The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has released the Housing Supply and Affordability Reform (HSAR) Report.

 

COAG agreed to the recommendations of the Final Housing Supply and Affordability Reform (HSAR) Report out-of-session in July 2012.  The report was authored by the HSAR Working Party and presented by the Standing Council on Federal Financial Relations, with an aim to increase Australian housing supply and affordability. 

 

Master Builders Australia has welcomed the report, saying  it “confirms what is well known within the building and construction industry – that housing affordability is a serious and ongoing issue, and there is an urgent need for decisive action to improve the efficiency of the housing market”.

 

Wilhelm Harnisch, Chief Executive Officer of Master Builders Australia, said the report makes many sensible recommendations for action, many of which Master Builders identified several years ago.

 

“Master Builders welcomes recommendations to improve the efficiency to the development and the rezoning processes and to increase transparency around infrastructure charges for both developers and home buyers.

 

“A more rigorous approach to the cost/benefit analyses of local government’s regulatory proposals is a welcome initiative.

 

“The challenge now before the Federal Housing Minister, Brendan O’Connor MP and his COAG colleagues, is to use HSAR to form an action agenda which will deliver tangible outcomes.

 

“The Communique from the State and Territory Housing Minister’s meeting of the Select Council on Housing and Homelessness, held in Perth tomorrow, is a good place to demonstrate a commitment to meaningful action.

 

“Housing Ministers must convert the ‘should do’s’ from the HSAR into ‘will do’s’ if they are genuinely committed to improving the efficiency of the housing market and lower housing unaffordability pressures,” Mr Harnisch concluded.

 

The Housing Supply and Affordability Reform (HSAR) Report is available here.