The Queensland government has become the latest to be sucked into the idea that housing abundance will magically solve the housing crisis.
In justifying why the government was selling a swathe of vacant state owned land to the private sector, with no mandates for social housing at all, the Deputy Premier, Jarrod Bleijie, dropped lines that you’d think were written for satire headlines.
This includes: “The best thing we can do for the housing crisis in Queensland is supply, supply, supply.”
Or certified banger: “The former government mandated affordable and social housing, and this is the result: kangaroo land, plovers swooping people, that’s what mandates give.”
In short, the suburb of Banyo, where he held his press conference, will be getting 400 no doubt luxurious condos on land that would otherwise be “an eyesore, under-utilised and fenced off”.
He then also took the chance to jab at Labor’s housing policy, which he says creates “fenced off vacant land that the taxpayers had to mow every fortnight.”
Bleijie seems to indicate that his government not only drank the Kool-Aid but is completely drunk on it, saying “the more you mandate, the less houses you get built,” and insisting the market was the key to solving the housing crisis.
And this wasn’t their first rodeo. According to the ABC, the government scrapped mandates for affordable housing in the Wolloongabba priority development area in their 2032 Games infrastructure plan.
And as if to prove his point, Cotality has reported a rise in median home value in Brisbane by 1.6 per cent to $1,054,555 in January, possibly the effect of housing investors leaving Melbourne in droves and heading north.
In Sydney, Bradfield City will at least have some affordable housing
Bradfield Development Authority has announced that Hassell and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) will be the designers for the reference design and master plan for Bradfield City’s first land release, a precinct currently known as Superlot 1.
The two have collaborated with cultural design partners Djinjama and COLA Studio to develop a reference design for the development.
The precinct will become the gateway to Bradfield City and will be delivered by the NSW government, alongside developer and investor Plenary, and will have 1400 new homes, with 10 per cent dedicated to affordable housing, as well as commercial, retail, and community spaces within minutes of the new Metro station and Central Park.
Is BTR the solution to our problems?
And in more on housing, Ray White’s chief economist, Nerida Conisbee, has weighed in on the build to rent (BTR) market – calling it one of the most significant structural shifts in Australia’s housing market. It was both “a response and a solution to our chronic rental undersupply.”
Conisbee said BTR projects would often be well-located, well-built apartments with high energy efficiency, communal spaces and on-site management, and sets a new benchmark for quality in rental housing. But would it be a real solution? She writes it will remain “a complement, not a substitute”, even with a strong pipeline for the next four years, saying BTR accounts for “well under one per cent of total rental housing.”
Property Linked Finance (PLF) Accelerator on financial plumbing
According to Scott Bocskay of the Property Linked Finance (PLF) Accelerator, the government could do far worse than embed “financial plumbing” in new housing in Australia to ensure we don’t hit the $744 billion of climate damage forecast by the Productivity Commission.
In its pre-budget submission to Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Bocskay said,
“New construction offers the lowest-risk entry point to build this market. By establishing the financial plumbing in new builds first, we create the confidence and data needed to scale into Australia’s 11 million existing homes, allowing the government to gradually phase out subsidies.”
The submission warns that without this transition, rising climate risk will create massive, long-run fiscal exposure. The Productivity Commission estimates climate-related housing damage could reach $744 billion by 2100, with around $186 billion avoidable through timely private investment.
“The business community is right to demand fiscal discipline,” Bocskay said. “The problem is that we are trying to fund a 20-year structural transition with volatile, short-term budget handouts.”
The submission proposes three zero-cost actions to crowd in private investment:
- Coordinate market design: Align Property Linked Finance (PLF) with Buy Now Pay Later reforms and align with existing consumer protection laws.
- Catalyse private capital: Reallocate up to $500 million from existing Specialist Investment Vehicles (SIV) to de-risk early movers and exit once the market matures.
- Standardise delivery: Embed PLF in housing governance to independently deliver resilience targets.