Who’s Moving In?
We were delighted to host guests at our final Industry Breakfast for 2025 on Wednesday 24 September to dive into the demographics making up Western Australia’s current and future homebuyers featuring presentations from Hari Hara Priya Kannan (Chief Data Scientist, The Demographics Group) and Professor Amanda Davies (Head of Social Sciences, UWA).
Hari examined WA’s evolving population demographics and the impact on our housing market.
The key takeaways from Hari’s presentation highlighted the continued focus on Perth as WA’s centre of population growth, home to 92% of growth, and how this will drive sustained demand for housing, transport and services that require long term planning and industry readiness.
In terms of household types, Hari outlined how the growth in lone person, couple only and multigenerational households are influencing the need for more diversity in housing stock, including townhomes, apartments and flexible layouts.
In line with UDIA WA’s advocacy, Hari reinforced the importance of greenfield and greyfield development to WA’s housing mix, showing how Perth’s northern and southern fringes are absorbing the bulk of new residents moving to Perth, reinforcing the need to match infrastructure delivery to these areas with the roll out of new homes.
Finally, Hari discussed the ongoing labour shortages hampering construction capacity and the need for more targeted migrant intake to fill roles needed in the delivery of new housing.
Following Hari’s insights, Professor Amanda Davies (UWA) explored how our housing stereotypes are being reset, inviting attendees to scrutinise the underlying assumptions used to model population growth, buyer demand and behaviour.
Amanda outlined several distortions in the current market that make it more challenging to predict future demand, with severe supply constraints, higher migration rates, declining housing affordability, rental stress and investor activity all combining as a perfect storm impacting on WA’s housing market.
These distortions make it more difficult to draw on market trends today to predict longer term buyer preferences as many people are simply renting or buying what they can afford, where available, rather than making decisions based on what they actually need or desire.
Despite these challenges, Amanda showcased the demographic trends that are most likely to inform changes to housing typologies including increasing single person households, migrant communities, urbanisation and income and affordability pressures all driving demand for smaller, more affordable homes. These homes may be in existing or new areas, depending on the cohort.
Interestingly, Amanda pointed out that we must acknowledge the changing profile of WA’s aging population, with older West Australians representing the most educated, wealthy, widely travelled and housing secure generation. They are living longer, and they know what they want, which is to age in place, downsize to quality, keep their car bays and secure a home that will support their needs in ‘late old age’.
Pairing up demographic data with industry experiences, Richard Pappas (Celsius Property) and Vanessa Trager (Stockland) joined our keynote presenters on-stage for an informative panel discussion that continued to explore WA’s current and future homebuyers.
Drawing on examples within the market across Perth, the panel explored the importance of delivering enabling infrastructure and versatile housing product supported by clear, and consistent advocacy to facilitate the migration of skilled workers across a range disciplines into WA. Such efforts will create an appetite for infrastructure delivery to match expanding greenfield developments, inspiring confidence in buyers that communities will meet their needs now and into the future.
View photos from the event: https://www.udiawa.com.au/gallery/whos-moving-in-buyer-demographics-impacting-was-housing-market-industry-breakfast-24-september-2025/
Thank you to our Technology Partner nbn Australia and Event Sponsor Harley Dykstra for their support of the event.
Meeting with Senator James McGrath
On Wednesday 17 September, members of the UDIA WA team, Council and Advocacy & Thought Leadership Committee were invited to meet with Senator James McGrath, Shadow Minister for Urban Infrastructure and Cities, to discuss the Perth City Deal, funding and prioritisation of infrastructure and strategic urban planning for our city and suburbs.
With the new ECU City Campus currently under construction at Yagan Square as part of the $1.5 billion City Deal, the Senator was keen to discuss learnings and other potential opportunities for future such initiatives as a catalyst for housing supply, jobs, and amenities in key centres across metropolitan Perth.
Senator McGrath emphasised the value of collaboration across the tiers of Government and industry, and a clear vision in delivering transformative urban outcomes.
Engagement with Hon Anthony Spagnolo MLC
On Monday 22 September, UDIA WA CEO Tanya Steinbeck and Executive Director – Strategy & Policy Sarah Macaulay met with the Hon Anthony Spagnolo MLC, Member for Western Australia.
Topics discussed included current market conditions, UDIA WA’s advocacy priorities with a focus on enabling infrastructure for growth areas and measures to support the viability of infill projects, including addressing the impacts of the layering of policy, regulation, and taxes.
It was also a good opportunity to have a constructive discussion in the context of the Select Committee into Land Development and Planning in WA. It was reiterated that UDIA WA’s response will focus on highlighting the commercial and market realities of development within a complex regulatory environment and that we welcome evidence-based discussion on how to improve the planning system for all stakeholders with a focus on outcomes over politics, and how to deliver more homes for those who need it.
While we are not privy to any details, we understand the Committee has met twice thus far and will invite submissions shortly.
Consultation on the proposed Productivity Commission for WA
On Tuesday 23 September, UDIA WA CEO Tanya Steinbeck participated in industry engagement as part of the inaugural roundtable discussion about the establishment of the WA Productivity Commission.
The WA Government is establishing a Productivity Commission of WA to strengthen the State’s economy and delivery of public services.
It will be created by merging key functions of Infrastructure WA (IWA) and the Economic Regulation Authority (ERA). In terms of the ERA, the focus of this work is on whether its inquiries function should be merged into a new Productivity Commission. There is no intention to change the ERA’s regulatory functions of the electricity, gas and rail industries through this process.
