Housing supply and affordability report

03 September 2012 | On 19-20 April 2010, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) asked the Housing Supply and Affordability Reform (HSAR) Working Party to report back on an examination of the housing supply pipeline and government policies that may act as barriers to supply or that stimulate demand for housing.

The majority of the issues that COAG directed the HSAR Working Party to examine relate to housing supply rather than affordability. The HSAR Working Party particularly focused on land supply, infrastructure cost recovery, and land-use planning and approval processes.

Recognising differences in the design of state and territory planning and zoning regimes, the HSAR Working Party’s examination of data suggests that the supply-side of the housing market in some jurisdictions has not responded as effectively or efficiently as it could to demand.

COAG agreed to the recommendations of the Final Housing Supply and Affordability Reform (HSAR) Report out-of-session in July 2012.  The report was authored by the HSAR Working Party and presented by the Standing Council on Federal Financial Relations, with an aim to increase Australian housing supply and affordability.