Federal deposit gap scheme introduced to Parliament
Legislation giving effect to the Commonwealth Government’s deposit gap scheme was introduced to Federal Parliament today. UDIA National welcomed the move as a mechanism to reduce barriers to home ownership by closing deposit savings requirements and effectively reducing mortgage insurance costs.
UDIA has been actively engaging with the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC), which has carriage of the scheme’s design, implementation and ongoing management.
UDIA is working to ensure the design principles of the scheme reflect the reality of house prices in different markets.
The draft legislation proposes variable price caps for different capital cities and regions and UDIA has suggested that the same flexibility apply to income thresholds.
The other recommendation we have made is to limit access to the scheme to newly constructed properties, which has the benefit of spurring construction activity at a time the economy needs a boost.
Read more here.
UDIA meets with RBA
UDIA National President Darren Cooper, Vice President Simon Basheer and Executive Director Connie Kirk met with RBA Assistant Governor – Economics on Monday to discuss the state of housing markets and lending conditions.
UDIA provided information on conditions in various jurisdictions and regions to the RBA based on extensive member feedback collated by UDIA State offices.
Items for discussion included insights on current themes and trends in housing markets and pricing, access to finance for homebuyers, future development pipelines and other critical issues.
Read more here.
UDIA member survey released: win a golden ticket!
UDIA launched a member survey today to collate comprehensive feedback from members on our reputation and services. Those completing the survey can go into the running to win a golden ticket, giving you access to all UDIA WA industry breakfast events in 2020.
We appreciate our members support in providing frank and honest responses so that we can ensure we are meeting members needs effectively and so we can make improvements where necessary.
The survey is being conducted by Elton Consulting on behalf of UDIA WA and should take around ten minutes to complete. It closes on Wednesday 25 September and all the information you provide will be treated as strictly confidential and no individual will be identified in the reporting of results.
Start the survey here.
Latest Urban Intelligence released
UDIA launched the August edition of Urban Intelligence to members on Tuesday, providing an outline of the latest economic and property market data and analysis.
The publication has been revamped in line with other UDIA research publications to provide members with the most relevant information in an easy to read format.
Key results this month include lot sales trending upward, along with the Consumer and Wage Price Indexes. House prices remain on a downward trend.
More information here.
EnviroDevelopment Information Session
On Monday 16th September UDIA WA is holding an exclusive information session for members on the EnviroDevelopment Program, presented by National EnviroDevelopment Manager, Taylor Hood.
The session will contain information relevant to existing certified EnviroDevelopment projects and provide guidance regarding any future projects that may undergo the certification process.
The information session will provide an update on the EnviroDevelopment program and in particular, will:
- Outline the EnviroDevelopment accreditation process and the benefits of certification;
- Introduce the new 2019 EnviroDevelopment Technical Standards;
- Discuss the benefits of EnviroDevelopment Professional Membership;
- Provide an overview of the availability of marketing collateral and positive marketing strategies; and
- Examine National and WA based EnviroDevelopment project case studies
Please contact UDIA on policy@udiawa.com.au if you would like to attend. Places are strictly limited. More information on EnviroDevelopment is available here.
UDIA Industry Breakfast showcases latest innovations in sustainability
UDIA’s recent industry breakfast on the future of residential development in relation to innovation, technology and sustainability provided three insightful project case studies from around Australia.
First up, Lance Randall, Director of CarbonEMT outlined the experience of designing and developing the Ripley Town Centre by Sekisui House Australia.
The Ripley Town Centre is based on the ’20-minute neighbourhood’ philosophy that creates a low carbon, connected community. A masterplanned community in Ipswich Queensland, the project is expected to be home to approximately 120,000 people in the next 20 years.
In particular, the case study unpacked the disruptive approach to the traditional deployment of electrical utilities by privatising High Voltage infrastructure; deploying large scale, shared renewable energy assets; and privately managed operational and regulatory functions.
The privatisation approach meant that Sekisui House had freedom over design decisions relating to location of infrastructure, staged rollout, layout of the network and in terms of financing.
