By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
AN INTERNATIONAL survey showing Geelong among the least-affordable housing markets in the world has blamed “restrictive land use policies”.
Geelong is less affordable than New York and the same as London, according to the 10th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey.
The survey ranked Geelong at 7.3, based on its median housing price of $405,000 and median household income of $55,700.
The survey deemed ratings of 5.1 and over as “severely unaffordable”. Ratings of 4.1 to 5.0 and 3.1 to 4.0 were “seriously” and “moderately” unaffordable respectively, while affordable housing rated 3.0 and under.
Geelong’s ranking was part of an overall housing affordability “deterioration” across Australia during the past decade, the survey found.
“Restrictive land use policies” across Australia’s 25 severely unaffordable markets, led by Sydney and Melbourne, were blamed.
“This has invariably been associated with urban containment policy and is most evident in Australia,” the survey said.
“The key to preserving housing affordability is a competitive land supply, which appears to be incompatible with urban containment policy.”
The most-affordable major metropolitan market was Pittsburgh, in the United States, at 2.3, while the least affordable was Hong Kong, its 14.9 rating the highest recorded in the 10 years of the survey.
In response to the survey results, state Planning Minister Matthew Guy told the Independent: “There is more supply in Melbourne than any time during the last 15 years”.
“We’re doing everything we can to solve this issue,” he said.
“It’s not our problem, we didn’t create it, the previous Labor Government did. The Coalition Government is trying to fix it.”
Mr Guy said the government’s Urban Development Program indicated Geelong had more than enough land for future population growth.
“We now have a complete picture for Victoria. It’s clear that there is plenty of land for future development and plans to maintain supply.
“It is critical that we continue to identify land to drive industry, jobs and housing growth in regional centres.”
Geelong council’s planning portfolio holder, Rod Macdonald, said part of the city’s affordability issue was the way in which land supply was calculated.
“Traditional methods say we have 10 years supply but it doesn’t take account of the actual situation; land may be banked, it may be limited by developers and lack of services might delay it’s availability.
“We have to look more closely at how we measure the availability of land and work more closely with state and federal governments to better understand demand.
“We’ve got to work harder at making homes more affordable.”
