The property industry has welcomed Lord Mayor Graham Quirk’s announcement of a package of incentives to encourage more retirement village and aged care development in Brisbane.
Property Council Queensland Executive Director, Chris Mountford, says that Brisbane City Council’s package will position the city as a national leader in tackling the ageing population challenge.
“Council’s proactive move to incentivise the delivery of age-appropriate housing will encourage investment and help make more developments a reality” Mr Mountford said.
Research released by the Property Council last year found that Australia will face a seniors’ housing crisis without “urgent change” to state and local planning systems to enable the development of more retirement villages.
“By 2025, the demand for retirement living accommodation for people aged over 65 years is expected to double. But at the current rate of development, there will simply not be enough supply of retirement communities to meet demand,” Mr Mountford said.
“We don’t want a city where our older people have to move out of their neighbourhoods and away from their families and friends to find accommodation that supports healthy ageing and independent living.”
“Brisbane City Council has recognised this problem and is now blazing the trail for local governments around the country with an innovative policy solution to this impending challenge.”
The new incentives include a three year one-third reduction in infrastructure charges and an additional two storey allowance in medium and high density locations if best practice design standards are met.
Today’s announcement delivers on proposals put to the Lord Mayor by his Retirement and Aged Care Taskforce, of which the Property Council is a member. The taskforce was established by the Lord Mayor in 2015 to identify the challenges and solutions to delivering more retirement and aged care housing within Brisbane.
Similar Brisbane City Council incentives to encourage the development of hotels and student accommodation have led to significant new additions to the Brisbane market.
“The Lord Mayor’s new incentives will be warmly welcomed by the property industry, and the future residents of the exciting age-appropriate developments that will be enabled by this new policy,” Mr Mountford said.