</a>. It generates many more jobs through the building materials supply chain as well as in real estate, property management and financial services. </p><p>This helps to explain why Master Builders Australia and the building union CFMEU have <a href="https://cg.cfmeu.org.au/news/cfmeu-and-mba-call-10b-social-housing-stimulus-package">united in a call</a> to government to invest in building 30,000 social housing units as part of Australia’s post-Covid recovery.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>The need for a national strategy</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>The housing system needs more than a one-off crisis boost. The pandemic policy jolt is an opportunity to put Australia’s housing on more stable footings through a Commonwealth-led bipartisan, long-term, national housing strategy.</p><p>A key part of this should be routine social housing construction on a scale that at least keeps pace with population growth. That’s up to <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/306">15,000 homes a year</a>—around five times the current number. </p><p>This may sound ambitious, but it’s below the levels <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=99cfa3f6-858f-467d-91a9-31e384534a5e&amp;subId=31798">regularly achieved</a> between the mid-1950s and the mid-1970s.</p><p>And this doesn’t have to mean a return to the post-war approach when state authorities provided public housing. Not-for-profit <a href="https://www.communityhousing.com.au/about-us/">community housing organisations</a> can now take on the major new supply role.</p><p>But we do need a post-war level of ambition. Government has two immediate roles to play in linking housing to a post-pandemic recovery.</p><p>The first is to help avoid a house price crash that will deepen an economic slump. Co-ordinating action with mortgage lenders could help minimise repossessions and avoid a glut of discounted properties on the market.</p><p>Governments may also need to take on distressed projects from private developers. The New South Wales government has <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/nsw-government-may-buy-up-spare-housing-in-500-million-stimulus-plan-20200427-p54noc.html">already flagged</a> such action.</p><p>The second immediate role for government is to support residential construction as the motor of economic revival by investing in social housing as the <a href="https://www.communityhousing.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/SHARP-Program.pdf?x59559">central plank of a stimulus package</a>. </p><p>Government-owned sites and developer-owned landbanks can be used to kick-start activity more quickly than other major infrastructure projects. Community housing providers—especially some larger <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-focus-of-stimulus-plans-has-to-be-construction-that-puts-social-housing-first-136519">faith-based players</a>—also have shovel-ready sites.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/3b5c9ffe-6d4e-488b-b1b1-f026d949074d.png" width="800"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">▲ As an economic stimulus, social housing construction could get going faster than other major infrastructure projects. Image: Joel Carrett/AAP</span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><br>These should be the first steps in the national strategy, which should aim to diversify both housing supply and demand.</p><p>Alongside a greater role for community housing, this could include a <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/how-can-australian-build-rent-product-contribute-urban-renewal-and-affordable-housing-supply/">build-to-rent</a> sector commissioned by institutional investors to build market rental blocks as long-term, income-generating assets. This would benefit tenants and the economy, by smoothing the <a href="https://theconversation.com/build-social-and-affordable-housing-to-get-us-off-the-boom-and-bust-roller-coaster-113113">boom-bust cycle</a> of residential construction.</p><p>As we argue in our <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9789811507793">recent books</a>, a national housing strategy must also thoroughly overhaul national, state and territory tax settings. Many of these have greater housing policy impacts than any spending program.</p><p>Tax reform could make our housing system fairer and more efficient. It could dampen the speculation that fuels rising prices and debt, while raising the revenue we need to provide decent, affordable housing for all Australians.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><strong>Author</strong></p><p>Hal Pawson professor of housing research and policy, and sssociate director, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW</p><p>Peter Mares lead moderator, Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership, Monash University</p><p>This article is republished from <em>The Conversation</em> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-lays-bare-5-big-housing-system-flaws-to-be-fixed-137162">original article</a>.</p></div></div></div></div></div>

This crisis has laid bare five major vulnerabilities.

