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Brisbane City Council has announced that it will review the city’s low-to-medium density residential zone to help facilitate more housing supply.
Last week at a Property Council lunch in Queensland, Brisbane’s lord mayor, Adrian Schrinner announced that the city will review its low-to-medium density residential zone to boost housing supply.
Schrinner explained that the decision to launch the review was based on his view that the capital city’s current low-to-medium density residential zone had been underperforming relative to expectations.
To improve access to housing within the suburbs of Brisbane, Schrinner said that the upcoming review of zoning regulations in the city would focus on bolstering housing delivery in places where homes are “needed most”.
“Brisbane deserves housing solutions that are affordable, sustainable, and well-integrated with our lifestyle,” Schrinner said.
“We’re going to focus on areas with existing infrastructure – close to public transport, shops, schools, and jobs – where modest, well-designed increases in housing density can have the greatest impact,” he added.
Schrinner said that the review process would be conducted alongside residents, planners and builders within Brisbane to ensure that any changes to zoning are “balanced, transparent, and tailored to Brisbane’s future”.
“This review will help us deliver more homes sooner and ensure our city remains a great place to live, work and relax for people now and into the future,” he said.
Queensland Property Council executive director, Jess Caire, welcomed the announcement that Brisbane Council would review zoning regulations, stating that the review and communications with developers and industry bodies would help to improve access to housing within Brisbane.
Caire highlighted that Brisbane’s restrictive zoning regulations have seen housing delivery fall short of the levels required to satisfy demand, stating that in recent years “it has never been harder to build the homes we need”.
“Brisbane’s low-to-medium density residential zone covers 14 per cent of Brisbane, but in 2023, only 445 new dwellings were delivered in these areas,” Caire said.
“In the midst of a housing supply crisis that is not enough and shows that the LMDR zone simply isn’t working,” she added.
Alongside cooperating with the Brisbane City Council to undertake a review of zoning regulations in the capital city, Caire said that the Property Council will also work to address other obstacles to housing delivery efforts in Brisbane.
“The Property Council looks forward to providing input to council as part of their review and continuing to work with them to remedy the barriers stymying the delivery of new housing,” Caire said.
The Planning Institute Australia (PIA) also welcomed the Brisbane City Council’s announcement, with the body’s Queensland state manager, Nicole Bennetts, describing the move as a “timely and important step” to improving Brisbane’s housing supply.
Bennetts said that an expanded supply of low-rise homes in Brisbane will offer more housing choices to the city’s residents, and added that the review would ensure that any updates to zoning will preserve the “look and feel of Brisbane’s suburbs”.
“While there is an urgent need to build more homes, it must be done in a way that delivers the right types of housing, in the right places, supported by the right infrastructure – so that it enhances communities and is welcomed by the people who live there,” Bennetts said.
The announcement of a review into Brisbane’s zoning regulations follows a range of similar initiatives across the nation, with the ACT last week unveiling reforms to allow more low-rise housing in Canberra.
Additionally, the NSW government in February of this year implemented a policy that removed restrictions on developing low- and mid-rise housing across hundreds of town centres and stations in NSW.
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