Housing markets in resource boom towns

Summary

This project examined housing market dynamics in four resource boom towns in the states of Western Australia and Queensland. The project considered the impact of housing shortages particularly on low income and Indigenous groups, and identified key factors facilitating or limiting housing supply. The challenges of managing the housing implications of mining activity include the diversity in the scale and nature of the industry and its impacts; the cyclical and often unpredictable nature of the industry; the propensity for mining to be located in regional and remote areas; changing technology and labour market practices and differences in policy and institutional arrangements across Australian jurisdictions. Successful housing strategies in mining communities require coordinated action by all spheres of government as well as the mining and residential property industries. The sustainability and liveability of resource boom towns would be enhanced if the design and planning of a town was taken with an eye to permanence and diversification of the economic base underpinning the local community.


Project Number: 80370
Research Theme: Housing_affordability
Project Leader: Haslem-McKenzie, Fiona M
Funding Year: 2007
Research Centre: Western Australia

Research and Policy Bulletin

Research & Policy Bulletin

Issue 120: Housing affordability and shortages in resource boom towns

Resource boom towns have experienced recurring housing shortages and affordability crises. Government and industry need to address housing shortages to ensure appropriate social and economic outcomes in these locations.

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475 KB PDF Document

Description

This project will:

  • Provide a detailed analysis of the causal factors of the housing market dynamics in resource boom towns.
  • Identify any resource boom towns which do not have a housing affordability crisis, or are experiencing less severe crisis compared to other towns, and investigate why that is the case?
  • Identify the flow-on effects of housing affordability issues in a community and the impacts on the socio-economic functionality of the community.
  • Assess the potential options for governments and the private sector to ameliorate the housing affordability issues in resource boom towns, based on international examples and public-private partnerships.
  • Identify and evaluate how governments and resource companies have previously, and are currently, managing these issues

This project will contribute to housing and regional development policy by identifying the inter-relationship between the labour market, housing affordability and the social sustainability of remote communities. 

The study will also identify actions which mining companies, the private sector and government have taken, or could take, to ameliorate any housing shortages. This will lead to a broader analysis of the respective responsibilities of governments and industry and appropriate linkages for coordinating action between the sectors.

More Information

Download now Positioning Paper: No. 105: A review of the contextual issues regarding housing market dynamics in resource boom towns
299 KB PDF Document

Download now Final Report: No. 135: Housing market dynamics in resource boom towns
1.9 MB PDF Document

Download now Research and Policy Bulletin: Issue 120: Housing affordability and shortages in resource boom towns
475 KB PDF Document

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