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ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
Bigger properties occupied by smaller households in major housing mismatch, Cotality finds
In a reminder of how broken housing affordability and access is, new analysis highlights a major mismatch between the size of Australian homes and the number of people living in them. While the vast bulk of Australian housing is built for larger families, property research firm Cotality has found more than 60 per cent of households are made up of just one or two people. It reveals a misalignment between "who lives in our homes and the kinds of homes we're building", Cotality's head of head of Australian research Eliza Owen said in the report. "Of the lone-person households in Australia, the data suggests around 40 per cent are aged 65 and over," Ms Owen said. "The highest share of households is two people, but the highest share of housing has three bedrooms. "While there's nothing wrong with more bedrooms than people in a dwelling, there could be some inefficiencies in the way housing is being allocated," Ms Owen said. "After all, a 'traditional' family of four may have more need for a three-bedroom dwelling than a household of two people." The report cited data from the 2021 Census, which showed there were more two-person family households in three-bedroom dwellings (about 1.3 million), than three or four-person family households (about 1.1 million). Ms Owen has suggested a way to fix the "efficiency question", which she knows is not politically appealing — send a price signal. "Governments could make it more expensive to have more housing than you need, and cheaper to live in smaller housing," she wrote in her research note. She said that logic often leads to calls for tax reform including abolishing stamp duty to cheaper to move between housing, replacing it with a broad-based land tax (which raises costs the more land you own). "These options are both politically difficult as it would involve moving from a tax that applies to a small amount of voters each year who purchase property to one that will tax two thirds of voters (property owners)," she noted. Independent housing researcher Cameron Kusher, speaking to The Business in July, argued high transaction costs, namely stamp duty, discourage moving to a "better sized property" and can lead to people purchasing larger homes than they need to begin with. "People just feel like if I can get a better and bigger home sooner, that's a better outcome," he said. "If we look at what is being built, it's usually very large houses, four or five bedrooms, taking up most of the land on these new housing sites," Mr Kusher said. "A lot of it comes down to how much a piece of a property, [and] how much the land and the house, costs. "I think a lot of people are building bigger homes, thinking 'I'll spend a little bit more up-front and my family will grow into this home'. "It might just be a couple grandkids, or they're planning to have a couple of kids." He noted the effects of rapidly increasing property prices, which can leave people priced out of re-entering the market, and the fact that larger properties can be more likely to appreciate in value at a faster pace. Cotality's Ms Owen said other policy options to encourage people to move into appropriately sized homes could include reforming pension asset tests to include the value of the family home. "Strides are already being taken on the supply side to establish well-located apartments in our larger cities, that can accommodate smaller households. "But shifting demand through tax reform could help the take-up of these new homes." The government has accepted it is not on track to meet the target to build 1.2 million homes in five years, but Treasurer Jim Chalmers has stood by the ambition, despite Treasury advice it would not be met. In another recent note, Ms Owen questioned the focus of state and federal governments on speeding up building approvals to boost housing supply, warning that the construction industry simply cannot keep pace. "With completion times already above average and construction costs elevated, it seems an odd time to be incentivising more dwelling approvals and commencements," she said. Cameron Kusher argued past experience could be a guide on how to approach today's housing problems and ease the construction crunch. "Maybe we need to go back to how things were 30 or 40 years ago, where you have smaller homes and you make them easy to renovate," he told The Business. "Over time, people can actually add bedrooms, bathrooms, car parks, verandahs and all these sorts of things to add value to the home.
