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Institute chief executive officer Antonia Mercorella explained she was “thrilled” at her appointment to the “diverse panel”, adding it represents a continued opportunity for independent industry insights to inform Queensland’s housing policy.
“The panel ensures our state’s housing supply policies will be strategically underpinned by expert industry advice and information about real-time market activity, conditions, and consumer behaviour on-ground,” she said.
Ms Mercorella’s two-year term sees her join 11 additional housing experts from a range of relevant backgrounds, including urban planning, property economics, and urban design, tackle housing issues within the Sunshine State and follows her involvement in the recent Queensland housing roundtable and housing summit, allowing her to continue her role in assisting the state government approach to Queensland’s present housing supply challenges.
“Our state’s critical housing supply shortage has been put under the spotlight, and there’s no denying these accessibility and affordability challenges are complex and widespread right across Queensland,” she said.
Research released jointly by CoreLogic and ANZ in December 2022 found it would take 40.3 per cent of the median level of Brisbane income to service a new mortgage on the median dwelling value — approximately $715,130 at the tail end of last year — up from the 29.1 per cent reported a year earlier.
She affirmed her belief that the state requires short- and long-term solutions from all government levels, including “better utilisation of existing housing and in residential areas, identification of new land stock, and building a greater diversity of housing, including social and affordable housing”.
Ms Mercorella added her intention to provide the panel with “a focus on technology solutions and global trends, to facilitate innovative approaches and types of housing to suit different styles, household compositions, and budgets”.
Moreover, she outlined her consideration that “key to the housing supply conversation is considering the vital role of private investment in providing housing and looking at ways to encourage and sustain this rental supply for the 36 per cent of Queenslanders who rent their home”.
In the third quarter of 2022, Brisbane recorded a nation-leading rent increase of 4.3 per cent, though this represented a slight cooling on the 4.6 per cent recorded during the previous three-month period culminating in tenants paying median weekly rents of up to $573, while vacancy rates ended the year at 0.9 per cent, with this tailing off in other parts of the state.
Queensland’s property panel’s revamped membership invites expertise from experts across property development, real estate, town planning, demographics, economics and Indigenous housing and follows on from other housing initiatives introduced last year, including a funding boost to the state’s Housing Investing Fund.
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