Transperth ferry, Shelley Taylor-Smith departs Elizabeth Quay, with Perth skyline in background.
Limnios in the West Australian calls for a taskforce for small scale housing development to be turbocharged to meet demand.
WA’s explosive population growth rivals that of the top-10 fastest-growing countries in the world for 2023, prompting calls for small-scale housing development to be turbocharged to meet demand.
The latest ABS figures show the State’s population surged by 3.3 per cent in the year ending December 2023 — the fastest growth rate in the country and in line with annual growth rates recorded by the world’s top 10 countries by population growth last year.
Limnios Property Group managing director James Limnios said the figures highlighted the huge challenge WA faced in efficiently supplying affordable housing to meet its surging population requirements.
WA’s explosive population growth rivals that of the top-10 fastest-growing countries in the world for 2023, prompting calls for small-scale housing development to be turbocharged to meet demand.
The latest ABS figures show the State’s population surged by 3.3 per cent in the year ending December 2023 — the fastest growth rate in the country and in line with annual growth rates recorded by the world’s top 10 countries by population growth last year.
Limnios Property Group managing director James Limnios said the figures highlighted the huge challenge WA faced in efficiently supplying affordable housing to meet its surging population requirements.
“This demand for housing will increase even further with the announcement that WA has just secured additional visas from the Federal Government to bring 10,000 skilled workers to the State,” he said.
“An influx of overseas and migrant workers has pushed the population of WA to 3 million people by the end of last year — two years ahead of government predictions,” he added.
According to Mr Limnios, medium-density infill was critical to resolving the housing crisis.
“We need to turbocharge small to medium boutique developers who deliver two to four-level boutique apartments as well as grouped townhouse and villa developments,” he said.
“The State Government should be congratulated on the progress it has already made in cutting red tape for housing developments but many of these initiatives have been directed at larger developments. To that end Limnios Property Group is offering to become part of a fast-tracked red tape task force focusing on immediately expediting small to medium infill projects.”
He said the task force should be quickly established to undertake a full review of all unnecessary costs including requirements public artwork and other unnecessary charges to ensure these boutique projects get off ground.
“Time is of the essence, and we do not want another committee that will take years to produce a report that eventually gathers dust in a forgotten cupboard. This task force should be instructed to report back to the State Government with an interim report within a matter of weeks after being established,” he said.
UDIA WA strategy and policy executive director Sarah Macaulay agreed that supporting medium and high-density development in a range of locations was one aspect of delivering much-needed housing to the market.
“Currently, medium and high-density development is financially unviable in many areas due to rising costs of materials, skills and the time and costs involved in navigating lengthy and complex approvals processes,” she said.
“For infill development there is also the added challenges around ageing or inadequate infrastructure, fragmented land ownership and community resistance in some cases.
“UDIA WA has made a range of recommendations to support more medium and high-density development, including expanding the Infrastructure Development Fund to a maximum of $20,000 per apartment and to include other statutory charges such as land tax in that fund, to get more ‘shovel-ready’ projects off the ground.”
Ms Macaulay said while the announcement of 10,000 skilled migration places that focus on the construction sector was a welcome step in the right direction, there was no doubt more work needed to be done to address the blockages in the housing supply pipeline right across the spectrum.
“Labour and skills shortages have had a significant impact on delivering housing to the market for several years and UDIA WA has regularly highlighted this issue to government on behalf of industry,” she said.
“We understand it is a bit of a ‘chicken-and-egg’ situation when you are bringing in more people to deliver housing, and in the meantime they too need housing, but this is critical for the longer term delivery of housing and for wider economic growth.”
Raquel de Brito | The West Australian
Wed, 3 July 2024 5:48AM
View original article: https://thewest.com.au/business/commercial-property/was-population-growth-rivals-that-of-the-top-10-fastest-growing-countries-in-the-world–c-15215257
