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Victoria’s Allan government recently announced its housing target to deliver more homes to regional Victoria.
According to the government, the state needs 2.24 million homes by 2051 “to preserve the dream of homeownership for young people and workers, and to make sure there’s enough rentals for those who need them.”
"Our regional councils are already doing great work to deliver more housing, and we’ll continue to work with them to make sure they have the support they need to get more homes off the ground,” said Premier Jacinta Allan.
It’s reported that a quarter of this target will be allocated to regional Victoria, including 128,600 in Greater Geelong, 46,900 in Ballarat, and 37,000 in Bendigo.
Minister for Planning, Sonya Kilkenny, said: “We want to make sure our kids have access to the same opportunities as our generation, to be able to buy or rent a place close where we grew up and close to family – that’s where these targets come in.”
A welcome initiative from the government in addressing housing supply, the question remains as to whether the state government can deliver.
The National Housing Accord has already proved troubling for the government as figures continue to fall short.
There are hopes of building 1.2 million new homes by 2029. To reach this, 60,000 needed to be built every quarter.
The first quarter saw a shortage of around 15,000 homes. Then the second quarter reported the same, prompting some scepticism as to whether or not targets could be met.
“Few expected we’d be meeting our welcome and ambitious housing target from day one, but it’s doing its job by providing transparency about who is lagging and by how much,” said Property Council group executive policy and advocacy, Matthew Kandelaars.
“If we don’t start as we intend to finish, we’ll be kicking into a gale at the final break – making the job near impossible. There’s no time to waste and we can’t afford to slip any further behind. Our new home target is much more than an arbitrary number. It is what’s needed to close the national housing supply shortage. It represents hard hats, steel caps and getting Australian families into the homes they deserve.”
The recent rate call that saw the RBA cut interest rates for the first time since November 2020 is sure to excite many prospective home buyers.
With borrowers expected to start seeking out brokers and taking out loans, these housing supply shortages are likely to only get worse.
Calls were recently placed on the government to help reduce construction costs to help streamline builds.
“The RBA’s cut is positive news, but interest rates alone [are] not the silver bullet to fix the housing crisis. Without government action, housing affordability and business costs will remain a major challenge,” said Master Builders CEO Denita Wawn.
Whether or not the Victorian government can meet the target remains to be seen. Hopefully, we see some real progress in both this plan and the National Housing Accord in order to put more Aussies in homes.
Related: Can the ambitious target of 1.2m homes be met?
