Facing up to housing affordability and accessibility

Facing up to housing affordability and accessibilityWhile house prices are cooling in some markets, Australia is “banging against the limits of housing affordability”, says the Australian Financial Review’s property editor Robert Harley.Harley (pictured), who will be moderating the ‘Resi Prophecy’ session at The Property Congress in October, says housing affordability is an “issue that has defeated people for years and years in Australia”.”We’ve been talking about it for 30 years and houses have just got more expensive,” he says.”While nationally the market has cooled, prices in Sydney are rising – whether that’s land out in the West or new apartments. “In Melbourne, prices are still rising, although people are becoming wary of oversupply and, to some degree, quality of inner city apartments.In South East Queensland, Harley says price growth hasn’t yet “kicked in” – but it will. At the other end of the scale, prices in Perth are falling, and the state’s economic troubles will impact the residential sector for some time.According to Infrastructure Australia, our four biggest cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth – will double in size over the next 15 years. Will this inevitably lead to house price growth?Harley is not sure it will.”How are people going to pay for these houses? I think we’re facing two issues: affordability and accessibility. “We need to be able to house people affordably – whether that’s in apartments or on the outskirts of our cities. To do that we need to increase supply, and we may need government initiatives to do that.”If people want to live on a big block of land, then they accept they have to live a bit further away from the CBD – and that’s why we have an accessibility problem. We’ve got to work out how to get the jobs to these areas so people aren’t commuting for hours each day.” Foreign investment taxes may also hurt housing affordability, as offshore investors account for up to 20 per cent of pre-sales in Australia’s capital cities, and help switch projects from concept to construction.”We’ve put a shot across the bows for foreign investors, and lots of other countries have proved that if you provide enough disincentive, foreign investment will dry up,” Harley says.”Vancouver is going to be the next city to prove this, because it’s just introduced a 15 per cent sales tax on foreign investment.”Meanwhile, the Great Australian Dream continues to evolve. Harley says people are already beginning to “trade off private space for public space” – and are embracing compact living in exchange for better access to amenities and services with the city on their doorsteps.”How many people use their gardens and backyards? How many people can’t park their cars because their garages are full of stuff they don’t need?”But to entice more people to downsize, we have to create more appealing urban environments, Harley says.”It’s about creating life outside the apartment” that matters just as much as the life inside. “That’s why people want to live in Bondi or inner-city Melbourne in the first place.”Robert Harley will be moderating a panel session on residential prophecies at The Property Congress, to be held at Hamilton Island from 20-22 October 2016. More than 6 delegates will attend this year’s SOLD OUT event. www.thepropertycongress.com.au