New legislation will be required to establish the Productivity Commission of WA. To help inform this, peak bodies, industry, public sector agencies and others are being consulted on the commission’s final model and functions.
UDIA WA welcomed the opportunity to provide input around the potential opportunities, powers and functions, insights reflecting on the role of IWA and public sector agencies and Government Trading Entreprises in the context of strategic infrastructure coordination and facilitation of housing supply.
More details are expected in the coming months as the establishment of the Commission progresses through consultation and design.
Legislation is expected to be introduced to Parliament in 2026.
Off-the-Plan Duty Concession settings
As part of our ongoing advocacy around initiatives to help boost the viability of infill development, UDIA WA has been engaging with the Treasurer’s Office on the off-the-plan (OTP) transfer duty concession settings. This has included providing feedback on the current framework, its impacts to date and opportunities for enhancement, including making the concession permanent and expanding its scope to include survey strata developments.
UDIA WA advocated strongly for, and welcomes, the State Government’s extension of the OTP concession to apartment projects under construction. As part of our State Election Campaign, we also advocated for the concession to be made permanent or at least extended for the next term of Government and to be expanded to include townhomes — as well as for an increase and indexation of stamp duty thresholds (including for FHBs) to better reflect the reality of the current market conditions.
We welcomed the Labor’s $130m election commitment for concession increases for FHBs and apartment and townhome buyers, and it is great this has been delivered on, until 30 June 2026.
We have appreciated the opportunity to provide further feedback at this stage, with this initiative continuing to be crucial in helping to address housing affordability, diversity, and supply challenges.
Thanks to our built form developer members for sharing their operational experiences with the concession.
Welcoming James Best, our new Policy Officer at UDIA WA
UDIA WA is pleased to welcome James Best, who brings a wealth of experience and insight to his new role as Policy Officer.
With a strong background in urban transformation, stakeholder engagement and leading teams, James will play an important role in supporting the policy team and Committee’s
efforts to ensure evidence-based and solutions focused advocacy to advance diverse housing choices and foster thriving, well-connected communities.
Prior to joining UDIA WA, James held roles across the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors, where he developed a deep understanding of the planning system and the levers needed to drive reform to deliver the homes we need in places where people want live.
We’re excited to have James on board as we continue to champion policies that unlock housing delivery and help create “great places + housing choice = better lives” for WA communities.
Final Call: Nominate for a UDIA WA Committee
We’re calling for nominations across the development industry for our Strategic and Operational Committees, Outlook Committee, and for our Expert Pool. Nominations will close Friday 3 October 2025.
We are looking for multi-disciplinary representation, and with several non-policy focused committees and the Expert Pool, there is a diverse range of potential opportunities for all involved in our industry not just technical experts.
If you have the energy, passion, and commitment to help drive true reform and make a difference for our communities and industry, serving on a UDIA Committee or Expert Pool is a great way to amplify your impact in supporting great places and housing choice to enable better lives for Western Australians.
Read the Nomination Kit to find out more about the committees and Expert Pool, and candidate requirements.
You can apply by completing the online form by COB Friday 3 October 2025.
Reach out to Sarah or James if you have any queries.
Major development opportunities across Perth and the South West
DevelopmentWA has advised that as part of the Housing Diversity Pipeline Round 2 (HDP2), land parcels in North Coogee, Kiara, Joondalup, and Usher are now available through an Offers Invited (OI) process.
Lots available:
- Kiara: Lot 803 Altone Road
- Joondalup: Lot 9000 McLarty Avenue and Lot 999 (45) Piccadilly Circle
- North Coogee: Lot 217 Anchorage Drive and Lot 341 Bennett Avenue
- Tuart Brook (Usher): Lot 501 (part) Washington Avenue and Lots 800 (part), Lot 802 Parade Road
Once delivered, these developments have the potential to deliver a combined 2,400 new residential dwellings.
Offers close 2pm 13 November 2025.
Visit DevelopmentWA for more information.
New Functionality added to Environment Online
From Monday October 13, the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation’s (DWER) online platform Environment Online will introduce new functionality to support the submission of biodiversity and marine survey data packages.
The new functionality will replace the current submission process for both the Index of Biodiversity Surveys for Assessments (IBSA) and the Index of Marine Surveys for Assessments (IMSA) with the current IBSA submissions website to be decommissioned at 5pm October 12.
The updated submissions process is designed to:
- Simplify digital submission
- Improve data connectivity
- Reduce data duplication
- Be a single point of data entry for both biodiversity and marine data
- Accelerate application progress – instantly receive the Index of Surveys for Assessment (ISA) number for an application on submission
- Improve visibility of ISA applications
For more information, visit Environment Online (DWER).
Further increase to social housing income eligibility limits
The State Government has increased the income eligibility limits for social housing tenants.
Social housing income eligibility limits for single-income households have been increased by $14 per week and by $21 for dual-income households, with different rates available for people in the North West, in remote areas and those living with disability.
The lift will ensure that households that are solely reliant on the Age, Disability Support and Service Pensions and the Carer Payment continue to be eligible for social housing in Western Australia
Housing and Works Minister John Carey said, “social housing income eligibility limits will be raised again in line with rising income support payment rates, ensuring those members of the community who rely on Commonwealth income support remain eligible.”
The increase to income eligibility limits affects both public housing and community housing where public housing income eligibility limits are used.