ABC News
5 hours ago
- ABC News
National road safety data shows pedestrian deaths have increased by almost 50 per cent since 2021
The number of pedestrians killed in Australia has risen by almost 50 per cent in four years as the country's road toll reaches a 15-year high, according to the nation's peak motoring body. Australian Automobile Association (AAA) managing director Michael Bradley said it was a sign the federal government's national road safety strategy was "falling well short of its targets". The national road safety data hub shows 1,340 people died on Australia's roads in the 12 months to July 31, 2025, which was a 2.9 per cent increase from the previous year. This toll includes 205 pedestrians, which is 44 more than the 12 months prior. "Since 2021, when Australian government adopted a national road safety strategy target of halving road deaths by 2030, total road fatalities have increased by 22.2 per cent," an AAA spokesperson said. "Over the same period, fatalities among pedestrians have increased by 48.6 per cent." A spokesperson for Federal Transport Minister Catherine King said the government had introduced a number of new vehicle standards in recent years to improve safety outcomes for pedestrians and other vulnerable road users. "This includes Australian Design Rules that cover devices for indirect vision to reduce blind spots around trucks and advanced emergency braking for passenger vehicles to reduce fatal collisions with pedestrians," they said. New South Wales was the deadliest state for road fatalities, with 355 deaths recorded between August 2024 and July 2025 — 17 more lives than the year prior. Both Queensland and Victoria recorded 299 deaths, an increase of 2.7 and 1.7 per cent respectively. Western Australia's fatalities spiked by 12.7 per cent with 204 deaths over 12 months. The road toll rose 14.3 per cent in the ACT, and by 41.9 per cent in Tasmania where 44 people were killed. In South Australia, the road toll improved by 9.4 per cent, and in the Northern Territory the lives lost decreased from 64 to 44 this past year. The AAA is calling for more transparency around what could be causing these dangerous encounters, particularly those involving pedestrians. "The rising rate of pedestrian deaths was driven by sharp increases in Western Australia — 31 deaths, up from 14 a year earlier — and Queensland — 37 deaths, up from 23 a year earlier," a spokesperson said. Australian Pedestrian Association chief executive Harold Scruby questioned the decision to allow e-mobility devices on footpaths. "Footpaths were created for one purpose, to protect pedestrians from vehicles and to make us safe — and what do we do? We invite these high-powered motor bikes and e-scooters, and we expect things to not go awry," he said. Mr Scruby said the use of e-mobility devices were putting pedestrians in harms way, with eight e-scooter deaths recorded in Queensland alone last year. "It's just madness," he said. Earlier this year, the Queensland government launched an inquiry into e-scooter and e-bike safety to look at the current rules around the mobility devices, how they shape up to other jurisdictions, and how laws are enforced. "The increase in injuries and deaths we are seeing because of unsafe and unlawful riding cannot be ignored and I share the community's concern," Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg said. Australia's transport ministers met in Melbourne this month where they agreed the Western Australian government would draft a framework to regulate the use of e-scooters, that would be supported by other jurisdictions. But Mr Scruby said the action would not make up for the lives already taken. "We kill so many more people in road trauma compared to guns and knives alone." A spokesperson for Ms King said while the regulation of e-bike and e-scooter use is the responsibility of states and territories, the "community concern and risk" they presented was clear. "That's why the Australian government is continuing to work with the states and territories to identify the risks and opportunities they, as well as personal mobility devices more broadly, present — and identify appropriate risk management strategies," they said.