4dec17a6-20a5-4ea8-b25e-edf7dae1778a

<div class="row" data-reactroot=""><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Many of us do not need to hear any more warnings from <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/2018/10/08/summary-for-policymakers-of-ipcc-special-report-on-global-warming-of-1-5c-approved-by-governments/">the IPCC</a>, <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2209126-david-attenborough-on-climate-change-we-cannot-be-radical-enough/">David Attenborough</a> or climate activists like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/11/greta-thunberg-schoolgirl-climate-change-warrior-some-people-can-let-things-go-i-cant">Greta Thunberg</a>. We have seen enough to be convinced that limitless <a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/post-capitalism-life-within-environmental-limits">economic growth and the globalisation of high-consumption lifestyles</a> have <a href="https://www.breakthroughonline.org.au/whatliesbeneath">brought our planet’s life-support systems to the brink of collapse</a>.</p><p>In response to today’s urgent ecological and social problems, we often hear calls from sustainability advocates about the need to “<a href="https://www.sloww.co/downshifting-simple-living/">downshift</a>” away from consumer lifestyles, to practise <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-revolution-disguised-as-organic-gardening-in-memof-bill-mollison-66137">permaculture</a> and to embrace <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-simple-life-manifesto-and-how-it-could-save-us-33081">simpler ways</a> to live. When these <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-suburbs-are-the-spiritual-home-of-overconsumption-but-they-also-hold-the-key-to-a-better-future-108496">movements scale up</a>, the argument goes, we will “<a href="https://theconversation.com/life-in-a-degrowth-economy-and-why-you-might-actually-enjoy-it-32224">degrow</a>” our economies to a sustainable scale.</p><p>Important though these analyses and perspectives are, they almost always leave something critical out of the conversation. There is a very powerful reason we are currently unable to move toward a simpler and sustainable society: the costs of securing access to land for housing often mean only the relatively affluent can afford such “green lifestyles”.</p><p>In response to this problem, we offer some ideas to show how public land could be used for sustainable forms of community-led development.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/1cc3e4fb-1605-4f24-b406-ccd056d02753.jpg" width="800"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">Creating a place like Sustainable Fawkner’s ‘Dandelion Patch’ depends on access to suitable land. More creative public housing policies could lead the way in developing more community food gardens. Image: Flickr</span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><br><strong>The property system makes simple living hard</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Recognition of the need for <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-strikes-greta-thunberg-calls-for-system-change-not-climate-change-heres-what-that-could-look-like-112891">system change</a> is growing. But those arguing for high-impact societies to downshift toward cultures of sustainable consumption need to acknowledge a fundamental problem more clearly: simply keeping a roof over our heads can demand an energy-intensive lifestyle and a dependence on market growth.</p><p>Why? Having to buy or rent a home in capitalist societies like Australia has huge implications for most of us. It affects what we do for work, how much we work, our need for a car, etc. And, if you can barely afford land or your own home, putting solar panels on the roof, working part-time or growing your own organic food all become very unlikely.</p><p>In short, securing the basic need for housing is putting people in <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/more-home-owners-falling-behind-on-mortgage-as-debt-climbs-20190617-p51yhg.html">more and more debt</a>. This often means any attempt at “dropping out” of market consumerism first involves a whole lot of “dropping in”. The consequences of this reality are anything but <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Affluenza-When-Much-Never-Enough/dp/1741146712">simple, local and sustainable</a>.</p><p>A different type of land and housing opportunity is needed for reasons of sustainability and equity. Central here is the recognition that access to land, just as with air and water, is not a market product. It is a <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/LandAndHR/Pages/LandandHumanRightsIndex.aspx">human right</a> and should be recognised as such.</p><p>Even discussing land reform in terms of “affordable housing” still frames land as a market commodity. These discussions often rely on notions of charity and welfare to increase access to land when it really should be available as a right.</p><p>But in a nation where simply <a href="https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2019/07/negative-gearing-reform-dead-buried-cremated/">abolishing negative gearing appears to be politically unpalatable</a>, it would be pragmatic, as a first step, to explore less controversial but still effective policy approaches.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>Pointers to rethinking how we govern land</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>There are <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1941069">many conceptions</a> of property, which means we do not simply have to choose between free market capitalism and state socialism. In Singapore, for example, more than <a href="https://www.hdb.gov.sg/cs/infoweb/about-us/history">80 per cent of residents live in state-provided housing</a>.</p><p>Societies can govern access to land in an infinite variety of ways. Each way distributes or concentrates wealth and power in progressive or regressive ways.</p><p>One policy deserving of attention involves attempting to transcend the “welfare” framing of existing uses of public housing. Already, secure access to public land has empowered some residents to participate <a href="https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/housing/living/rights-responsibilities/get-involved/chapters/community-greening-program">in programs such as community food gardens, resources repair/share programs, housing management, maintenance</a> and, in the UK, even housing construction.</p><p>In New South Wales, <a href="https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/housing/living/rights-responsibilities/get-involved/chapters/community-greening-program">50,000 public housing residents</a> have converted many hectares of land in social housing areas into gardens growing vegetables, fruit and flowers. In Victoria, <a href="http://www.cultivatingcommunity.org.au/community-gardens/our-services-2/">more than 20 public housing estates</a> have established community gardens.</p><p>If these self-selecting residents could be <a href="https://ntwonline.weebly.com/">better supported and validated</a>, their status in society (and how they might conceive of themselves) could move from being regarded as “social dependants” to “pioneers of a new economy”. By showing that access to public land can help with the emergence of local and sustainable <a href="https://thenextsystem.org/cultivating-community-economies">community economies</a>, such experiments could be the cultural driver of a broader policy rethink of how we govern land.</p><p>For example, more public land could be made available for <a href="http://www.forevergreen.org.uk/Forever_Green_Ecological_Architects/hedgehog-self-build-housing-co-op.html">housing construction collectives</a>, where people participate in building their own homes under the guidance of experts. Australia could seek inspiration from Senegal, where <a href="https://www.collective-evolution.com/2015/06/17/senegal-transforming-14000-villages-into-ecovillages/">14,000 ecovillages</a> are being developed.</p><p>In governing land we are limited only by our imaginations. Currently, a chronic lack of imagination is being shown. It is time to experiment with new frameworks that can increase access to land and thereby empower more people to explore lifestyles of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-suburbs-are-the-spiritual-home-of-overconsumption-but-they-also-hold-the-key-to-a-better-future-108496">reduced consumption and increased self-sufficiency</a>.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>The first step is recognising the obstacle</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>We call on the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1469540512444019?journalCode=joca">simple living</a>, <a href="https://retrosuburbia.com/">permaculture</a> and <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9789811321306">degrowth</a> movements – and the sustainability movement more generally – to better recognise the obstacle that access to land presents to achieving their goals. More energy and activism should be dedicated to envisioning, campaigning for and experimenting with <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Housing-for-Degrowth-Principles-Models-Challenges-and-Opportunities/Nelson-Schneider/p/book/9781138558052">alternative property and housing arrangements</a>.</p><p>Our purpose is not to dismiss the importance of the various <a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/post-capitalism-life-within-environmental-limits">downshifting movements</a>. We need as many people as possible pushing against the tide of consumerism and showing that low-impact living can be <a href="http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue61/Alexander1_61.pdf">good living</a>.</p><p>These social movements will help create the culture of <a href="https://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Sufficiency-Economy-Samuel-Alexander/9780994160614">sufficiency</a> that is needed to support a politics of sustainability. But any such politics must include more empowering and creative land policies.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><strong>Authors</strong></p><p>Alex Baumann, School of Social Sciences &amp; Psychology, Western Sydney University.</p><p>Samuel Alexander, Research fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne.</p><p>This article is republished from <em>The Conversation</em> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/access-to-land-is-a-barrier-to-simpler-sustainable-living-public-housing-could-offer-a-way-forward-121246">original article</a>.</p></div></div></div></div></div>

  Many of us do not need to hear any more warnings from the IPCC, David Attenborough or climate activists like Greta Thunberg.

