An election budget to be sure. But what does it reveal for the property sector in a policy sense.

Proposed changes to infrastructure charges provide a mixed bag of policy responses. Most concerning are the re-emergence of policy ideas that resulted in Sydney having the land production rates of Adelaide in the mid 2010’s. On the other side, there are solutions to timing issues of contributions payment and reforms to rate pegging which are both needed

If you want to get the lowdown on whether reforms to stamp duty in NSW will be successful this is a must read. Urbanised supports reforms - there are just some changes that will be required to get this one through.

Many of our assignments over the past 6 months have been looking at the economic impact of specific developments. What we discovered is, that while developers pride themselves on building communities, very little is known about the long term local economic impact of the community they create.

Consumer preferences and behaviour have changed as a result of COVID experiences over the past 12 months. Working with leading developers it is interesting to see the type of questions we are being asked. A common question is what is the proportion of households that will have someone working (part time or full time) from home post COVID.

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Walking through the CBD, it looks like things are starting to return to normal. Despite this there have been some changes that have accelerated underlying trends that existed prior to COVID as well as some other trends. Recognising the trends and responding to them will be the key to success over the coming year.

The Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) recently released new housing forecasts for Sydney. Despite industry views about the emergence of a two-speed market, the new forecasts point to apartments continuing to be the major contributor to new housing production.

For more than 15 budgets I have been holed up in the lock up in Canberra reading papers and writing briefings for various industries. The reports are normally stacked with figures and relevant programs. However, this one is different. So rather than bombard you with the figures and programs, this one is written like I have finished the write up early and is what I would talk to the other analysts about before we were permitted to leave the lock up.

During the GFC, the Australian financial market lost almost all of its non bank lenders. The traditional banks moved from 70% to 90% of the residential construction lending market. Capital was severely constrained which led to a major property industry downturn. This time it’s different.

Urbanised has been pleasantly surprised by the level of activity on new project proposals in Sydney. If these projects end up getting through the approval process we will be a long way towards an industry rebound.

This article was written in early April 2020.

I wouldn’t want to be a politician for quids. Regardless of some slip ups – politicians have done a rather amazing job dealing with the prevailing circumstances. But as is the case in politics the lift in popularity is ephemeral. They are about to be under more scrutiny than at any time I can recall as we work our way out of lock down and get on with the job of rebuilding the economy.