ABC News
6 hours ago
- ABC News
Productivity summit ends day two with progress on rules changes to boost housing supply
Rules holding back superannuation funds from investing potential billions of dollars into housing and renewables projects could face a shake up, after broad agreement at Canberra's productivity roundtable that there is a need for change. Super funds are required to meet a "performance benchmark", under laws designed to ensure funds are performing and maintaining the retirement savings of their members. But critics have said the rules around those benchmarks discourage investment in some assets, including a rule that requires stamp duty to be disclosed as a fee in a way that they say discourages housing investment. The government flagged it was seeking to rewrite the benchmark after a 2023 review similarly found it could unintentionally be discouraging investment in some assets. Rebecca Mikula-Wright, who heads the Investor Group on Climate Change, said there had been broad agreement at this week's summit that changing those rules could accelerate housing and renewables investment. "The Your Future Your Super performance benchmark was discussed a lot in the session I was in yesterday, and really around how that is constraining the ability of super funds to invest in higher risk projects they really want to invest into," Ms Mikula-Wright told the ABC. 'The treasurer did indicate he is likely to revisit those reforms." After a day of talks focused on finding agreement on one of the thorniest issues impacting housing and the environment — Australia's "broken" environmental approvals process — Treasurer Jim Chalmers expressed his pleasure at the "real prospect of a useful consensus" emerging on some of the country's key economic challenges. "Day two of the reform roundtable was really dominated by how we can boost housing supply, how we can responsibly reduce and improve regulation and speed up approvals," Mr Chalmers said. "I'm really encouraged by the consensus in the room for economic reform in these areas, and we're enthusiastic about some of the policies that participants put on the table." Ms Mikula-Wright said there had also been good support for a Productivity Commission recommendation to establish a "strike team" that could land faster approvals for key infrastructure projects, particularly around renewables. "We're competing with markets that are getting projects up faster and cheaper, so we have to do the same. Then we can attract more capital and get those projects rolling out," she said. After warnings from Housing Minister Clare O'Neil that red tape was dragging down housing approvals — and leaked Treasury documents indicating the government was considering a pause on the National Construction Code — attendees also agreed such a move should take place. The National Construction Code lays out minimum requirements for buildings on everything from fire exits and accessibility to insulation and capacity for electric vehicle chargers. But while changes to safety standards could continue, attendees discussed possible pauses on "non-essential" rules of the construction code, such as new requirements to lift energy efficiency standards. New South Wales Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said a pause on the code was needed, though the finer details were being worked through. "The pause is something that is where the conversation was concentrated on. In terms of how long it needs to be paused, who would do the review, what's the terms of reference, that work can be pursued," he said, "I think we will have a few more conversations at the roundtable and beyond to sort out those levels of detail." The ABC understands the government hopes to move fast on a pause, and not have discussions drag out for several months. After two successive terms of government failing to find a path through the thicket of reform on Australia's Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, attendees of today's roundtable were cautiously welcoming what appeared to be some progress. The complicated laws govern the environmental approval process for major projects, such as energy and mining projects, as well as housing and other developments where they potentially impact threatened species or significant cultural sites. But a major review of those decades-old laws published in 2020 concluded that they were no longer working for business or the environment — a view that today's roundtable attendees were agreed on. However, attempts under former environment minister Tanya Plibersek to update the laws were abandoned before the federal election — with a key sticking point being a plan to introduce a federal watchdog that could independently monitor EPBC approvals. Mining and other business groups did not support that proposed Environmental Protection Agency. But after extended talks today, they left saying they would be prepared to support an EPA, with a caveat that the final say would rest with the environment minister. There are still devils in the detail, including a desire from environment groups to see the EPA also given final approval powers on projects. But it marks the first significant advancement in EPBC discussions since they stalled last term. Australian Conservation Foundation chief executive, Kelly O'Shanassy, said there was agreement in the room that an EPA was needed but there remained different views on how it should operate. "There is a lot of support for efficient decision making, transparent decision making, accountability — that is not the current process," Ms O'Shanassy said. "You need to have an independent regulator that is held to account for the speed of its decisions and the quality of its decisions." Business Council of Australia chief executive, Bran Black, said a federal EPA should effectively be set-up in the same way as existing state-based authorities. "We take the view that it's really important to have a separation between the entity that is ultimately responsible for compliance and the entity that's ultimately responsible for approvals," Mr Black said. "In an ideal world, we wouldn't need to go down the path of creating multiple bodies at all [but] the government has committed to a new EPA. It's made it very clear, that's a point that it's taken to two elections now." "The question then is: what does this EPA do?" Environment Minister Murray Watt said, however, there was strong support around the table for "stronger" environmental protections and "faster and simpler" project approvals, through a more transparent process for businesses. "These are objectives our government supports, but we will ultimately need support across the parliament for reform. It was therefore very useful for the shadow treasurer, as a roundtable participant, to hear the depth of support for change," Senator Watt said. Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said the Coalition was willing to work constructively with the government to see reforms to the environment laws passed.