Australian Cities Need Post-Covid Vision, Not Free Parking

<div class="row" data-reactroot=""><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Many Australian cities have fallen back on offering free car parking to attract visitors back to the CBD after the pandemic. </p><p>In contrast, cities around the world are basing their recovery strategies on bold and evidence-based urban transformations.</p><p>In August, Adelaide City councillors voted for <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-12/adelaide-to-hold-drivers-month-to-boost-retail-amid-coronavirus/12549148">incentives for people to drive and park within the CBD</a>, including a controversial “driver’s month” promotion. </p><p>In Perth, <a href="https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/zempilas-free-parking-plan-to-cost-perth-ratepayers-hundreds-of-thousands-20201103-p56b3q.html">free parking in the CBD</a> during the holidays is expected to cost A$700,000.</p><p>In Victoria, the state hit hardest by the pandemic, the City of Geelong has announced a <a href="https://www.geelongaustralia.com.au/covid19/article/item/8d7d0f8fc065b64.aspx">range of free CBD parking policies </a>estimated to cost several million dollars. </p><p>Melbourne City Council has endorsed <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/lost-opportunity-melbourne-considers-slashing-cost-of-parking-as-part-of-car-led-recovery-20201116-p56exx.html">free on-street parking</a> via a voucher system estimated to cost $1.6 million in lost revenue. </p><p>It’s also seeking to reduce the state-based congestion levy on off-street parking by 25 per cent.</p><p>The move to increase car traffic into the central city is perhaps most surprising in the case of Melbourne. </p><p>Planners have called it a “<a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/a-1960s-solution-planners-slam-city-council-s-push-for-free-parking-20201123-p56h49.html">1960s solution</a>” and a “<a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/lost-opportunity-melbourne-considers-slashing-cost-of-parking-as-part-of-car-led-recovery-20201116-p56exx.html">lost opportunity</a>”. Free parking and other incentives for car travel <a href="https://twitter.com/BrentToderian/status/1296926489045172224">are at odds</a> with the city’s recent<a href="https://participate.melbourne.vic.gov.au/transportstrategy"> Transport Strategy 2030</a>, which seeks to prioritise walking, cycling and public transport.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>Parking incentives don’t work</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>These car-led approaches to a hoped-for economic recovery were <a href="https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/about-council/committees-meetings/meeting-archive/MeetingAgendaItemAttachments/924/16397/NOV20%20CCL%20AGENDA%20ITEM%206.8.pdf">rushed out ahead of new evidence and modelling. </a></p><p>This approach also goes against <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-elephant-in-the-planning-scheme-how-cities-still-work-around-the-dominance-of-parking-space-87098">decades</a> of <a href="https://theconversation.com/empty-car-parks-everywhere-but-nowhere-to-park-how-cities-can-do-better-99031">available</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-can-our-cities-do-about-sprawl-congestion-and-pollution-tip-scrap-car-parking-118393">evidence</a> on the detrimental impacts of conventional urban parking policies in Australia and internationally.</p><p>Free parking—pursued and mandated in many cities since the mid-20th century—has a nasty habit of building in unnecessary car use through narrowly targeted subsidies to car users, which directly undermine other transport modes. </p><p>Parking researcher Liz Taylor <a href="https://www.foreground.com.au/planning-policy/street-fight-car-parks-covid-19-and-the-future-of-urban-retail-part-1/">recently</a> <a href="https://www.foreground.com.au/planning-policy/petrol-powered-planning/">explained</a> the historical myths and troubled relationships between retail and parking we risk perpetuating.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>Covid has changed cities, and we must adjust</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Cheap parking has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-07/warrnambool-free-parking-plan-attracts-overstayers/12426236">poor prospects</a> for attracting enough visitors to offset the changes the pandemic has brought to Australian CBDs. </p><p>CBDs rely heavily on daily office workers—who are now largely working from home—and on large residential populations, including international students and tourists to whom borders are now closed.</p><p>In Melbourne, daily journeys into the city are <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/far-from-normal-cbd-businesses-cling-to-customers-as-office-workers-stay-away-20201112-p56dw2.html">down 90 per cent. Only 8 per cent of office towers are occupied.</a></p><p>Even so, car traffic is now at roughly <a href="https://www-theage-com-au.eu1.proxy.openathens.net/politics/victoria/as-busy-as-bourke-street-push-for-cbd-recovery-gathers-pace-20201112-p56dwa.html">90 per cent</a> of its pre-Covid levels. </p><p>Cars are already back, but that does not translate to people in CBDs —and road capacity means the city <a href="https://www.openforum.com.au/melbournes-covid-car-crunch/">can’t manage many more cars.</a></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/489f9a26-8f1a-4b3e-8ea8-6489b8cd6c46.jpg" width="800"/></picture><div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><sup><sub>^Source: Apple Mobility Trends, CC BY; Apple mobility data for Melbourne show car travel is back to almost pre-pandemic levels.</sub></sup></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Similarly, Australian CBD retail landscapes have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-covid-all-but-killed-the-australian-cbd-147848">drastically altered</a>. </p><p>Experts <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-suburbs-are-the-future-of-post-covid-retail-148802">predict many lasting changes</a>, including retail “localism” in the suburbs.</p><p>Parking hasn’t played any role in these changes. Instead, major economic shifts and political decisions have forced and enabled changes in work and lifestyle.</p><p>Many CBD workers simply <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-18/coronavirus-working-from-home-impact-on-australian-cities/12435248">won’t have to come back</a>. CBDs previously didn’t need to be pleasant to be full of people – many were forced to be there. </p><p>That has changed, and so the city must change too—from a destination of default to a destination of choice.