Social services minister Kevin Andrews recently announced an extension of funding for the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH) until June 30, 2015. This agreement funds 180 homelessness…
In the late 1950s, more than a decade after the war and not long after the rock and roll explosion, Britain embarked on a house-building programme the like of which we have never seen before or since…
It is true that the main culprits for housing prices in Australia are taxation and regulation regimes, as argued by Stephen Kirchner last week. But this is more because of their impact on demand than supply…
London is about to experience a residential building boom the like of which the capital hasn’t experienced in decades. According to a report from New London Architecture there are more than 230 new high-rise…
State government attempts to redirect development from urban fringes to established urban areas have failed. New deregulated planning systems, not strategic metropolitan plans, are driving development…
The forecast is grim for housing affordability in Sydney, according to a recent government briefing paper. In the last decade median rent for all properties in the inner ring of Sydney more than doubled…
Despite talk of a housing bubble in Australia, house prices have been flat in real terms over the past six years since the pre-financial crisis peak in December 2007. The weighted average of established…
London-based think tank Civitas has called for restrictions on foreign buyers as a solution to escalating house prices in the UK capital. They suggest the UK adopts a similar approach to that used in Australia…
Perceptions of the family home have changed dramatically in recent years. Once viewed as a tool to ensure low housing costs in old age, a more complex and wide-ranging welfare role for home ownership has…
In an ideal (and economically efficient) world, tax policy would not influence the investment or consumption choices taxpayers make. In reality, this neutrality is rarely achieved. External factors influence…
My partner and I volunteered at a homeless shelter last month – the idea being to channel our spare time and seasonal spirit into something community-focused and productive. I’ve worked in many inner-city…
How much would you give up to have a home that didn’t cost you a cent in energy bills? Would you sacrifice that spare bedroom that’s full of junk and hardly gets used? Or the additional bathroom? What…
Imagine being the mother of a young autistic boy, whose violent outbursts had caused $30,000 of damage to your rented home - but being too afraid to ask anyone for help for fear of having your son taken…
London’s population is increasing rapidly and forecasts say this growth is set to continue over the next decade and more. However, the last time the capital had enough new houses to match this rate of…
The causes of the crisis that engulfed the global economy and its financial markets were not special or unique, even though the consequences were unprecedented for most of us. It is true that this crisis…
As a planning academic you might think that I get heavily involved in the planning system – commenting on draft development plans, or objecting to proposed developments – but actually I tend to steer clear…
Bosses at Barratt Developments, the UK’s largest housebuilder, could be forgiven for awarding themselves a pat on the back at the company’s AGM today. Advance sales are up 47%, aided by the government’s…
Government housing policies overwhelmingly favour home owners over renters, according to a new report compiled by the Grattan Institute. And scaling back government support would do little to impact home…
Mortgage rates for the government’s Help to Buy scheme were announced yesterday amid the usual torrent of criticism for a policy that has very few friends. One Daily Telegraph commentator deemed the policy…
The commentariat has gone into overdrive in the wake of Ed Miliband’s speech to the Labour party conference. Does it represent, at last, the shattering of the neoliberal consensus? Is it the articulation…
Professor; School of Economics, Finance and Property, and Director, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Curtin Research Centre, Curtin University
Professor of Social Epidemiology and Director of the Centre of Research Excellence in Healthy Housing at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne