Housing supply crisis worsens

The Australian property market is currently recording about 4.1 months of effective housing supply, new data has found.

According to RP Data's latest research, Australia is currently in the midst of a terrible housing shortage, with Melbourne the worst sufferer.

RP Data's research analyst Cameron Kusher found Melbourne has the lowest current effective supply at 2.8 months, while Perth and Brisbane have the greatest effective supply recorded at 9.0 and 5.9 months respectively.

The Perth results indicate that this market remains consistent and has recorded the greatest effective supply amongst all of the capital cities since the beginning of 2007.

According to Mr Kusher, the Perth market has been recording a poor market performance for much of the period following the significant surge in property values recorded in the city between 2005 and 2007.

He said that since that time, sales volumes have become sluggish and clearly, a significant volume of properties have been available for sale which has resulted in an elevated level of effective supply.

The soft market conditions within the city are reflected by the fact that on average there was 7.6 months of effective supply in the Perth market - property values increased by 4.4 per cent since the beginning of 2007.

"Melbourne on the other hand has the lowest effective supply amongst major capital cities (2.8 months) and recorded one of the strongest levels of growth in values between the start of 2007 and August 2010 increasing by a total of 51.2 per cent; the strong market conditions over this timeframe have resulted in increasing demand for properties and as a result, those listed for sale have been being rapidly consumed by the market," Mr Kusher said.

Credit:Rebonline

Building time cut in half on Government stimulus project

Credit:Architecture & Design

An economic stimulus project in Melbourne is taking shape, using a cutting-edge modular construction method to build 199 apartments in half the usual time.

The new development is in Melbourne’s north, on Nicholson Street in East Coburg.

The Nation Building-Economic Stimulus Plan project has apartments being constructed at the Unitised Builders factory, rolled onto trucks using castors and driven to the site.

Once on site they are stacked like Lego and bolted together. The end result is apartments built to the exact same standard as any other Australian home, but with much less waste and twice as fast.

The apartments, some of which are already completed at the factory, are environmentally sustainable, featuring energy efficient appliances and gas heating. The building is stepped to increase natural light and ventilation and features a common vegetable garden.

The site will be managed by Urban Communities, a registered not-for-profit organisation dedicated to developing a strong, integrated and mixed community will be home to a mix of social housing tenants, private owner-occupiers and National Rental Affordability Scheme tenants paying 20 per cent below market rent, and employ social enterprises to ensure a healthy community.

The development will be completed by the end of June 2011.

More details are available on the initiative at www.economicstimulusplan.gov.au

Credit:Architecture & Design