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>The adjustment can create better cities</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Encouraging cars back into the hearts of cities isn’t just a bad recovery strategy. </p><p>It could be a huge missed opportunity to create more attractive, high-amenity cities.</p><p>Around the world, many cities are welcoming the chance to use parking and streets differently, <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-has-proved-working-from-home-is-the-best-policy-to-beat-congestion-148926">farewelling the daily car commute</a> to embrace something better.</p><p>In Paris, Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2020/10/20/paris-mayor-anne-hidalgo-to-make-good-on-pledge-to-remove-half-of-citys-car-parking-spaces/?sh=49932fa916ec">visionary “15-minute city” plan</a> aims to replace 60,000 surface parking spaces with green pedestrianised streets, safe dedicated cycling networks and “children streets” near schools. The plan actively turns away from car dominance.</p><p>Barcelona’s mayor has announced a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-11/barcelona-s-new-car-free-superblock-will-be-big">massive green revamp </a>of the central city. Its already successful Superblock model, based on large-scale pedestrianisation, will be super-sized. Intersections and parking are being turned into parks and plazas.</p><p>London is creating <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-28/how-london-s-low-traffic-streets-keep-cars-at-bay">hundreds of low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs</a>), as is <a href="https://citymonitor.ai/transport/in-one-of-europes-most-car-dependent-cities-lockdown-offers-a-chance-to-rethink-the-road">car-dependent Brussels. </a></p><p>LTNs are based on transforming streets with quality cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, closing some streets to car traffic and otherwise instituting low speeds.</p><p><a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/oslo-pedestrianisation">Oslo’s “Vision Zero” strategy</a> demonstrates the power of these measures to transform cities.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><iframe sandbox="allow-forms allow-scripts allow-pointer-lock allow-same-origin allow-top-navigation allow-presentation" class="embed-responsive-item" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" style="max-width:574px" width="100%" height="300px" src="https://twitframe.com/show?url=https://twitter.com/LerchVeronique/status/1330986824727224323?s=20"></iframe></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><br>As these cities are finding, street reclamation projects can succeed quickly, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/16/i-got-it-wrong-since-the-changes-its-become-more-vibrant-life-in-an-ltn">local businesses</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/16/claim-low-traffic-schemes-only-benefit-better-off-debunked-in-new-study">neighbourhoods of all income levels </a>benefit. </p><p>However, leaders need to “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/16/the-guardian-view-on-low-traffic-neighbourhoods-streets-ahead">hold their nerve</a>” through the complex period of change.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>New ways of seeing cities</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Australian cities are changing with Covid too. Melbourne in particular has been forced to radically rethink streets as public space at a metropolitan scale. </p><p>Through innovative co-operation between retailers and local councils, <a href="https://melbourneparklets.ushahidi.io/views/map">hundreds of parklets</a> have emerged across the city.</p><p>These spaces offer sensible, creative and exciting ways for people to re-embrace dining out after lockdown. </p><p><a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/gertrude-street-locals-don-t-want-council-to-call-time-on-garden-party-20201117-p56fb3.html">The enthusiastic reception</a> is already causing many retailers to forget about parking and call for permanent changes.</p><p>The City of Melbourne has issued 1,300 outdoor dining permits and transformed 200 on-street parking spaces. </p><p>This raises the the question of whether free parking is the best use of its precious public space and funds.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/d9c640cc-d1a5-48f2-b511-7c1c84b7b68f.jpg" width="800"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">▲ A parklet on reclaimed street space on Lygon Street, Melbourne. Image: Liz Taylor</span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><br>While systematic study of parking is often scarce, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264837718309797">far</a> <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-value-of-cycling-rapid-evidence-review-of-the-economic-benefits-of-cycling">stronger</a> <a href="https://vtpi.org/walkability.pdf">evidence</a> supports the economic value of space for active transport, green space and outdoor dining. Our future cities can be places where people “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/02/dining/outdoor-dining-nyc.html">will see the street belongs to them</a>”.</p><p>Street space can feel like the exclusive (and hostile) realm of cars, but it is simply public land that is currently (mis)allocated to cars. </p><p>Perceptions are beginning to change, allowing city residents to reimagine what streets might offer beyond moving and storing cars.</p><p>The race is on to invite people back to our cities. But a return to streets full of cars, narrow sidewalks crowded with pedestrians, and parking problems that never go away simply isn’t much of an invitation.</p><p>When urbanist Brent Toderian asked people to post <a href="https://twitter.com/BrentToderian/status/1168055558068301824">photos showing #TheBeautyofCities</a>, the hundreds of submissions featured green streets full of people walking, cycling and having fun, not car parking and traffic.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>Author:</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Rebecca Clements, postdoctoral research associate, University of Sydney</p><p>Elizabeth Taylor, senior lecturer in urban planning &amp; design, Monash University</p><p>Thami Croeser, research officer, RMIT University</p><p>This article is republished from <em>The Conversation</em> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australian-cities-need-post-covid-vision-not-free-parking-150380">original article.</a></p></div></div></div></div></div>

