Today's announcement of 50 areas for fast-tracking high-rise #apartments means the Victorian Government's ideological vision is now complete.
It seems high-rise in high-value areas is seen as the sole solution to #housingaffordability, despite clear evidence to the contrary, e.g.: ➡️Apartments being too costly and risky to build feasibly at scale ➡️A growing disconnect between market price expectations and what developers need to charge for new units ➡️Not enough commercial builders or tradespeople to build the quantum of apartments being sought ➡️Demand for owner-occupier apartments remaining niche and subdued – ~14% of total demand (per buyer surveys) ➡️Any mooted cost-of-living savings in travel costs being offset by higher ownership and maintenance costs
It's also worth noting that most areas identified have done plenty of heavy lifting in apartment delivery in the past. Obtaining planning approvals hasn't been the prime reason more projects haven't eventuated. Demand and feasibility has.
✅I certainly support more density around the better services parts of Melbourne. And streamlining planning for feasible projects is definitely needed.
But streamlining planning should not be limited only to the most expensive and least desirable types of #development. It needs to be applied across the board, including #greenfields and #middlering #townhomes, to meet the needs of a broad demographic.
Thousands of apartments remain unsold today across denser pockets of Melbourne, in the midst of the #housingcrisis. Apartments offered at prices which are well under replacement cost still, yet they still aren't selling because the demand isn't there.
It's incredibly frustrating seeing this one–dimensional approach to housing supply. It is doomed to fail, and will not deliver meaningful amounts of new homes in the foreseeable future.
🤔Apartments would be great if they were an inexpensive housing product. But they are not – and nothing proposed will reduce the prices to a point where they become attractive and attainable to the broader housing market.
Ignore #economics and the market at your peril.