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Housing crisis

This Month

Simonelle Mody is a 25-year old finance professional living in a UKO co-living space in Paddington.

Can an ‘upmarket boarding house’ solve Sydney’s housing problem

Hotel Capital Partners is acquiring the former Quest Potts Point hotel and turning it into short-term rental housing to capitalise on inner-city housing shortages.

  • Campbell Kwan
The Minns government in NSW wants to speed up housing approvals.

‘Profit vaporised by time’: Westpac boss backs council reform to fix housing

Anthony Miller has thrown his weight behind the NSW government’s ambitious push to bypass local councils and reform planning laws.

  • Lucas Baird
Residential mortgages are increasingly the preserve of the wealthy.

The 3 housing charts that should make young people furious

New data shows how housing is slipping even further out of the reach of younger people. The election will kick off a new debate on the problem.

  • James Thomson
Render of new residential towers that will sit on top of the old Sydney Fish Market site.

More than 1000 apartments to rise from old Sydney Fish Market site

A long-heralded plan to transform the site into housing is gaining momentum, as three major developers are shortlisted for the $1.5 billion project.

  • Campbell Kwan
Construction workers, including for the housing sector, will be added to the new list.

Tradies to join yoga instructors on core migration skills list

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said the federal government was moving to address critical shortages, including in new home construction.

  • Tom McIlroy and Michael Read
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November

Westfield Hornsby

The $1.5b housing opportunity at Westfield Hornsby

Seven of Sydney’s transport hubs have been earmarked for fast-track housing development. Mall giant Scentre is an early winner, and says much more can be done.

  • Nick Lenaghan
Home ownership rates have fallen to historic lows, and individuals without access to the Bank of Mum and Dad are finding it increasingly difficult to get a mortgage.

Tweak lending rules to tilt the scales for first home buyers

Reforms to prudential regulation will be a solution for many Millennials and Gen Zs missing out on the Australian dream.

  • Andrew Bragg

Tens of thousands of Spaniards protest housing crunch and high rents

The lack of affordable housing has become an urgent concern in Spain, mirroring the housing crunch across many parts of the world.

  • Joseph Wilson and Hernán Muñoz
Builder Tahi Merrilees with prefab lodges in Bundanoon.  

Plug-and-play homes can be cheap, but are not for everyone

Ingenia Communities’ John Carfi welcomes federal government plans to make it easier to finance prefabricated homes, but warns against going beyond that.

  • Campbell Kwan
Go slow: developer Pace’s 313-unit project in Melbourne’s Coburg had 72 unsold apartments when it was completed in September. 

Why new apartments don’t sell and old ones do

A combination of high interest rates and weaker prices make established housing stock more attractive to buyers than apartments built as costs soared.

  • Michael Bleby
Greenfield developer Khurram Saeed says the Victorian government must keep releasing land to meet its housing targets.

How the Aussie dream is making the housing crisis worse

Pakistani migrant turned property developer Khurram Saeed says the Victorian government cannot rely on apartment construction to meet its ambitious housing targets.

  • Gus McCubbing
Lindfield station, located along Sydney’s north shore line, is among the 31 train stations earmarked for higher density housing.

5700 new homes can be built on Sydney’s north shore. Why aren’t they?

About 170,000 square metres of development land on Sydney’s north shore is on the market. But some developers are holding back.

  • Campbell Kwan
Stockland’s joint venture partner, Bangkok-based Supalai, waited since last December for the green light from federal regulators to control 12 Lendlease estates.

How a year-long wait worsens the housing crisis

A near 12-month wait for a Thai property developer for approvals to buy housing estates could deter other foreign developers, warns adviser Joseph Gersh.

  • John Kehoe
A 760-lot project at Alkimos Beach in Perth’s north is one of 12 Stockland is acquiring.

Stockland bumps up earnings after buying Lendlease estates

The mega deal hands 12 greenfield projects to Stockland to develop in the midst of a housing crisis when new homes are in hot demand.   

  • Nick Lenaghan
Approvals for new apartments and townhouses have rarely kept up with those for houses.

‘Glut of empty bedrooms’ looms as houses outpace apartments

The pipeline of detached houses far outstrips that of apartments – and the gap is widening. But this may not be the housing we need.

  • Larry Schlesinger
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Stockland’s Tarun Gupta, right, says he his company has cut land sizes by about 15 per cent to make them more affordable.

Doing more with less will not solve the housing crisis

Building costs have stopped rising quickly, but could easily take off again if builders are bidding for labour and materials against our other good causes.

  • Anthony Macdonald
The federal government wants to build 1.2 million homes in the next five years.

Five fixes to the housing crisis – from smaller homes to more builders

From more migrants with building skills to incentivising different types of housing, three chief executives give their suggestions on how to develop more homes.

  • Campbell Kwan and James Eyers

October

Housing construction is hampered by planning laws.

This is why new housing isn’t getting built

All the talk is about the planning process, zoning and development approvals. But projects won’t go ahead if they don’t stack up.

  • Robert Harley

Remember the GFC in loan buffer debate

Letters from readers on cutting the 3 per cent serviceability buffer on home loans, a tax holiday for young people, AUKUS, Richard White, Lidia Thorpe and King Charles.

Giant $1.5b build-to-rent housing project slated for Marrickville

The massive project is put forward as a state significant development. Fully funded, work can begin as soon as approval is granted by the NSW government.

  • Nick Lenaghan

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/housing-crisis-6g88