29 April 2013
The best way to lower rents in the Sydney market is by having far more houses and apartments built says the Urban Taskforce.
The Anglicare Sydney report on the low availability of rental housing for people on low incomes demonstrates that we just dont have sufficient housing across the city says Urban Taskforce CEO Chris Johnson. We are producing about half the numbers of houses and apartments that are needed and this means less options for rental housing and therefore higher prices.
The NSW Government is reforming the planning system to help with housing supply but this will take some time.
Some of our members believe that some councils are requiring higher standards of accommodation than the market can afford.
In other states smaller apartments are allowed while Sydney councils often require larger minimum sizes for apartments. All this does is adds to the cost and therefore to the rent of apartments.
One proposal has been to consider smaller sized apartments in areas where land is cheaper to lower overall costs.