Future of Residential Conference Recap

Last month, we held our Future of Residential Conference, a full day deep dive into the issues facing builders, investors, and developers within the WA residential market.

Be sure to read our recap on each of the exciting and informative sessions.

Here’s what you missed:

Session one: WA’s Infill vision

Our conference was opened by Minister Rita Saffioti and Minister John Carey MLA .

Minister Saffioti chose the?event to announce a bold program of planning reforms to streamline approval processes and improve administration of contributions by developers for infrastructure. You can read more here:?https://lnkd.in/enzp_mBr. Minister Saffioti also noted measures had been taken to reduce competition between the private sector and government for skilled workers and building resources, including the deferral of 16 road and rail projects that were budgeted and funded.

Minister Carey gave an insight into the government’s contributions towards the delivery of social housing, and initiatives to boost skilled labour. He delved into the challenges facing the development of affordable infill projects in Western Australia, touching upon issues like inconsistent planning systems and NIMBYism. After discussing measures introduced by the state government in the past year to aid housing development, the Minister urged attendees to continue engaging with the government on issues that required reform and stressed the government’s openness to receiving new ideas.

Session two: What’s next for housing?

Industry professionals Anthony Garagounis , Torie Brown , Tara Holst , and Kris Daff took to the stage to discuss emerging asset classes: build to rent; rent to buy; co-living; and student accommodation.

The discussion opened with a focus on the role alternative housing options play in providing greater choice and variety to people less interested in home ownership, as well as for those who simply do not think that home ownership is attainable. Tara Holst highlighted the consumer interest in Perth’s first co-living development, with all 483 beds in The Switch occupied, predominantly by a Gen Z market.

The panel explored the commonalities between build to rent, co-living and student accommodation, with Torie Brown, Property Council Executive Director of the Student Accommodation Council explaining the unique benefits of the asset class in providing students, particularly international students, with a tailored community experience, whilst also enabling them to house outside the competitive private rental market. This session was moderated by Property Council WA Deputy Executive Director Emily Young .

Session three: Focus on Build to Rent

Christian Grahame , Managing Director of Home, provided a company overview and shared the company's vision to ‘reinvent renting’. Christian outlined the future direction of the business, explaining that Home will focus on engaging the community in the benefits of build to rent, and continuously evolving to adapt to customer needs.

Jackson Liew , Associate Director at Cameron Chisholm Nicol, delved into the future of build to rent and its architectural aspirations. He identified that designing for build to rent projects meant designing around the customers, and offering a more secure, positive, and long-term living experience. Design should strive to improve the health and wellbeing of residents through of the inclusion of fitness, social, meet & greet spaces, green infrastructure, leisure, and pet spaces. Build to rent should offer a genuine solution as a part of Australia’s housing shortage.

Session four: What’s ahead for apartments

Darren Pateman , Paul Blackburne , and Nicole Jones joined the stage to provide their insights on what’s ahead for apartment living in Perth. They discussed the continuing challenge of labor costs for builders, stressed the importance of educating people on what it looks like to live in an apartment, highlighted how best to position apartment living as a viable option for families, and noted the growth and sophistication of the apartment market was well underway with increasing demand from owner occupiers and investors. This session was expertly moderated by Danielle Davison, Director, Davison Advisory Services.

Session five: Residential economic outlook and increasing investment in social and affordable housing

Adrian Harrington , Chair of NHFIC provided a residential economic outlook. He shared his view that the housing supply shortage, particularly in affordable dwelling, requires action outside of the status quo. Currently, the social housing waitlist sits at over 175,000 households, with the current shortfall of social housing quickly approaching 433,000 dwellings. Harrington noted that this is at a time when the country is going through an “affordability and housing crisis”, so increasing investment in social and affordable housing is vital for Australia. Read more from Property Council of Australia here: https://bit.ly/3CaUuTq.

Session six: Phase 2 planning reforms

Joining the discussion was Satterly Property Group Director of Planning Megan Adair , WAPC Chair David Caddy , and Department of Communities Director, Mike Rowe .

The session provided robust discussion on the progress that the planning reform agenda has delivered to date, highlighting ongoing opportunities for streamlining process and improving efficiency. The discussion also identified the impact of COVID-19 on the roll-out and significance of the reform priorities identified prior to the pandemic.

The session was expertly moderated by Scott Cameron , General Manager, Project Coordination at Finbar Group Limited.

Session seven: Future of housing keynote

Our final session of the day saw David Cresp , Director at Urbis, provide his outlook on the future of housing. Some of his presentation’s key takeaways included; Build to rent will grow rapidly in Australia and more will be seen in Perth, and is a partial solution to the national vacancy problem; Perth housing is looking cheap compared to the national market; Investor interest is slowly starting to increase; House prices have risen, although apartment prices have not increased as much; People are now renting for longer and buying later, and the WA economy is continuing to drive activity.

Thanks to our brilliant host Scott Cameron , General Manager, Project Coordination at Finbar Group Limited, and event sponsor Finbar for supporting the delivery of an action packed and informative day.

Be sure to keep an eye out for next years’ full day conference, which is certain to be as engaging and insightful as this years. You certainly won’t want to miss out!