Matching Housing to People

Do people live in the housing they really want?  A recent Australian study suggests they don’t.


And, not because their aspirations exceed their financial capacity but because housing stock doesn’t exist to suit them in the places they can afford to and choose to live in.

The Grattan Institute has just published it’s report The housing we’d choose by Jane-Francis Kelly where they surveyed over 700 Sydney and Melbourne residents about what home they would like to live in, taking into account realities such as current costs and income.  The report makes some interesting points and comes to some interesting conclusions.

It’s obvious that when people are asked to choose any kind of housing they want, they typically say they’d like a large detached house near the centre of the city.

After identifying the housing attributes that make a difference to people in focus groups the researchers compared trade offs between those attributes to see what compromises were more (or less) desirable.  Their analysis was split between owners and renters.

The housing types considered were detached housing, semi-detached housing, low rise apartments (up to 3 storeys) and high rise apartments (over 3 storeys); in small, medium and large sizes; and in 4 different zones in Sydney and Melbourne.

In their responses about apartments the people were concerned with the following things –

• apartments were too small
• they lacked outdoor space
• neighbour proximity (above and below) caused problems
• unwanted disturbances caused disruptions
• privacy (for themselves and others) was limited
• the risk of bad neighbours was higher
• body corporate organisations were a nuisance and expense
• apartment construction quality was unreliable
• noise control was too low

So, it seems that these typical problems for strata corporations are doing more than causing operational problems but actually affecting people’s willingness and desire to buy and live in strata apartments.

The report concludes that housing in Australian cities is not a good match for the choices and trade-offs people would make if they could (between housing type, size and location).

What needs to be done is design, approve and build more housing in the locations people can afford that meets their housing preferences.  So, let’s work towards doing that (especially apartments) to make everyone’s outcomes better.

Francesco …