Australian cities have fallen back on offering free car parking to attract visitors back to the CBD after the pandemic...

77eb6a42-118d-4627-beea-1bbfb4041558

<div class="row" data-reactroot=""><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>New housing in Australia must meet minimum energy performance requirements. We wondered how many buildings exceeded the minimum standard. What our analysis found is that four in five new houses are being built to the minimum standard and a negligible proportion to an optimal performance standard.</p><p>Before these standards were introduced the average performance of housing was found to be <a href="https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/About-us/Research/Household-retrofit-trials">around 1.5 stars</a>. The current minimum across most of Australia is six stars under the <a href="http://nathers.gov.au/governance/national-construction-code-and-state-and-territregulations">Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS)</a>.</p><p>This six-star minimum falls short of what is optimal in terms of <a href="https://theconversation.com/sustainable-housings-expensive-right-not-when-you-look-at-the-whole-equation-60056">environmental, economic</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/low-energy-homes-dont-just-save-money-they-improve-lives-81084">social</a> outcomes. It’s also below the minimum set by many <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/energy-efficiency/energy-performance-of-buildings">other countries</a>.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><em>Read more:  </em><a href="http://theconversation.com/low-energy-homes-dont-just-save-money-they-improve-lives-81084"><em>Low-energy homes don&#x27;t just save money, they improve lives</em></a></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/to-cut-emissions-the-housing-sector-has-to-pull-its-weight-13262">There have been calls</a> for these minimum standards to be raised. However, many policymakers and building industry stakeholders believe the market will lift performance beyond minimum standards and so there is no need to raise these.</p><h2><strong>What did the data show?</strong></h2><p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.06.017">We wanted to understand</a> what was happening in the market to see if consumers or regulation were driving the energy performance of new housing. To do this we explored the <a href="https://ahd.csiro.au/">NatHERS data set of building approvals</a> for new Class 1 housing (detached and row houses) in Australia from May 2016 (when all data sets were integrated by CSIRO and Sustainability Victoria) to December 2018.</p><p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.06.017">Our analysis focuses</a> on new housing in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and the ACT, all of which apply the minimum six-star NatHERS requirement. The other states have local variations to the standard, while New South Wales uses the BASIX index to determine the environmental impact of housing.</p><p>The chart below shows the performance for 187,320 house ratings. Almost 82 per cent just met the minimum standard (6.0-6.4 star). Another 16 per cent performed just above the minimum standard (6.5-6.9 star).</p><p>Only 1.5 per cent were designed to perform at the economically optimal 7.5 stars and beyond. By this we mean a balance between the extra upfront building costs and the savings and benefits from lifetime building performance.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/f1b40cc3-a81e-4bc0-9a55-e4e4151e7cb5.png" width="1000"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">NatHERS star ratings across total data set for new housing approvals, May 2016–December 2018. Author provided</span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><br>The average rating is 6.2 stars across the states. This has not changed since 2016.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/83e33010-ffe0-4bb0-96f5-2914bd201507.png" width="1000"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">Average NatHERS star rating for each state, 2016-18. Author provided</span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><br>The data analysis shows that, while most housing is built to the minimum standard, the cooler temperate regions (Tasmania, ACT) have more houses above 7.0 stars compared with the warm temperate states.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/24706523-163e-44c3-898e-68274bf72951.png" width="1000"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">NatHERS data spread by state. Author provided</span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><br>The ACT increased average performance each year from 6.5 stars in 2016 to 6.9 stars in 2018. This was not seen in any other state or territory.</p><p>The ACT is the only region with <a href="https://theconversation.com/energy-star-ratings-for-homes-good-idea-but-it-needs-some-real-estate-flair-54056">mandatory disclosure of the energy rating</a> on sale or lease of property. The market can thus value the relative energy efficiency of buildings. Providing this otherwise invisible information may have empowered consumers to demand slightly better performance.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><em>Read more:  </em><a href="http://theconversation.com/energy-star-ratings-for-homes-good-idea-but-it-needs-some-real-estate-flair-54056"><em>Energy star ratings for homes? Good idea, but it needs some real estate flair</em></a></p><h2><strong>We are paying for accepting a lower standard</strong></h2><p>The evidence suggests consumers are not acting rationally or making decisions to maximise their financial well-being. Rather, they just accept the minimum performance the building sector delivers.</p><p>Higher energy efficiency or even environmental sustainability in housing provides not only <a href="https://theconversation.com/sustainable-housings-expensive-right-not-when-you-look-at-the-whole-equation-60056">significant benefits to the individual but also to society</a>. And these improvements can be delivered for little additional cost.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><em>Read more:  </em><a href="http://theconversation.com/sustainable-housings-expensive-right-not-when-you-look-at-the-whole-equation-60056"><em>Sustainable housing&#x27;s expensive, right? Not when you look at the whole equation</em></a></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>The fact that these improvements aren’t being made suggests there are significant barriers to the market operating efficiently. This is despite increasing awareness among consumers and in the housing industry about the <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-power-prices-soar-we-need-a-concerted-effort-to-tackle-energy-poverty-98764">rising cost of energy</a>.</p><p>Eight years after the introduction of the six-star NatHERS minimum requirement for new housing in Australia, the results show the market is delivering four out of five houses that just meet this requirement. With only 1.5 per cent designed to 7.5 stars or beyond, regulation rather than the economically optimal energy rating is clearly driving the energy performance of Australian homes.</p><p>Increasing the minimum performance standard is the most effective way to improve the energy outcomes.</p><p>The next opportunity for increasing the minimum energy requirement will be 2022. Australian housing standards were already about <a href="https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1ZDHH14YGgbVJ6">2.0 NatHERS stars behind comparable developed countries in 2008</a>. If mandatory energy ratings aren’t increased, Australia will fall further behind international best practice.</p><p>If we continue to create a legacy of homes with relatively poor energy performance, making the transition to a low-energy and low-carbon economy is likely to get progressively more challenging and expensive. <a href="https://www.climateworksaustralia.org/publication/report/bottom-line-household-impacts-delaying-improved-energy-requirements-building-code">Recent research has calculated</a> that a delay in increasing minimum performance requirements from 2019 to 2022 will result in an estimated A$1.1 billion (to 2050) in avoidable household energy bills. That’s an extra 3 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.</p><p><em>Read more:  </em><a href="http://theconversation.com/buildings-produce-25-of-australias-emissions-what-will-it-take-to-make-them-green-and-wholl-pay-105652"><em>Buildings produce 25 per cent of Australia&#x27;s emissions. What will it take to make them &#x27;green&#x27; – and who&#x27;ll pay?</em></a></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Our research confirms the policy proposition that minimum house energy regulations based on the Nationwide <a href="http://www.nathers.gov.au/">House Energy Rating Scheme</a> are a powerful instrument for delivering better environmental and energy outcomes. While introducing minimum standards has significantly lifted the bottom end of the market, those standards should be reviewed regularly to ensure optimal economic and environmental outcomes.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><strong>Authors</strong></p><p>Trivess Moore, Lecturer, RMIT University</p><p>Michael Ambrose, Research Team Leader, CSIRO</p><p>Stephen Berry, Research fellow, University of South Australia</p><p>This article is republished from <em>The Conversation</em> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-still-building-4-in-every-5-new-houses-to-no-more-than-the-minimum-energy-standard-118820">original article</a>.</p></div></div></div></div></div>

