Dedicated Housing Supply Unit a welcome addition to Government strategy: REIWA

REIWA CEO Cath Hart today welcomed the Cook Government’s announcement of a dedicated Housing Supply Unit as part of its measures to boost housing supply and affordability in WA.

“Supply is the biggest challenge facing the property market at the moment, with significant impacts on both sales and rental sectors,” Ms Hart said.

“The current situation has been years in the making – the biggest lesson out of the past decade is how important it is that WA maintains its long-term average of 22,000 new home builds per year to meet the needs of our growing population and the natural change in household structure as children grow up and move out, or even as relationships change and one household becomes two.

“A specific unit actively monitoring factors like market data, population growth and the economy will help develop responsive and proactive policy to meet the changing and diverse housing needs of our state, including social, affordable, key worker and Government Regional Officer housing, as well as addressing homelessness.

“We particularly welcome the liaison with industry bodies as we can provide up to the minute feedback on changing market conditions and feedback from our members on the ground.

“The Government has clearly recognised the effect housing supply is having on the market. It has already announced several initiatives to boost supply and we commend this additional action.”

The Housing Supply Unit will be set in Treasury. This will allow it to harness the Department's strengths in providing budgetary and economic advice to Government, particularly given the strong links between housing supply and the State's economic conditions, and economic diversification objectives.