Disruption in regional housing: Policy responses for more resilient markets

Abstract

This AHURI research examined housing trends and the processes of delivering affordable housing supply in rural and regional Australia. These rural and regional housing markets have faced substantial challenges for more than three decades, including poor housing affordability; under-developed supply chains; the shortage of skilled and unskilled labour force; increasing demand for housing in some localities, while other centres decline; together with limited policy attention to the specific needs of rural and regional Australia.

A clear research finding is the need for government action to ‘unfreeze’ rural and regional housing markets, making substantial investments and interventions in regional housing markets and developing stronger supply chains for rural and regional housing. The development of a national urban and regional strategy would also provide certainty for private investment, while also unlocking potential State and Australian government support.

To overcome the shortage of labour to work on dwelling construction, a guaranteed program of investment in work and new-builds may be needed to attract and retain labour in the housing sector so as to create a more secure pipeline of work for builders and their workforce. This would need to be a long-term strategy, otherwise short-term action may exacerbate existing challenges, placing additional price pressure into the market.