New housing in Australia must meet minimum energy performance requirements. We wondered how many buildings exceeded the minimum standard. What our ana

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<div class="row" data-reactroot=""><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>No other architectural style elicits emotional reactions like Brutalism. Think monolithic concrete buildings composed of blunt rectangular forms, devoid of colour, decoration or symbolism, with cavernous interiors that complement the exterior’s hulking, inhuman scale.</p><p>Frequently described as dehumanising, depressing and oppressive, Brutalist buildings feature prominently in “<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/lists/ugliest-buildings-in-the-world/">world’s ugliest buildings lists</a>”.</p><p>Despite this unpopularity, architects, preservationists and historians in Britain, the United States and Australia have embarked on numerous campaigns over the past decade to save Brutalist buildings from demolition.</p><p>How could anyone love such concrete beasts?</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/7de859c6-8d9e-4797-81bc-28f8f4095b59.png" width="1000"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">Australia’s High Court: a brutalist classic. Mick Tsikas</span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><br><strong>An honest material</strong></h2><p>Brutalism sounds intimidating (as in brutal), but its origins lie in a modernist penchant for <em>béton brut</em> (raw concrete). In the 1920s, famed French architect Le Corbusier popularised an architecture comprising simple cubic forms of raw concrete as the epitome of modernism.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><em>Read more:  </em><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-problem-with-reinforced-concrete-56078"><em>The problem with reinforced concrete</em></a></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>For modernists, concrete was a futuristic material that could fulfil their utopian dreams of mass housing and urban renewal. It was flexible yet solid, malleable yet permanent. Unrefined concrete was an honest expression of their intentions, while plain forms and exposed structures were similarly sincere.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/cd5f9c21-7e5c-4620-b156-78a2d31d918b.png" width="1000"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">The Palace of Justice, Corbu Chandigarh, India, designed by Le Corbusier. Wikimedia Commons</span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><br>And concrete has its own qualities. No two concrete surfaces look or feel the same. Textured with impressions of the wooden form-work or sandblasted to expose its gravel aggregate, concrete walls have a subtle beauty.</p><p>But Brutalist buildings (like all buildings) require regular maintenance, and concrete deteriorates. Brown stains leak from joints due to metal reinforcements rusting from within. Public buildings particularly suffer from neglect.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cell-sm-6 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/07cece1b-319e-440e-8fc3-51636b1c96c7.png" width="1000"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">Callam Offices, Woden, ACT. Wikimedia Commons</span></div></div></div></div><div class="cell cell-sm-6 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>After the second world war, with the advent of metal reinforcing, concrete came into its own with greater expanses and stronger structures and Brutalism become a global phenomenon. From Soviet Bloc housing complexes to Western European welfare state projects, Brutalism became a modern, efficient and cheap solution for mass public housing.</p><p>It also became a favoured style for public institutions, particularly government buildings, cultural complexes, schools, universities and hospitals.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>An ethical approach</strong></h2><p>In a 1957 edition of Architectural Design, architects Alison and Peter Smithson argued that it was more than just a style:</p><p>Brutalism tries to face up to a mass-production society, and drag a rough poetry out of the confused and powerful forces which are at work. Up to now Brutalism has been discussed stylistically, whereas its essence is ethical.</p><p>The Smithsons’ best-known project and exemplar of British Brutalism was the Robin Hood Gardens, a high-rise public housing scheme in London completed in 1972. Its ethical dimension was a new approach to mass housing with generously-sized flats and two-metre-wide “streets in the air” running the length of the blocks every third floor. (But the flats were neglected for years and demolition of them began in 2017.)</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/7bf9ce22-cf35-49ef-8fda-4a747c063264.png" width="1000"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">Robin Hood Gardens photographed in 2017 before demolition. Wikimedia Commons</span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><br>In the 1960s and 1970s, Brutalism became a global style, with few concessions to local climate or conditions and concrete monoliths were built in as diverse places as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/t-magazine/tropical-brutalism.html">Singapore and Sao Paolo</a>. Brutalism in the postcolonial world was functional, economical, and it made new nations appear progressive.</p><p>In Australia, prominent architect and critic Robin Boyd wrote sympathetically about Brutalism in The Australian Ugliness as it spread here in the 1960s.</p><p>Canberra’s High Court Building and National Gallery of Australia, public service buildings such as the Cameron Offices, Sydney’s UTS Tower and Brisbane’s Cultural Precinct are prominent local examples. Perth’s Art Gallery of WA is celebrating its 40th anniversary with the exhibition <a href="https://artgallery.wa.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/perth-brutal-dreaming-concrete">Perth Brutal: Dreaming in Concrete</a>.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/2ca93684-77b0-4686-b023-957f579d3654.png" width="1000"/></picture><div><span style="align-content:center;opacity:0.8">Fritz Kos Art Gallery of Western Australia 1979. Sourced from the collections of the State Library of Western Australia and reproduced with the permission of the Library Board of Western Australia (224276PD)</span></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><br>Controversy over the fate of Sydney’s Sirius building in the Rocks <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/oceania/australia/articles/sirius-building-sydney/">raised the issue</a> of Brutalist conservation in Australia.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><em>Read more:  </em><a href="https://theconversation.com/in-praise-of-the-sirius-building-a-ruined-remnant-of-idealistic-times-63387"><em>In praise of the Sirius building, a ruined remnant of idealistic times</em></a></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Meanwhile, in Victoria, the intimidating <a href="https://architectureau.com/articles/former-brutalist-hospital-recommended-for-heritage-listing/">Footscray Psychiatric Centre</a>, was quietly <a href="https://www.starweekly.com.au/news/heritage-victoria-backs-protection-brutalist-footscray-landmark/">recommended for heritage listing</a> recently by Heritage Victoria. Completed in 1976, this four-storey, windowless concrete block seems an unlikely Heritage contender, but it is certainly an exemplary Brutalist building.</p><h2><strong>Stuck with beasts</strong></h2><p>Beyond their architectural function, Brutalist buildings serve other uses. Skateboarders, graffiti artists and parkour practitioners, for example, have all used Brutalism’s concrete surfaces in innovative ways.</p><p>Brutalist architecture has also featured regularly in dystopian sci-fi films – from A Clockwork Orange to Blade Runner 2049 – and enthusiasts share moody, black and white photographs on Instagram’s <a href="https://www.instagram.com/brutgroup/?hl=en">Brut Group</a> and the global activist database <a href="http://www.sosbrutalism.org/cms/15802395">SOS Brutalism</a>.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><div><picture><img src="https://tud-prod-tudmedia-oj9w2zshuo0o.s3.amazonaws.com/raw/images/ce475836-f7e5-49a6-be3b-52ec033809f6.png" width="527"/></picture><div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><br>Whether we see Brutalist buildings as concrete monstrosities blighting our cities or heroic, modern sculptures from a pre-digital age is really a question of taste. But it is worth considering Brutalism’s ethics and politics further.</p><p>Firstly, Brutalism evokes an era of optimism and belief in the permanence of public institutions – government as well as public housing, educational and health facilities. Secondly, while demolishing Brutalist buildings often proves politically popular, they are typically replaced by private development.</p><p>Aesthetics provides a cover for this move, especially in inner cities where Brutalist institutions sit on valuable land. But restoration and renovation, rather than demolition and rebuilding, are often more sustainable solutions.</p><p>So before we call for the wrecking ball, we could look again at our concrete beasts. Below that rough skin, we might see a little brutish charm.</p><p><em>Perth Brutal: Dreaming in Concrete will be at the Art Gallery of Western Australia from 21 September 2019 – 3 February 2020.</em></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><strong>Author</strong></p><p>DJ Huppatz, Associate professor, Architecture and Design, Swinburne University of Technology</p><p>This article is republished from T<em>he Conversation</em> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/brutalism-how-to-love-a-concrete-beast-122469">original article</a>.</p></div></div></div></div></div>

No other architectural style elicits emotional reactions like Brutalism.   

