The View | Why Japan is the envy of Australia’s desperate housing planners
- Unlike in Japan, Australia’s restrictive planning rules and housing policy constrain the market’s ability to respond to rising demand
![Newly constructed blocks of flats in the Sydney suburb of Mascot are seen on June 16. Addressing the chronic issue of housing affordability in Australia has been hampered by what some see as overly restrictive planning and zoning laws. Photo: AFP](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1020x680/public/d8/images/canvas/2024/07/15/91c4ba0f-15ec-4d39-bcaf-0b0809f2a234_17d56b9e.jpg?itok=uank-EaI&v=1721027197)
The scale of the challenge facing Starmer is daunting. Britain is one of several large economies in the developed world where the number of homes per capita has barely changed since 2000. However, according to data compiled by the Grattan Institute, Australia is in an even worse position, having experienced the second-biggest decline in housing stock per person aged over 20 since the turn of the millennium.
While several factors are at play, the most important one is that the national government exerts much more control over zoning and building rules than is the case in other leading economies. The planning system became more centralised in recent decades as “broad public interest in abundant housing trumped parochial housing obstructionism,” the Sightline Institute notes.
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