Property Council calls for $250m fund to ease industrial land shortage

The Property Council fears supplies of land for critical industrial purposes could run out within two years.

Adelaide is facing a severe shortage of industrial land, according to a Property Council report.

The Property Council is urging the state government to establish a $250m-plus fund to fast-track the release of industrial land across Adelaide amid a deepening shortage of warehousing and logistics space across the city.

A new report by JLL and AsiaAustralis, commissioned by the Property Council, estimates that of the 1500ha of vacant industrial land identified in a land supply report prepared by the state government in 2021, more than 90 per cent is no longer available or is not considered ‘development-ready’.

Following a post-pandemic boom in demand for warehousing and logistics space, it means Adelaide’s development-ready industrial land supply could be exhausted in just over two years, the report says.

It proposes seven recommendations to the state government aimed at easing the land shortage, including:

COMMITTING to the annual release of 25ha of serviced industrial land across greater Adelaide;

ESTABLISHING a minimum $250m fund to enable Renewal SA to fast-track industrial projects by delivering infrastructure, land preparation and remediation work;

IMPLEMENTING a fee structure that supports fast-tracked development applications and code amendments; and

PROTECTING key industrial precincts from future residential developments.

Property Council SA executive director Bruce Djite. Picture: Tom Huntley

Property Council SA executive director Bruce Djite said the report highlighted the economic importance of preserving and supplying industrial land, with every hectare of industrial land developed supporting around 90 jobs and contributing $13.5m to gross state product.

“While it is right that the government is focused on housing and where people will live, it must also plan for jobs and where they will work,” he said.

“Since 2020, average industrial land values in Adelaide’s outer north, for example, have grown faster than anywhere in Australia, underpinned by population growth and the demand for warehousing and logistics space that exploded during the pandemic on top of an already dwindling supply of readily developable land.

“With active consideration of the Greater Adelaide Regional Plan underway, the Property Council is calling on those charged with shaping our city to safeguard critical last-mile and industrial precincts, and provision for the growth of future industries in locations such as Mile End, Thebarton and Torrensville as well as Edinburgh Parks and Port Stanvac.”

Mr Djite welcomed the state government’s recent proposal to rezone 120ha of farming land at Waterloo Corner for industrial use, as well as Premier Peter Malinauskas’s recent comments calling for development to be fast-tracked at the long-closed Port Stanvac refinery site.

The Property Council report recommends that a portion of the 247ha Port Stanvac site be preserved for industrial use.

JLL SA managing director Ben Parkinson said the report showed there was an urgent need to bring more development-ready industrial land to market.

“Efficiency and planning in this area, together with cooperation with the private sector must be a top priority if Adelaide is to meet future industrial sector growth,” he said.

“In light of unprecedented increases in land values in Adelaide’s outer north, there’s a real risk that industrial development could become unviable for developers and uneconomical for tenants.

“To avert this challenge, we need more development-ready land released into the market, particularly in light of the key infrastructure upgrades benefiting the Northern and southern suburbs.”