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<div class="row" data-reactroot=""><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><strong>Not long ago Australia’s housing boom was in full swing. Investors were betting on rising property values, which rose by 13 per cent in Sydney and 15 per cent in Melbourne in the year to mid-2017. </strong></p><p>Now the withdrawal of overseas buyers and prudential restrictions on loose lending to local investors have revealed how hollow the boom was.</p><p>Throughout the boom, politicians and property pundits consistently claimed the supply being delivered would improve affordability. </p><p>As we are now seeing, when the price a property can fetch drops, so too does the desire to build it. It was rampant price growth that underpinned developers’ pleas to add supply, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/opinion-housing-need-cannot-fully-met-market-tim-williams/">not a desire to make housing more affordable</a>.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><em>Read more: </em><a href="https://theconversation.com/affordable-housing-policy-failure-still-being-fuelled-by-flawed-analysis-92993"><em>Affordable housing policy failure still being fuelled by flawed analysis</em></a></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>We are now seeing rapid declines in approvals and building starts as speculative investor demand, and the money it brought to the market, has fallen away.</p><p>Ironically, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-falling-house-prices-do-less-to-improve-affordability-than-you-might-think-111267">falling prices will not improve affordability</a> for people locked out of the market. Banks are tightening lending practices and stagnant wage growth limits the <a href="https://www.afr.com/real-estate/rental-affordability-worse-for-lowpaid-workers-and-negative-gearing-is-to-blame-20181128-h18fya">buying capacity of those trapped in the low-income economy</a>. </p><p>True, falling prices are welcome for some first home buyers who now find a purchase possible. But the rapid inflation of house prices long ago far outstripped the capacity of most lower-income households to buy a home.</p><p>Our analysis for the <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/filling-the-gap/">NSW Community Housing Industry Association (CHIA NSW) and Homelessness NSW</a>, building on recent <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/306">AHURI research</a>, shows that the market cannot meet around 12 per cent of all households’ needs. </p><p>Only one-third of those are housed outside the market in public or community housing. The rest are in overcrowded homes, rental stress or even homeless.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><em>Read more: </em><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-falling-house-prices-do-less-to-improve-affordability-than-you-might-think-111267"><em>Why falling house prices do less to improve affordability than you might think</em></a></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>In the face of a housing market downturn, those same property pundits are now <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/money/investing/why-labor-s-housing-policy-is-self-defeating-fraught-with-peril-20190228-p510u8.html">sternly warning against action</a> that would further dampen speculative investment in housing. However, this is precisely the moment to tackle the problems that have been building over many years and to set the dynamics of the housing system on a more affordable track.</p><p>Winding back speculative activity by cutting negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts, cracking down on inappropriate lending practices, and increasing regulation on unacceptable building practices should all be followed through in earnest across all levels of government.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><em>Read more: </em><a href="http://theconversation.com/vital-signs-why-now-is-the-right-time-to-clamp-down-on-negative-gearing-107370"><em>Vital Signs: why now is the right time to clamp down on negative gearing</em></a></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>Delivering the housing we need</strong></h2><p>The bigger question that remains then is: what is the future of the housing supply system across Australia?</p><p>History has shown us private sector investment alone cannot provide the needed housing, especially for the most vulnerable. Neither can it produce consistent supply through its boom-and-bust cycles. </p><p>So now is also the moment for a renewed conversation about how to deliver the housing that’s most needed, and who ought to do it, especially for <a href="https://theconversation.com/housing-costs-are-actually-the-same-as-in-1993-but-renters-still-struggle-95286">those facing chronic rental stress</a>.</p><p>Markets have never delivered housing affordable to those on low incomes without subsidy from governments. In fact, a mountain of subsidies and tax breaks have been thrown at the private market to support such an aim. These range from <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/housing-support/programmes-services/commonwealth-rent-assistance">Commonwealth Rent Assistance </a>to support private rental and grants to first time buyers, to negative gearing and capital gains tax relief for investors and home owners, but have had no discernible effect on affordability.</p><p>Faith in the markets has prevailed for the past 30 years. As a result, alternatives have been ruled out of play.</p><p>To cover the backlog of unmet need and future need, <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/filling-the-gap/">our new research commissioned by CHIA NSW and Homelessness NSW</a>  predicts that, over the next 20 years, two in ten new homes would need to be for social housing and a further one in ten for affordable housing. </p><p>Just shifting this third of construction to not-for-profit housing providers, either the community sector or government, would reduce delivery costs – by losing the 20 per cent developer markup at a stroke.</p><p>More broadly, the funds needed to support a sustainable affordable housing program could easily be offset by the savings from scrapping current inefficient and inflationary tax subsidises to private investors.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><em>Read more: </em><a href="https://theurbandeveloper.com/articles/australia-needs-to-triple-its-social-housing-by-2036-this-is-the-best-way-to-do-it"><em>Australia needs to triple its social housing by 2036. This is the best way to do it</em></a></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>The challenge of such a task cannot be underestimated. Yet this presents a considerable opportunity to resolve a range of interrelated problems with how housing is provided in Australia.</p><p>Here are four of the biggest.</p><h2><strong>1. Stabilise the construction labour market</strong></h2><p>Social and affordable housing development would underwrite the construction industry with a steady stream of funding for building homes over the long term. Building industries mobilise considerable workforces. Stable streams of work would smooth out the dramatic drop in employment that comes with housing downturns.</p><p><a href="https://theurbandeveloper.com/articles/building-construction-shrinking-at-a-concerning-rate-">Recent reports</a> have noted the accelerated decline in the construction industry. <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/house-price-falls-are-not-the-economy-s-biggest-worry-20190227-p510gk.html">The Reserve Bank</a> is warning that shocks to wages and employment present a threat to the economy.</p><h2><strong>2. Support planning for a predictable supply</strong></h2><p>The planning system would benefit from having a large portion of projected housing needs met and supplied more predictably. </p><p>The uncertainty of boom-bust housing cycles makes it near impossible to plan sensibly for population growth and implement strategic planning objectives across our cities and regions.</p><p>Planning for major infrastructure, such as hospitals, schools and transport, relies on new housing arriving in a timely manner. <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/policy/ahuri-briefs/Understanding-inclusionary-zoning">Blanket inclusionary zoning</a> policies and discounted public land sales to support land supply for affordable homes need to be prerequisites.</p><h2><strong>3. The benefit of investing in affordable housing</strong></h2><p>If government spending on housing can be invested in the assets themselves (for example, through an equity share in the development), the expenditure will be retained both for an enduring social purpose and as a positive contribution to the accumulated asset base of government.</p><p>A properly designed, large-scale, not-for-profit program could mean investing in new housing becomes a positive for state and national balance sheets. This requires a shift in behaviour and mindsets of some Treasury officials who often see social housing as a liability.</p><h2><strong>4. Drive broad productivity dividends</strong></h2><p><a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/research/projects/strengthening-economic-cases-housing-productivity-gains-better-housing-outcomes/">Other recent research for CHIA NSW</a> shows investment in suitably located social and affordable housing has much wider economic benefits. </p><p>These include travel time savings for lower-income workers currently pushed into the outer suburbs, as well as human capital uplift resulting from long-term positive impacts on household incomes.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><em>Read more: </em><a href="https://theconversation.com/key-workers-like-nurses-and-teachers-are-being-squeezed-out-of-sydney-this-is-what-we-can-do-about-it-91476"><em>Key workers like nurses and teachers are being squeezed out of Sydney. This is what we can do about it</em></a></p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Similarly, <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/265">government budgets benefit from reducing demand on social services</a>.</p><p>In short, the evidence-based economic case for government investment in social and affordable housing is strong. Given the impending fallout of a property bust following the largest property boom in Australian history, now is the time to act and reshape the nation’s housing system for the long term.</p><p>But do we have governments capable of conceiving of the necessary policy shifts or with the courage to enact them? Time, and the next election, will tell.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><strong>Authors</strong></p><p>Laurence Troy, Research Fellow, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW</p><p>Bill Randolph, Director, City Futures Research Centre, Faculty of the Built Environment, UNSW</p><p>Ryan van den Nouwelant, Lecturer in Urban Management and Planning, Western Sydney University.</p><p>This article is republished from <em>The Conversation</em> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/build-social-and-affordable-housing-to-get-us-off-the-boom-and-bust-roller-coaster-113113">original article</a>.</p></div></div></div></div></div>

Not long ago Australia’s housing boom was in full swing. Investors were betting on rising property values, which rose by 13 per cent in Sydney...

