Qld housing crisis: REIQ labels state govt response woeful

Queensland’s peak real estate body has labelled the state government’s response to the housing crisis, two years on from a summit, as woeful.

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Queensland is falling deeper into a housing crisis almost two years after the state government convened a landmark summit to address the critical issue, the state’s peak real estate body says.

The Real Estate Institute of Queensland is calling for both major parties to use next week’s budget and reply speech to ditch short-term political sweeteners and lay out a vision for housing.

REIQ chief executive Antonia Mercorella labelled the government’s effort to address the crisis – almost two years after then premier Annastacia Palaszczuk convened a landmark housing summit – as woeful.

“The latest ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) data on our state’s building approvals, dwelling commencements and completion times does not tell a story of a state that’s headed towards housing recovery,” she said.

“It appears Queensland is falling deeper into the housing crisis, and without some major systemic changes it’s hard to see how we’ll claw our way out.

“Our overall building approvals, dwelling commencements and completions remain stuck below 35,000 new dwellings each year – which is well below what’s required to catch up to demand.”

Ms Mercorella said completion of new social housing in the past two years was at historic lows, despite more than 40,000 people being on the waiting list.

ABS building approval data shows a 13.5 per cent decline in private apartment approvals in the 12 months to April 2024, while dwelling starts in the private sector dropped by 7.4 per cent in the last calendar year.

Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon. Picture: Tertius Pickard/NCA NewsWire

Combined with plummeting construction productivity, Ms Mercorella questioned how the state would fast-track development.

At 26 months, Queensland has the longest completion times for apartments in the country.

In 2014, she noted, it was only 14 months.

Ms Mercorella also took aim at the Queensland Council of Social Service’s support of the government’s $3bn Homes for Queenslanders plan and questioned how the plan would be delivered under current market conditions.

“It’s not surprising to hear government-funded organisations praising this plan given the millions in funding they receive, but it’s an interesting change of tune when you consider how little has been delivered since the housing summit was called for,” she said.

“We fear that none of these announcements will translate into the new houses we desperately need, and in the meantime, they’ve legislated the life out of the property market – whether you want to buy, build or rent, there’s no appealing prospects left.”

Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon this week said there were short, medium and long-term solutions to the crisis.

“We’re focused on building more homes but while we do that we’re also providing rent relief so that if people can’t afford an increase or if they fall backwards we’re stepping into help,” she said.

“We are focused on building more homes faster.”

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REIQ chief executive Antonia Mercorella

The state government’s QBuild will partner with the private sector to deliver 600 modular homes to social housing tenants and government workers as Treasurer Cameron Dick pledges to deliver a $2.8bn investment in housing through Tuesday’s state budget.

Ms Mercorella called on the government to use the state budget, and the LNP its budget reply speech, to match housing goals with transparent reporting and monthly key performance indicators.

“This will ensure that houses added to the social housing tally represent additional supply and are not just repurposed dwellings from other parts of the housing market,” she said.

LNP housing spokesman Tim Mander repeated the Opposition’s pledge to raise the stamp duty threshold for first-home buyers, but did not reveal what it would increase to.

“Labor rubbishes raising the stamp duty threshold as a thought bubble and are too busy defending their litany of housing failures to have any credible solutions to the housing crisis,” he said.

“Labor is more concerned about securing their political future than housing security.”

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli is expected to announce the stamp duty figure in his budget reply speech and Mr Mander said the LNP would spend every dollar of the government’s Housing Investment Fund to build new homes,

“The LNP’s priorities include putting Queensland back on top of the housing ladder, by prioritising infrastructure partnerships with local government to unlock more land for housing, unleashing the community housing sector and setting KPIs and delivering social housing projects on-time and on-budget,” he said.

Originally published as Qld housing crisis: REIQ labels state govt response woeful