REIA IS URGING GOVERNMENT TO IMPROVE SUPPLY PLANNING AROUND HOUSING DEVELOPMENT

July 15th,2021

Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) is urging the Federal and State governments to improve planning approval times in a bid to address the diminishing housing supply.

REIA President, Adrian Kelly said there needs to be a long-term and collaborative industry-government plan for housing.

“Transactions are down, with Victoria reducing by 21% over the past five years while WA saw listings fall by 45% over the past year indicating a chronic shortage of housing,” he said.

Mr Kelly said the changes should involve reducing the cost of the development application process, rezoning reform, improving approval times for development applications, introduction of land release programs  and the establishment of a government-led mechanism for reliable data on housing demand and supply.

“In the rising market of 2021, this issue continues to be excessively politicised and has become a conversation of public versus private, State versus Federal, young versus old, wealthy versus poor and civil society versus business groups,” Mr Kelly said.