Is there a land shortage

Apparently a land glut is upon us and the ripest and largest harvest of en globo offerings are in Qld:

http://www.forsite.com.au/news/article.aspx?news_id=2852

So, we have a shortage of housing.........especially in Melbourne and land locked Sydney. Banks are lending or not lending (to land developers) depending on who/what one reads and listens to; bringing sites to market is most expensive in Sydney, then Brisbane and Melbourne the cheapest, hence the latter's proliferation of brand new house and land packages in the middle of nowhere and without immediate amenity. :cool:

However this is the affordable belt of housing that FHB can manage to service as they are in the sub 400 K category. Well below the median for Melbourne, or is it?

In true landscape terms, the price of this housing is actually expensive.Of course some of this stems from the headworks costs and greedy echelons of government from all levels. Disregard for one moment the paucity of amenity and infrastrucutre to most of these developments, at least for the near and medium term. The average house block has now shrunk so much that these brand new boxes on circa 350 sq m of dirt aren't looking so cheap when compared to infill standard blocks of 600-700 sq m.....even larger in days gone by with the traditional quarter acre being (imperial) 10,500 square feet.

We as investors understand this, however most FHB are swayed by brand new, alfresco and living in each others lap. :rolleyes:

What's the difference with having a better located town house with likely similar land conent. Perhaps this will be a used model, however with amenity already existing, capital value is more assured. There is no shortage of land (on the outskirts) of Melbourne to protect new FHB investment (sic) or rather emotional preference for "brand new"

The departing premier Mr. Bracks changed his mind on the Rockbank green wedge and I am of the understanding that Delphin (?) has holdings to the north of Cragieburn around Kalcallo, the size of Shepparton.

I am all for infill land with an old box for holding income, however given the choice between new house and land in the middle of nowhere and a better located (say 15-20 KM from the CBD) town house or villa unit, I'd be opting for the latter. ;)
 
Rather than a land shortage, maybe we have too many planning restrictions that make it hard to develop land? Ease the planning laws and perhaps the so-called land shortage will disappear. Of course, many of us would be unhappy with high rise in the suburbs but this is surely one way to fix the problem.

The land-shortage school of thought is more grist for the mill for those frumpies who believe that Australia cannot cope with a population of more than 5million. The people who tell us that there is a land shortage in Australia remind me of the Luddites of two centuries ago.
 
I think we'll look back at times that a land shortage was even considered in Australia and laugh.

A few years back , there were reports of an undersupply and shortage of land in California. It was accepted like gospel that they "just weren't building enough houses". Now there seems to be a massive oversupply.

It's amazing what a change in credit availability can have on a "land shortage".
 
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