Stockland boss Mark Steinert calls for more trust for housing reform

Developers can deliver more housing but require greater certainty on approvals to make projects work, says Mark Steinert.

Departing Stockland chief Mark Steinert. Picture: Hollie Adams

Departing Stockland chief executive Mark Steinert has called for greater public trust as developers and governments throw up ideas to deal with looming housing shortages in key parts of ­Australia.

The head of Australia’s largest residential property developer, in the final month of his eight and a half year tenure, has warned that policymakers will have to deal with shortages in Sydney and southeast Queensland that will become more pronounced once borders reopen.

Mr Steinert, a long-term advocate for reforms who has taken Stockland through both downturns and upswings in housing, is calling for greater acceptance of efforts to cut regulations that drive up costs that are ultimately borne by home buyers.

Mr Steinert has bolstered Stockland’s capacity as a developer, including expanding into townhouses and preparing apartment sites, and restocked its land bank ahead of the boom. But he has renewed his calls for planning reforms in order to improve both housing supply and quality.

“Our view is that Sydney and southeast Queensland in particular have faced significant under-supply,” he said. “A number of the key markets we operate in those two locations are undersupplied today, even with the drop in population growth, with reduced skilled migration.”

Mr Steinert said that Sydney, in particular, “needs to adopt very aligned infrastructure delivery and land use planning”. The Stockland boss stressed the effect of extended time frames.

“In Sydney for planning a new masterplanned community, that’s typically going to be seven to 10 years. Southeast Queensland will be similar,” he said.

He said that public and private groups must find ways to improve the efficiency of approvals and ensure that new areas have sufficient amenities including schools, childcare, town centres, and transport.

“Some of that is for Stockland and developers like us to deliver and some of that is for government to deliver,” he said.

Mr Steinert said that infrastructure contributions and other taxes made up more than a third of housing costs and shortening approval time frames to boost certainty was a key way to improve affordability.

This would mean the returns required by developers could come down commensurately with reduced risks and flow through to the cost of housing, he said.

He also called for better integration of private housing with social and affordable housing. Stockland bid for the Ivanhoe Estate in Sydney that went to a consortium of Mission Australia Housing, Frasers Property Australia and Citta Property Group.

He dubbed the project a great example of upzoning for private housing that was able to fund affordable and social housing. “But to do that you need to take a deterministic position on land use planning and infrastructure delivery,” he said.

Mr Steinert said that “fortunately” low interest rates had created the best affordability, on the basis of the home loan repayment to income ratio, in a decade across the nation.

HomeBuilder also brought a lot of first-time buyers into the market. Stockland normally has about 50 per cent first-time buyers but the number peaked last July at over 62 per cent. “That’s a good initiative where government has helped to open a pathway to home ownership,” he said.

He is urging the industry to use land thoughtfully and to plan carefully by not only boosting yields but also ensuring that spaces are more liveable.

“This will require a change in attitude from the broader public as well because ultimately … people have to trust the outcome will see an enhanced community outcome and that there will be benefits for existing resident as well as new residents,” he said.