Following the Ripley presentation, Niki Hendriksen, Development Manager- Villawood Properties and David Bergmann- South East Water shared a case study on Aquarevo.
Aquarevo is a residential infill development in Lyndhurst, South East Melbourne with a focus on significant water and energy saving initiatives. The project has been delivered by a unique partnership between South East Water who own the site and Villawood as developers.
In particular, rainwater was a real challenge for the team, with each home fitted with a ‘Rain to Hot Water System’ which allows treated rainwater to be provided to hot water taps in the shower, bath, laundry trough and washing machine. This was delivered without existing regulatory guidance, policies, frameworks or targets.
Homes are also provided with solar panels with a minimum 3kW generating capacity and homes from stage 5 onward with a 5kWh Sonnen Battery which can deliver a 60% energy saving on users bills.
The final case study presented was from Blue Rock projects, outlining their DeHavilland timber framed apartment building. The first timber framed multi residential development in WA.
Stuart Hawley, Director of Bluerock Projects discussed the benefits of timber frame including decreased timeframes, increased standards, sustainability and ethics.
He said that an innovative approach to the DeHavilland site challenges, including it’s shape, slope, three road frontages, requirement for car stackers and a long narrow structure was required and the outcome was a Green building with communal solar, set up for electric vehicles, carbon storage and a Green Star rating.
A huge thank you to all our participants including our presenters, as well as panellists Tao Burton from Yolk Property, Taku Hashimoto from Sekisui House, Padraic Mellett from Offsite and Warren Phillips from LandCorp.
Of course, thank you also goes to our valued supporters, Industry Partner LandCorp and Event Sponsor Harley Dykstra.
UDIA WA State Council elections underway
The UDIA WA State Council elections are underway with the nominated Key Representative from each UDIA Member organisation eligible to vote.
Nine nominations for seven Council positions were received. Voting closes at 4pm on Monday 23 September. All key representatives have received their ballot papers and are encouraged to return them to UDIA’s returning officer by the due date: returningofficer@udiawa.com.au
Successful nominees will be announced at the UDIA WA AGM scheduled for 23 October 2019.
DPLH South West Native Title Settlement and Aboriginal Heritage Member Briefing
Glenn Shaw, Senior Heritage Officer at the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage provided a Member Briefing presentation this week discussing South West Native Title Settlement and Aboriginal Heritage.
As well as providing advice for development proponents under the existing arrangements, Glenn provided an overview of the new Aboriginal Heritage Act and the process for its adoption.
UDIA is pleased to provide these free member briefings on a regular basis to ensure our members are up to date across a range of issues and policy impacting on the development industry.
Conversation Workshop, Shaping the next 10-year Housing Strategy for WA
Senior developer members of UDIA met with the Department of Communities to discuss our current housing challenges and opportunities that should be addressed by the next 10-year Housing Strategy for WA.
The conversation was positive and UDIA thanks the Department for providing this opportunity and looks forward to continuing to work with the Department on the Strategy.
More details on the Strategy are available here.
WGV Waterwise Development Exemplar program: update
UDIA WA is a proud partner of the WGV Waterwise Development Exemplar program which is capturing the innovations at the LandCorp WGV development site in a series of research programs in cooperation with a variety of research partners including Curtin University, the CRC for Low Carbon Living, CRC for Water Sensitive Cities and ARENA.
The purpose of the program is showcasing industry leading approaches to urban water management and scheme water optimisation.
The majority of lots at WGV have now been built out and, consequently, remote monitoring equipment has been installed and water data is being collected. The original targets were for a 60-70% reduction in mains water consumption across the original mix of typologies, which resolved to an estate-wide weighted average of 66% reduction.
To date, a reduction of 63% water consumption has been achieved across the project. Specifically, mains water consumption for the detached dwellings achieved a 48% reduction compared to the Perth average.
For the attached dwellings, the average mains water use recorded an 80% reduction to the Perth average and for the apartments, a 70% reduction to the Perth average has been achieved.
More information on the Exemplar can be found here.
City of Cockburn DCP amendment
The City of Cockburn is currently seeking comment on a scheme amendment proposal to amend the annual review clauses related to development contribution plans.
