Urbis City Leaders Poll: Aussie chiefs fear housing crisis as population outgrows homes – realestate.com.au

Hundreds of senior Australian managers have identified the country's housing crisis as a bigger problem than economic growth, climate change or technological disruption.

And they warned that the country has critical capacity gaps to deliver more homes, with more than two-thirds of city leaders worried about being able to accommodate their growing population.

The latest Urbis City Leaders Survey ranked the nation's supply of affordable housing as the biggest challenge facing businesses and the economy over the next two years, and the biggest driver of inequality in every city. It was also named the most difficult to solve.

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Urbis research director Mark Dawson said it was the first time the survey had ranked housing affordability as a top priority for the country, and it was a resounding call from business leaders, with 9 out of 10 agreeing on its importance.

“It's like a key pillar for all the other economic factors in our community and it creates an attraction for people to move and work in our cities,” Mr Dawson said.

“So we shouldn't be surprised, but of course we should be concerned that this is a situation where people are focusing on the main issues.

“Now we need to focus on how we work towards solutions.”

The biggest concern is the growing population of the country. Source: Urbis City Leaders Survey.

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Those taking part in the inquiry include senior staff from the Brisbane Committee, the Sydney Committee, national developers, local councils, NBN and the Australian Planning Institute.

The respected urban planning and design consultancy has proposed solutions including council efforts to approve new housing to be tracked and mapped, and even a national housing innovation lab for an Australia-wide livability and wellbeing index.

The survey, compiled from the perspectives of 200 top industry executives across the country, including members of the Capital Committee, found that increased housing density was the top demand for inner-city suburbs, followed by tax cuts that drive up development costs.

Addressing housing affordability is a top priority, according to city leaders. Source: Urbis City Leaders Survey.

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Mr Dawson said that while there was significant engagement from all levels of government in the housing crisis, better consultation and a more unified response were needed to really tackle the problem.

However, he cited creating the appetite of financiers to support housing projects as one of the key issues that must be addressed as soon as possible.

Governments must now strike the right balance between stimulating investment and attracting sufficient funding for the necessary infrastructure to be built around new homes.

“At the moment that environment is not necessarily clear and so we need to look at ways to make it more predictable,” Mr Dawson said.

Here's how the survey ranked the biggest issues within the housing crisis. Source: Urbis City Leaders Survey.

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The survey found that chief executives also want to see improvements in planning approval processes, more innovative use of land zoning and more public funding for social housing.

Power brokers in the country's two biggest capitals, Sydney and Melbourne, also ranked falling liveability among the top three threats to economic growth.

In response, Urbis called for a national index of livability and well-being to be used to guide urban development.

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