A property developer says state and local governments should have used the Queensland Housing Summit to consider emergency planning measures to expand approved residential property projects.
KDL Property Group managing director Kent Leicester (pictured above) said the measures could be considered as a way to tackle housing shortages, which could significantly boost development-approved projects in a shorter space of time.
The housing summit, which took place on Oct. 21, revealed that 97% of Queensland’s housing stock was owned by the private sector, with Premier Anastasia Palaszczuk acknowledging that it would be essential for the government to enable developers to deliver more housing supply.
Read next: Revealed – huge jump in time taken to complete housing projects
Leicester said the housing summit was a great initiative and one of the solutions to consider was the temporary relaxation of planning laws on densities and product mix to deal with the housing supply emergency.
“For example, they could look at allowing an existing DA for a 100-lot residential housing development to be amended and expanded to perhaps 120 or 130 lots,” Leicester said. “The DA could also possibly be amended to allow for more diversification of the building product with the estate to feature villas, terrace homes or townhouses as well as standalone housing.”
Leicester said this would need to remain a high-quality offering and follow proper guidelines to ensure it remained desirable with appropriate amenities and streetscape.
“If this proposal was adopted, a big advantage of this could provide an immediate solution to provide more housing rather than a developer waiting nine to 12 months for a new DA to be approved,” he said. “I believe by approving more build-to-rent developments, including house and land projects, would help deliver a greater supply of affordable rental housing.
“We need to boost the workforce as we continue to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic and that means increasing skilled migration. These people will need accommodation and that requires not just apartments but houses and townhouses, particularly in the outer suburbs of Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.”
Read next: Buying still cheaper than renting in 518 Australian suburbs
Leicester said it was a relief prior to the summit that the Queensland government had responded to intense pressure from all sectors of the property industry and interstate governments.
“It is refreshing to see they are reconsidering land tax reforms, which would have calculated tax on the basis of a property owner’s total nationwide land holdings,” he said. “This would have pushed up costs and made build-to-rent projects that can make a big difference to the housing crisis unviable.”