The proposal will enable the City to adopt a lesser contribution rate than an independent reviewer may recommend and was created with the current DCP13 (for community infrastructure) in mind. There is currently no flexibility in the scheme to do this.
Comment period closes on 11 November 2019. More information here.
We value your feedback!
UDIA is currently working on several submissions on behalf of members. We encourage you to forward any feedback on these items to policy@udiawa.com.au
- Consultation Draft Stata Titles (General) Regulations 2019 (here). Submissions close Monday 30 September, 2019.
- Draft SPP 7.2 Precinct Design, Guidelines and Discussion Paper (here). Submissions close Tuesday 15 October, 2019.
- DWER Climate Change in Western Australia – Issues Paper (here). Submissions close November 29, 2019.
Built Environment Survey: closing soon
The Macquarie built environment industry sentiment and performance survey is now open. The purpose of this study is to get the opinions on the direction of the built environment in Australia, challenges and opportunities and to provide focus on business performance.
The survey is primarily aimed at architects and designers, engineers, surveyors, certifiers and town/ urban planners.
The survey will take around 10 minutes to complete. It closes on Friday 13 September 2019. Visit here.
Perth Brutal – Symposium
The upcoming Perth Brutal symposium on 2 October celebrates the 40th anniversary of AGWA’s Brutalist building and Perth’s early role in the architectural style in Australia.
There will be a series of exhibitions and special events looking at the building: the exhibit Perth Brutal: Dreaming in Concrete, plus talks, performances and a symposium presented with Curtin University’s School of Design and the Built Environment.
The art of the 1970s in WA will also be revisited in the exhibition That Seventies Feeling…the Late Modern.
Featuring a fantastic line up of speakers, topics covered include The Noongar History of Perth Wetlands and Gooloogoolup (Lake Kingsford), Brutal Mediterranean, Perth Modern and Brutal and more.
Speakers featured during the event include Dr Robert Cook, AGWA Curator of 20th Century Arts; Dunja Rmandić, AGWA Associate Curator of 21st Century Arts; Melissa Harpley, AGWA Curator of 19th Century Arts/ Manager of Collections; Winthrop Professor Simon Anderson, The University of Western Australia; Dr Annette Condello, Director of Graduate Research at the School of Design and the Built Environment, Curtin University; and Andrew Murray, PhD Candidate, School of Design, University of Melbourne.
For more information visit here.
Latest on lending
The latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Lending to households and businesses, shows the number of owner-occupier housing finance commitments (exc. refinancing) increased 14.7% in July 2019 and 0.3% YoY to 3,520.
The value of these commitments increased 15.2% MoM to $1.2 billion, but remained 1.5% below levels at the same time last year.
Housing finance commitment numbers for first home buyers (FHB) increased 14.2% month-on-month (MoM) in July to 1,291, the highest number of commitments in 8 months and 6.3% above levels at the same time last year.
In July, the number of non-FHB housing finance commitments (excluding refinancing) rose 15.0% MoM to 2,229.
The value of lending to households for investment dwellings (exc. refinancing) increased 14.1% MoM in July to $226.4 million, but was down 13.8% YoY, the 28th consecutive month of YoY decline.
More information here.
‘Home Hub’ launch
Hygge Community Life, a not for profit organisation and charity, is launching Home Hub – Australia’s first social and affordable housing advertising service in Western Australia.
For the first time ever, there will be a single place, a ‘one-stop hub’ to connect people who need a home, with all the safe, secure and affordable housing and accommodation options that are available.
For more information visit their Facebook page here.
Security update
Recent burglaries this week have seen offenders target installed ovens, hotplates and rangehoods in Byford west private Estate and Calleya Estate, Treeby. Police forensic examinations have been conducted and will hopefully identify persons involved.
Reduce the risk of high cost theft of whitegoods and delay delivery/installation until as close to handover as possible.
Pact Site Security August statistics are now released and have seen a general reduction in crime across the metropolitan area, see full report here. Report all crime and engage with local communities to report all suspicious activity, call 1800 272 836 or go here for more information.