The latest State of the Land Report released by the Urban Development Institute of Australia highlights the undersupply of housing right across the national housing market that is affecting housing affordability.

UDIA National President Peter Sherrie said that, “the Report illustrates the growing gap between land supply and demand throughout Australia. It paints a concerning picture for policy makers and importantly, for new homebuyers looking to enter the market.”

For the first time, the Report ranks the major capital cities in terms of their performance in providing sufficient supplies of residential land to meet the demand for housing. The report finds that Melbourne comfortably leads the other capital cities in terms of supply, with Australia’s largest city, Sydney, coming in last.

The Report ranks the capital cities in terms of their performance on land supply as follows:
1. Melbourne
2. Adelaide
3. Perth
4. Brisbane
5. Sydney

Peter Sherrie said that, “a steady and consistent approach to land supply and housing production in Melbourne has led to a strong result and the medium-term outlook remains positive despite some emerging concerns around development levies. Sydney continues to perform very poorly despite the emergence of a number of new release areas on the fringe. Exceedingly high development levies and a risky and uncertain environment for investment have kept developers away and that must be addressed by policy makers urgently.”

Sherrie said: “the situation in Sydney is compounded by the fact that the Government refuses to release timely data on land supply and housing production. The Government has every reason to be embarrassed by the figures, but that’s no excuse to hide this information from the public. Developers rely on these forecasts to make investment decisions. If there is no up to date data from Government, developers simply invest their capital elsewhere – but its new homebuyers that lose out.”

Adelaide has offered a reliable supply of land in the past years although there are some emerging concerns about short term constraints and the need to implement of the 30 year plan for Greater Adelaide effectively.

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