Housing shortfall costs rural Victorian jobs and up to $1 billion in lost Gross Regional Product, new report finds
Rural communities across Victoria need more than 87,000 new dwellings to support jobs growth, economic development, provide homes for workers and meet the demands of an ageing population, a new report commissioned by Rural Councils Victoria has found.
The Rural Victoria Housing Blueprint – prepared by SGS Economics & Planning – found that rural Victoria will need about 87,400 new dwellings over the next 15 years, which represents 5,800 starts per year.
Failure to provide the extra homes could mean annual Gross Regional Product losses across rural Victoria of between $200 million and $1 billion, the report found.
However, rural Victoria is not well placed to meet the projected demand for new homes.
Rural areas face several housing supply challenges, the report said, which typically do not apply in the metro area or in larger regional centres, such as:
Rural Councils Victoria Chair Cr Mary-Ann Brown said:
“Housing supply shortfalls have a big negative impact on rural communities – including foregone jobs and lost opportunities – that range from $200 million a year to $1 billion per year in lost Gross Regional Product in rural Victoria,” Cr Brown said.
“The worst-hit sectors would be agriculture, forestry and fishing, manufacturing, construction, education and training and the rental, hiring and real estate industries. But every sector would be negatively impacted.”
“Many factors work against dynamic and competitive markets for the supply of new housing in rural areas, including limited demand, lack of available land supply, low achievable prices for finished housing products, and the cost of providing enabling infrastructure such as electricity, water and sewerage systems.”
“We will advocate to and collaborate with the State and Federal Governments to alleviate the rural Victorian housing crisis.”