This Month
Housing tenders run aground on election rocks
Partisan political housing arguments and slow implementation put at risk Australia’s first major effort in years to boost social and affordable housing.
February
Plenary’s $1b Abu Dhabi deal boosts its housing firepower
After the sale of a 49pc stake to a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund, the developer wants to tap an expected upswing in residential development.
The Sydney suburbs most affected by new higher-density housing rules
Council bans on apartments, terraces and townhouses to be overridden within 800 metres of 171 NSW suburbs.
Foreign residents barred from buying existing homes for two years
The new policy will mean people living temporarily in Australia, either for work or study, will be banned from purchasing existing houses until at least 2027.
January
Residential development gets an $800 million new year kick
The latest chunk of money ploughed into the country’s chronic housing shortage shows Australian build-to-rent is now a mainstream sector for overseas capital.
December 2024
Elizabeth Bay luxury tower development rejected
The Rolling Stones made a surprise appearance in a judgment backing residents in a fight with developer Fortis about housing needs.
‘Australia is falling behind’: 55 CEOs demand election action
Top chief executives say the next federal government must make the nation’s crippling regulatory burden and housing supply top priorities.
November 2024
Housing Australia’s Dal Bon goes from funding homes to building them
The inaugural head of Australia’s housing funding body has taken a new job with the ACT’s largest community housing provider.
Construction workers should be 10pc of migration, big developers urge
That was one of the key messages from a housing roundtable that focused on how to remove roadblocks to increasing the supply of affordable houses
October 2024
Australia is getting serious about the housing crisis
Young people, parents and grandparents should all have a stake in fixing arguably the No.1 economic and social challenge.
Stamp duty cuts in Victoria will apply for foreign buyers
Centre for Independent Studies chief economist Peter Tulip argues the Victorian Labor is doing more to improve housing affordability than the federal government.
BCA urges $10b housing fund as building target slips
The Business Council of Australia wants the federal government to stump up cash to help states fix the bottlenecks holding back housing development.
Dutton raises housing stakes with $5b pledge to build 500k homes
Opposition leader says a government he leads would spend $5 billion on enabling infrastructure for housing, and ban changes to the national construction code for 10 years.
Name and shame plan to speed housing approvals won’t work, states say
Victoria, Queensland, WA and SA have rejected the idea of publishing the housing approval records of local authorities.
September 2024
HAFF tender to build just 700 homes this year
The first allocation from the $10b federal government fund for social and affordable housing gave little detail about how many new homes will be created.
Senate showdowns loom over housing, RBA and the environment
The government says 13,700 affordable homes have been approved under the policies it has managed to legislate so far.
Social housing offers 8-12pc infrastructure-like returns
As Australia grapples with how to channel institutional money into new housing, the $10b HAFF fund offers a way to invest that Australia hasn’t had before.
August 2024
Push to ban Cbus from housing affordability scheme because of CFMEU links
Senator Andrew Bragg says the move is needed to protect taxpayer funds from the lawbreaking union until it is out of administration.
Where you can afford to buy without breaking the 30pc rule
See how suburb-level affordability across Australia’s three biggest capital cities has changed over the past three decades.
July 2024
Now it’s O’Neil v Chandler-Mather on housing
Clare O’Neil will take on selling the government’s housing agenda, which pollsters say has been drowned out by the Greens’ precocious spokesman Max Chandler-Mather.