Dwelling commencements across the country have decreased significantly over the last quarter to September 2010. The latest figures released by the ABS show a -13.2% decline (seasonally adjusted)  in the number of dwelling commencements across the country over the September quarter however, they are recorded 12.4% higher than the same time last year. Housing supply, [...]

The recently announced New South Wales Budget sets out some of the most strategic property related initiatives seen to date, with incentives aimed at improving housing supply and affordability rather than simply throwing money at the symptoms. The most important announcement was that stamp duty, largely viewed as one of the most inequitable and inefficient [...]

The Federal Government’s National Housing Supply Council released their second State of Supply Report this week.  Probably the most important finding of the 228 page document was the estimate that nationally there is a cumulative undersupply of 178,400 dwellings.  The greatest undersupply in dwellings was found to be within New South Wales (57,600) and Queensland [...]

Dwelling approvals data released on the 2nd day of March by the Australian Bureau of Statistics was a stark reminder that the amount of new housing approved for construction remains well out of kilter with Australia’s rapid rate of population growth.   The total number of approvals fell by 7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis [...]

There was some very interesting commentary this week on the state of the property market.  Firstly, Ric Battellino the Deputy Governer of the Reserve Bank gave a speech on myriad of issues including dwelling supply at the national Housing Supply Conference in Melbourne this week.  His comments agreed with the consensus (yours truly included) that [...]