Qld Premier ‘astounded’ by the cost to build

The Queensland government will double its housing investment fund to build more than 13,000 new homes in the next five years.

The announcement comes as hundreds of delegates across all levels of government, the private sector and stakeholder groups gathered in Brisbane on Thursday (20 October) to tackle the housing crisis across the state.

The boost to the Housing Investment Fund (HIF) is designed to provide a long-term, sustainable source of funding to build homes for Queenslanders.

The fund is expected to generate $130 million each year to create new housing stock, with 5,600 new social homes allocated by June 2027, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.

While building commencements have been on the rise recently, Queensland has seen commencements drop over the past year. According to statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), there were 8,469 dwelling commencements in the June 2022 quarter, down 42 per cent year-on-year. However, commencements of new builds had been at record-high levels in Queensland during the June 2021 quarter, which has resulted in long delays and exacerbated rising demand and costs.

“To tackle the housing challenge being faced right across Australia, we need to find short-term solutions and create longer term strategies to address supply,” the Premier said.

Ms Palaszczuk said the “urgent” need for housing reforms comes as the state grapples with high levels of interstate migration, a labour shortage, rising building costs and local climate disasters, which have sparked a rental crisis and housing supply shortage.

She said all levels of government have a “role to play in improving the current housing situation” and has previously called for local governments to speed up and amend approval processes.

Some of the common themes that came out of the Queensland housing summit discussions included streamlining and simplifying housing policies, strengthening the labour skills base, reviewing tax and regulations to incentivise construction, built-to-rent models, exploring the role of real estate agents and much more.

Ahead of an outcomes report that will be released, the Premier said the conversation around “gentle density” was shared multiple times — to increase housing density in communities, as well as cutting red tape during natural disasters.

In addition, she was “astounded” by some of the costs to build across the state.

“It shouldn’t cost $1 million to build a house in Birdsville,” the Premier said, adding prefabricated homes were an affordable option that should be explored.

Industry heavyweights call for urgent recommendations

Welcoming the boost towards the Housing Investment Fund, the Finance Brokers Association of Australia’s managing director Peter White said affordable housing solutions have not been “very successful” to date.

“Giving developers/builders/investors in this sector more subsidies/grants to provide better and or more solutions to this challenge is always a good thing,” he said.

Given inflationary pressures and impacts on the cost to build, Mr White was hopeful this support was a step in the right direction to support those who “need and qualify” for social housing.

The Queensland government has pledged more opportunities for private sector investment and this was a key priority hearing from several delegates across the construction sector.

Attending the event, the Real Estate Institute of Queensland’s (REIQ) chief executive Antonia Mercorella called for a number of changes to boost housing supply, including “stamp duty relief to downsizing over 55s”, more choice for first home buyers by extending the First Home Owner Grant to established properties, as well as a “new loan deposit guarantee scheme” for first home buyers and key workers.

Ms Mercorella said stamp duty reductions could also be offered to long-term investors in exchange for a minimum time commitment to keep an investment property on the long-term rental market.

She added that consideration should be to incentivise people with a holiday home or investors with a property on the short-term letting market to bring these properties on to the long-term rental market.

“Equally, there are opportunities to unlock new areas for housing, such as rezoning underutilised commercial spaces that are sitting vacant,” Ms Mercorella said.

“All these incentives are examples of immediate ways we could start to unlock existing housing today which would help alleviate some of the pressure on the rental market.”

Government flags housing reform agenda, ahead of the budget

Addressing the summit, the federal Small Business and Housing Minister Julie Collins MP painted a bleak picture of the situation in Queensland, stating almost 22,000 people were experiencing homelessness, with 116,000 across the country.

“The Albanese government is committed to developing and implementing an ambitious housing reform agenda, bringing national leadership and a strong focus to stable and affordable housing,” Ms Collins said.

“One of the many initiatives we are focusing on is improving the supply of social housing, in order to give [Australians] the security they deserve.”

She said a key part of the government’s housing reform agenda was the creation of the National Housing and Homelessness Plan.

“We are moving quickly to invest in social and affordable housing by unlocking up to $575 million through the National Housing Infrastructure Facility.

“This will bolster our commitment to establish the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund, which will build 30,000 new social and affordable dwellings within its first five years.”

Indeed, as the cost of owning a home increases, the rate of ownership has decreased.

Ms Collins said the government was committed to reforms such as the Help to Buy scheme, which would “make it cheaper and easier” for eligible Australians to own their own home.

“The scheme will assist home buyers to purchase a new or existing home with an equity contribution from the government. This will mean Australians can buy a home with a smaller deposit, smaller mortgage and smaller mortgage payments,” Ms Collins said.

[Related: Outright ownership falls over 25 years ABS]