6576adfa-e888-4c9c-be27-e441685af9fd

<div class="row" data-reactroot=""><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>In the wake of <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/ABS@archive.nsf/log?openagent&amp;87520033.xls&amp;8752.0&amp;Time%20Series%20Spreadsheet&amp;4871AE45CFEBEB25CA2583D70015586F&amp;0&amp;Dec%202018&amp;10.04.2019&amp;Latest">slumping demand for apartment building</a>, it’s little wonder the multi-unit housing industry has been eagerly eyeing a possible new residential product: “build-to-rent”.</p><p>In fact, the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/ABS@archive.nsf/log?openagent&amp;87520033.xls&amp;8752.0&amp;Time%20Series%20Spreadsheet&amp;4871AE45CFEBEB25CA2583D70015586F&amp;0&amp;Dec%202018&amp;10.04.2019&amp;Latest">latest figures</a> show that apartment-building construction starts was down 36 per cent in 2018 from 2016. But how much will this little-known type of housing solve our housing problems?</p><p>Build-to-rent won’t be a silver bullet solution for Australia’s housing affordability stress, but it does have potential to tick the box on several important public policy objectives. These include widened housing diversity, enhanced build standards, and a better-managed, more secure form of private rental housing.</p><p>But for this to happen, Australia’s tax settings need adjustment.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>What is ‘build-to-rent’?</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>This refers to apartment blocks built specifically to be rented, usually at market rates, and held in single ownership as long-term income-generating assets.</p><p>The enduring owner might be, for instance, an insurance company, an Australian super fund, a foreign sovereign wealth fund, a private equity firm, or the building’s developer.</p><p>Although new in Australia, build-to-rent is quite common in many other countries. Under its North American name, “multi-family housing”, the format has generated more than <a href="https://www.nmhc.org/">6.3 million new apartments since 1992 in the US alone</a>. And <a href="https://tinyurl.com/buildtorentlondon">in the UK, a build-to-rent sector</a> has led to <a href="https://www.bpf.org.uk/what-we-do/bpf-build-rent-map-uk">68,000</a> units built or under construction since 2012.</p><p>A scattering of build-to-rent schemes are <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/documents/551/LCOM_0000_Build_to_Rent_Report_WEB_July_2019.pdf">already under way</a> or completed, mainly in inner Sydney and Melbourne. And they may prove to be the forerunners of a new Australian residential property sector – but that is far from guaranteed.</p><p>In Australia, our private rental market is almost entirely owned by small-scale mum-and-dad investors, so this kind of housing would be a largely new departure from typical Australian real estate.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>Potential benefits</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>The build-to-rent development model, involving a long-term owner commissioning an entire building, creates an incentive for higher, more enduring quality than the standard “build-to-sell” apartment development approach.</p><p>Importantly, build-to-rent is a long-run investment that caters for rental demand, which tends to grow steadily.</p><p>This means the model is largely immune to the fickle changes in housing demand resulting from typically short time horizons and primarily speculative instincts of individual buyers traditionally dominant in our market.</p><p>So at its full potential, this new housing product could introduce a valuable counter-cyclical component into the notoriously volatile residential construction industry, helping to offset damaging booms and busts. In other words, build-to-rent can create stability in the Australian property market.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>How build-to-rent can incorporate affordable housing</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Optimistically, some have claimed build-to-rent could also provide <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/build-to-rent-a-potential-solution-to-australia-s-housing-problem-20180904-p501of.html">an “affordable housing” fix</a> for many earners who are doing it tough in our existing private rental market.</p><p>But this could be possible only with the aid of major government funding or planning concessions.</p><p>Ideally, housing at rents affordable to low or moderate income earners would be included in predominantly market-rate build-to-rent schemes. Indeed, one major construction industry player <a href="https://www.afr.com/news/politics/national/rod-fehring-would-tackle-affordable-housing-once-and-for-all-20190430-p51io8">recently advocated this</a> as a standard expectation.</p><p>So how should affordable housing be provided in this case?</p><p>To find out, <a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/documents/551/LCOM_0000_Build_to_Rent_Report_WEB_July_2019.pdf">our analysis</a> compares the cost of developing affordable housing by a for-profit company with development under a not-for-profit community housing provider.</p><p>Thanks to that non-profit format, and the tax advantages that go along with it, community housing providers can, in fact, construct affordable rental housing at significantly lower cost than their for-profit counterparts. Less subsidy is therefore needed.</p><p>Nonetheless, government help in some form will be essential to enable an affordable housing element. The most painless way for this to happen, from the government perspective, is through allocating sections of federal or state-owned redevelopment sites to community housing providers at discounted rates.</p><p>Encouragingly, this strategy was <a href="https://www.afr.com/real-estate/residential/we-want-our-pound-of-flesh-on-government-site-sales-michael-sukkar-20190606-p51v6d">recently advocated</a> by newly designated federal housing minister Michael Sukkar.</p><p>Such designation of government-owned sites could, for instance, be factored into large-scale urban renewal projects like Sydney’s Central-to-Eveleigh and Rozelle Bays. When complete, it could fulfil the <a href="https://www.domain.com.au/news/calls-for-higher-affordable-housing-targets-as-more-people-on-cusp-of-poverty-20170802-gxo11s/">widely voiced</a> demand that 30 per cent of these developments should be affordable housing.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><h2><strong>Levelling the playing field</strong></h2></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p>Our modelling shows that under current conditions, even market-rate build-to-rent projects are barely viable – at least in Sydney.</p><p>The inflated price of developable land in Australia’s urban housing markets is an important contributing constraint. But<a href="https://cityfutures.be.unsw.edu.au/documents/551/LCOM_0000_Build_to_Rent_Report_WEB_July_2019.pdf"> our research</a> also identifies a range of government tax settings that disadvantage build-to-rent, compared with both mum-and-dad-investors and traditional build to sell developers.</p><p>Removing less favourable land tax and GST treatment could markedly improve build-to-rent feasibility.</p><p>From a housing policy perspective, there’s also a case for the federal government to reconsider its recent “withholding tax” decision that treats overseas-based institutional investment in rental property less favourably than investment in commercial property.</p><p>Since such global funds would likely lead the establishment of a new Australian build-to-rent asset class, revisiting the withholding tax changes could be a significant step in making build-to-rent a reality in Australia.</p><p>In any case, build-to-rent is no simple solution for Australia’s affordable housing shortage.</p><p>But even as a market-rate product, it could fulfil several important public policy objectives. How far it might do so in practice is something that governments rightly need to weigh up when considering industry-proposed tax and regulatory reforms.</p></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><hr/></div></div></div><div class="row ci"><div class="cell cs12 cx12"><div class="ci cl"><p><strong>Author</strong></p><p>Hal Pawson, associate director — City Futures — Urban Policy and Strategy, City Futures Research Centre, Housing Policy and Practice, UNSW.</p><p>This article is republished from <em>The Conversation</em> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="http://theconversation.com/build-to-rent-could-shake-up-real-estate-but-wont-take-off-without-major-tax-changes-119603">original article</a>.</p></div></div></div></div></div>

Build-to-rent won’t be a silver bullet solution for Australia’s housing affordability stress, but it does potential.

THE CONVERSATION