How do we incentivise the market to build more new homes?
Fair point. I've read that there are plenty of home developments that have received planning approval but the developers haven't pulled the trigger because at the moment there is a gap between what they need to make a profit and what the market can pay. There are some basic problems to solve. Developers already drip feed newly subdivided land onto the market to maintain profit rather than flooding the market and causing a glut. In areas marked for redevelopment existing residents don't like the idea of high density housing going up next to them.
Where I live there are objections to urban sprawl where agricultural land is cleared for housing. People prefer to see grape vines rather than sardine like housing construction. Another issue is with basic services. There are existing developments being affected by the inability of the local water utility company to keep up with new sewer connections. Being a monopoly they have to negotiate 4 year funding terms for approval so have to try and forecast demand. The coming 4 years they are asking for over $650million compared to the previous term of $166million due to the looming pipeline of building approvals expected presumably as a result of Federal and State Government plans to boost housing supply. As I wrote it's one thing to get planning approval but actually getting things built is a hurdle. Some say we could use more flat pack housing rather than bespoke construction.
