Victorian Government’s new suburbs promise for housing affordability

EXTRA land to help create 17 new Melbourne suburbs is being released by the State Government over the next two years in a bid to tackle housing affordability.

Suburbs for 100,000 new housing lots by the end of 2018. Picture: Supplied

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EXTRA land to help create 17 new Melbourne suburbs is being released by the State Government over the next two years in a bid to tackle housing affordability.

Planning Minister Richard Wynne and Treasurer Tim Pallas said 100,000 lots would be rezoned in growth corridors such as Casey, Melton, Whittlesea and Cardinia.

Councils in the growth areas will also get help to streamline subdivision processes and applications for residential and employment land to try to get more properties to the market.

A pilot program to build 100 social housing dwellings on government land was also announced by the government today.

Mr Wynne said, “Melbourne land prices remained around half that in Sydney”, and the “Government intends to hold on to that competitive edge”.

He said the government had “learnt from the mistakes of the past” where land was opened up on Melbourne’s urban fringe without the appropriate infrastructure.

“And that’s why the 17 precincts where these 100,000 lots will be rolled out have to be planned communities,” Mr Wynne said.

“We know that from the point of view of a purchaser, when they’re looking to purchase in these estates, they’re looking to see where is all the key infrastructure: the schools, the shopping centres, the employment opportunities that will be available locally. “

Some of the areas where land will be released include near Pakenham East, Wollert, Kororoit, Sunbury East, and Donnybrook.

The government has promised to plan for more infrastructure and services to connect the new suburbs to the rest of Melbourne, and to create “great communities”.

Mr Pallas said land on Melbourne’s urban fringe was still half as cheap as the equivalent blocks in Sydney.

“I think that’s a clear indication that we have got the supply side right,” Mr Pallas said.

“But we can continue to recognise that we have got to put more and more effort into making sure that not only we do have the land for development, but that land is brought to market in a way that ... the community can have some confidence that once developed, the housing lots are approved and available for sale.

“The issues of building on our urban fringe, which will take up about 30 per cent of the population growth that is going on in Melbourne, is to make sure we have the infrastructure delivered in a timely way.”

Opposition planning spokesman David Davis said the plan was “too little, too late”, and that delivering 100,000 housing lots within two years “should already be the normal work rate of the Victorian Planning Authority”.

“Labor’s plan to rezone 100,000 housing lots within two years will have little impact on increasing unaffordability,” Mr Davis said.

“Daniel Andrews and Richard Wynne’s obsession with slowing down development has meant first homebuyers on the fringe of Melbourne are now paying $30,000 more for a block of land than they were two years ago.”

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