Planning, government charges, and the costs of land and housing

Summary

This project will draw on international research and an objective evaluation of existing Australian data to develop a consistent approach for determining the cost effect of planning regulations and charges on house prices and affordability in Australia. The project will then quantify the cumulative cost impacts of State and local government regulations and charges in a selection of case study developments in new release and urban renewal areas across inner city, suburban, and non-metropolitan local government areas. It also aims to evaluate the cost impacts of existing and proposed regulation on housing production against the explicit objectives of the regulation, as a basis for avoiding unnecessary or unjustifiable regulation and for offsetting unavoidable affordability impacts.


Project Number: 70393
Research Theme: Housing_Affordability
Project Leader: Randolph, Bill
Funding Year: 2007
Research Centre: UNSW-UWS

Description

The following questions will guide the research:

  • What is the international evidence regarding the impacts of government land use regulations and charges on house prices and what are the potential implications for determining the connections between government regulations, the cost of housing production, and housing affordability, in Australia? 
  • What is the existing evidence on the costs of government regulation associated with the residential development process in Australia?
  • What is the cost effect on housing production of state and local government regulations and charges across the Australian states and in a sample of representative selected case study developments? and
  • How should policy makers and planners evaluate these potential cost impacts against the specific objective of the regulation, and to what extent could complementary measures (regulatory or otherwise) be introduced to offset any negative impacts on housing affordability?

More Information

Download now Positioning Paper: No. 109: Planning, government charges, and the costs of land and housing
741 KB PDF Document

Download now Final Report: No. 140: Counting the costs: planning requirements, infrastructure contributions, and residential development in Australia
909 KB PDF Document

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