NEW STRATEGY A BLUEPRINT FOR HOUSING AFFORDABILITY

The Beattie Government today revealed a sweeping new strategy to ensure more Queenslanders can achieve the dream of owning their own home.

The Housing Affordability Strategy is a multi-faceted response that will fast-track available land, particularly in the south-east corner, speed up the approvals process and standardise infrastructure charges across the state.

It is a comprehensive approach by the State Government across those areas of our responsibility that can affect house prices.

It will cut that red tape that can add tens of thousands of dollars to the price of a home and make sure that release of land keeps pace with the needs of our rapidly growing population.

And it will ensure that a variety of dwellings come on to the market to make it as easy as possible for young people to get a foot in the door.

The strategy follows other initiatives by the Government to keep the price of homes within reach of ordinary Queenslanders, such as cuts in stamp duty and the abolition of mortgage duty.

It will apply across Queensland with immediate actions to focus on areas where housing and economic growth pressures are already high such as the south-east region, regional activity centres and mining areas.

Key planks of the strategy include:

• Establishment of an Urban Development Authority with sweeping powers to acquire and consolidate land suitable for new housing and ensure it is moved quickly to the market. The authority will undertake planning, management and delivery of strategic urban redevelopment sites, initially at Fitzgibbon and North Shore (Hamilton), Bowen Hills and Woolloongabba in Brisbane and at the Mackay Showgrounds. The authority will have the power to require developers to include public and affordable housing on these designated sites.

• A shake-up of council infrastructure charging so that homebuyers across the state are not slugged unfair amounts for the provision of roads, water and sewerage. The Queensland Competition Authority will review Council’s infrastructure charging schemes. Disputes between developers and Councils will be decided the Building and Development Tribunal.

• New powers for the State Government to ensure planning and development applications are decided as quickly as possible. This will minimise the holding costs incurred by developers and passed on to home buyers.

• Development of Transit Oriented Developments to provide a range of dwellings in state-of-the-art examples of modern urban living, initially at Bowen Hills and Woolloongabba in inner-Brisbane.

The state’s median house price had more than doubled from about $160,000 in 2001 to $325,000 at December 31, far outstripping the increase in average household incomes.

The Productivity Commission, Reserve Bank and other commentators generally agree that pressure on housing affordability is a combination of market forces, particularly cheaper housing finance.

While the State Government has limited ability to influence market forces, we have harnessed a range of areas in which we can make a difference.

For example, economic analysis indicates delivering more efficient development approvals could take at least $15,000 off the costs of a house and land package.

Local Government and Planning Minister Andrew Fraser said the strategy also catered for Queensland’s rapid change in demographics by providing a range of dwellings.

“The Government’s Household Projections – Queensland Local Government Areas 2007 document shows that households without children will become more common than the traditional family-with-kids residence in Queensland over the next five years," Mr Fraser said.

“For the first time in our history, the traditional set-up containing mum and dad and their kids is no longer the most common type of household in Queensland and we have to plan for that.”

25 July, 2007

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