Australian Property News

Undersupply not the only obstacle

Posted on Friday, March 12 2010 at 4:20 PM

Market forces determine the dwelling size but not the stock supply, according to Housing Industry Association chief executive Graham Wolfe.

Wolfe said the average size of detached Australian houses has trended down slightly in recent years, and roughly 30 per cent of what we now build is smaller, non-detached housing.

"The one issue we face with home size is planning requirements in some jurisdictions that force builders to construct larger size units than the public actually wants," Wolfe said. "That issue is symptomatic of the major problem at hand, unnecessary supply side obstacles preventing efficient new home construction."

He said one of the fundamental challenges is to provide affordable homes for our rapidly growing population and to do that land supply constraints, planning delays, an equitable infrastructure funding model, and a structural shortage of skilled labour need to be sorted out first.