Victoria's plan for 50 activity centres allowing four-to-20-storey towers has drawn warnings it will not deliver affordable housing. Developer Max Shifman says apartment construction costs mean developers need $14,000 per square metre for viability, making a three-bedroom unit cost $1.4-1.5 million, and doubts they will invest.
As I told the ABC: “It is quite expensive to build apartments at the moment,”
I also said: “Builders have been disproportionately impacted by the cost inflation we’ve seen over the past four years since COVID.”
And I added: “What that means now is for a normal apartment in Melbourne, a developer needs to be selling that for around $14,000 a square metre for the end product to be viable, and if you translate that into a modestly sized three-bedroom unit, then that translates into roughly $1.4 to $1.5 million for that house.”
ABC News, 19 November 2024 — Read the full article