The ‘shot in the arm’ for Australian affordable housing
An ambitious agenda to provide accessible, affordable housing needs to push ahead, national property council says
2 min
The Federal Government’s proposed housing fund is the ‘shot in the arm’ required to address the housing crisis, the Property Council of Australia said today.
Property Council chief executive Mike Zorba said the Albanese Government’s second attempt to pass the Housing Australia Future Fund (HAFF) Bill through the Senate next week was to be welcomed.
The Federal Government announced the HAFF in June this year, describing it as ‘an ambitious agenda’ for affordable and social rental housing. At that time, Federal Housing Minister Julie Collins signed an amendment to the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation’s (NHFIC) investment mandate to increase its liability cap from $5.5 billion to $7.5 billion.
However, the bill failed to pass the senate on its first attempt, sparking talk of a double dissolution trigger if it fails again next week.
Mr Zorba said Senate approval would go some way to addressing the housing shortfall in Australia. Estimates based on data from the 2021 Census revealed that more than 500,000 Australians on low income were in inappropriate housing on census night, which included homelessness, overcrowding or households where more than 30 percent of income was spent on rent.
Minister Collins said the $10 billion HAFF represented ‘the single biggest investment in social and affordable housing by a Federal Government in more than a decade’. The new initiative is expected to fund 30,000 new social and affordable rental homes.
Mr Zorba said Senate approval would kickstart the housing supply recovery.
“The HAFF is the shot in the arm the nation needs to close the housing deficit,” Mr Zorbas said.
“The 30,000 new social and affordable houses that hang in the balance need to be green-lighted by all Senators as soon as possible.
“Beyond the HAFF, the fastest paths to new housing remain setting housing targets, creating incentives for more supply and fixing broken state planning systems.
“We also need governments to boost helpful asset classes like purpose-built student accommodation, retirement living communities and build-to-rent housing,” he said.
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3 min
Australia’s housing crisis will not be solved by first-home buyer incentives or tax changes alone, with leading property figures warning governments must tackle supply constraints if affordability is to improve.
Speaking at the Kanebridge Quarterly Property Leadership Summit in Sydney last week, expert project marketing specialist Sam Elbanna, property investor and fund manager Paul Miron and property consultant Karla McNeice said that a lack of housing supply remained the central issue facing the market.
Elbanna, Director of CPM Realty with more than 30 years’ experience in project sales, argued that successive governments had focused too heavily on stimulating demand rather than addressing the barriers preventing new housing from being delivered.
“The misconception is that politicians think the way to solve the housing crisis is to drive demand,” he said.
“The reality is that’s not the way. This is a supply-side problem, and it needs to be solved on the supply side.”
Drawing on his experience in project sales, Elbanna said policies designed to help first-home buyers often had unintended consequences, pointing to previous grants that ultimately flowed through to higher property prices.
Instead, he said developers were facing increasing red tape, approval delays and rising costs, which were discouraging new housing supply.
“In the absence of stock, demand exceeds supply,” he said.
Miron, a Co-Founder and Fund Manager of Msquared Capital, said the housing debate had become overly focused on tax policy while overlooking broader structural issues.
He argued that affordability challenges stemmed from a combination of factors, including planning constraints, supply shortages, migration levels and interest rates.
“No-one can be 100 per cent certain on the real reason for property prices is going up,” he said.
“The reason why property prices are higher is a combination of interest rates, lack of supply, migration, vacancy rates and maybe taxes play a role.”
Miron was critical of recent federal housing policy changes, warning they could reduce the number of new homes being built and further constrain supply that was even highlighted in the budget.
He also highlighted the importance of the property sector to the broader economy, noting that residential real estate and related industries employed more than one million Australians.
McNeice, who advises developers on sales strategy and market intelligence, said understanding buyers had become increasingly important as affordability pressures intensified.
While affordability remained a major consideration, she said today’s buyers were focused on value rather than simply price.
“People are looking for value for money,” she said.
She said buyers were increasingly evaluating factors such as transport connections, walkability, nearby amenities and flexible living spaces that could accommodate changing family needs.
“What infrastructure is going on? Can I walk to the shops? Can I meet people at the local cafe?” she said.
The panel also discussed the mounting pressures facing developers, with Elbanna arguing that many projects become financially unviable from the moment a site is purchased.
“The viability of a development happens at the moment the site is bought,” he said.
He said rising construction costs, higher interest rates and overly optimistic feasibility assumptions had left some developers exposed as market conditions changed.
While acknowledging the growing number of smaller and first-time developers entering the market, Elbanna said property development required expertise across finance, construction, marketing and legal disciplines.
“It is actually a business that requires a level of expertise,” he said.
Looking ahead, the panel agreed opportunities remained in the market despite current challenges.
Miron said property should continue to be viewed as a long-term investment and cautioned against trying to time short-term market movements.
McNeice said success would increasingly depend on identifying projects that genuinely met changing buyer expectations.
Elbanna said affordable housing remained achievable, but developers needed to deliver more than just homes.
“We can provide affordable housing in this country,” he said.
“But we’ve got to wrap that affordable housing with the things that people want.”
As Australia’s housing affordability debate intensifies, the panellists agreed on one point: without a meaningful increase in housing supply, demand-side measures alone are unlikely to solve the nation’s property challenges.
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