The issue of housing affordability in Australia has become a focal point of concern for Australia’s business leaders, who believe that the government should step in to take urgent action on this crisis. Business magnates have stressed the urgency of reforms at both federal and state levels, with Julie Coates, CEO of CSR, highlighting that housing unaffordability may subdue business, despite the government’s efforts towards building more houses to mitigate the housing crisis. She emphasized that the government should reduce red tape, open up land releases, streamline approval processes, and address labor shortages, all of which contribute to the affordability problem.
Mirvac CEO Campbell Hanan agreed, stressing the need to unlock the doors for apartment-building projects in Australia’s largest cities, as the crisis is reaching a boiling point. In 2023, the Urban Reform Institute released a study that showed an 8.1x multiple for housing affordability in Australia, making it severely unaffordable. The situation was dire even in smaller cities like Orange, NSW, with a 7.9x multiple, indicating less affordability than global cities like Singapore and Washington DC.
The underlying cause of the crisis has been a topic of much contention in Australia, with viewpoints differing significantly. Some believe that the issue is mainly due to a lack of supply, while others argue that it is also contributed to by the commodification of Australian property. The role of immigration in fueling the housing crisis is also undeniable, with 60.8 percent of migrant arrivals between 2016 and 2021 being renters. The median house prices of Australia’s capital cities have surged 9.3 percent on average, without much alleviation in sight. Some business leaders have argued that high immigration rates are beneficial to the nation’s overall economy, but this perspective has been met with significant debate.