Melbourne’s residential boom continues with unprecedented numbers of town house and apartment developments Melbourne’s housing boom Detached houses in growth areas and largely on remnant broadhectare lots in outer suburbs made up about two thirds of about 30,000 dwellings Within the last decade, Melbourne has experienced approved each year. There was a smaller steady a residential building boom and an unprecedented supply of small blocks of flats and townhouses in the shift in the types of dwellings being built. This shift middle and outer suburbs, and a similar volume of has happened quickly and shows no sign of slowing. supply although a more volatile one of high rise – – apartments, almost entirely confined to the CBD, Until about 2007, Melbourne’s residential Docklands and Southbank (figure 1). construction industry was fairly predictable. Figure 1: Annual number of building approvals by selected dwelling type and location, Melbourne 2001-2007 Source: ABS Building Approvals, cat. no. 8731.0 Residential development after 2008 the approval of medium- to high-rise apartments in inner and middle suburbs and, to a lesser extent, an increase in the number of small blocks of flats and In 2008, approvals started increasing and townhouses in the middle and outer suburbs. accelerated to reach a record high of 45,000 approvals in 2010. This was driven by a boom in In 2014, the number of dwellings approved in small growth area supply and growth in the number of infill developments was more than double the apartments (largely high-rise, high density) being average of the early 2000s and made up 20 per cent approved in the central city. of all approvals (figure 2). Since 2010 apartment development has spread Since 2010 growth-area approvals have slowed but beyond the central city to increasing numbers of still make up a substantial proportion of middle ring suburbs. The year 2014 saw a new Melbourne’s new housing. approvals record which was almost entirely due to Figure 2: Annual number of building approvals by selected dwelling type and location, Melbourne 2001-2014 Source: ABS Building Approvals, cat. No. 8731.0 The role of planning in economic development: a case study of the Laverton North industrial area Introduction long term planning and investment on economic development. This article presents a time-series analysis of Over the past 25 years, strategic planning has industrial land consumption in Laverton North, from provided the preconditions for Laverton North to the early 1990s to today, to illustrate the impact of
Melbourne’s residential boom continues with unprecedented numbers of town house and apartment developments Melbourne’s housing boom Within the last decade, Melbourne has experienced a residential building boom and an unprecedented shift in the types of dwellings being built. This shift has happened quickly and shows no sign of slowing. Until about 2007, Melbourne’s residential construction industry was fairly predictable. Detached houses in growth areas and largely on remnant broadhectare lots in outer suburbs made up about two thirds of about 30,000 dwellings approved each year. There was a smaller steady supply of small blocks of flats and townhouses in the middle and outer suburbs, and a similar volume of supply – although a more volatile one – of high rise apartments, almost entirely confined to the CBD, Docklands and Southbank (figure 1). Figure 1: Annual number of building approvals by selected dwelling type and location, Melbourne 2001-2007 Source: ABS Building Approvals, cat. no. 8731.0 Residential development after 2008 In 2008, approvals started increasing and accelerated to reach a record high of 45,000 approvals in 2010. This was driven by a boom in growth area supply and growth in the number of apartments (largely high-rise, high density) being approved in the central city. Since 2010 apartment development has spread beyond the central city to increasing numbers of middle ring suburbs. The year 2014 saw a new approvals record which was almost entirely due to the approval of medium- to high-rise apartments in inner and middle suburbs and, to a lesser extent, an increase in the number of small blocks of flats and townhouses in the middle and outer suburbs. In 2014, the number of dwellings approved in small infill developments was more than double the average of the early 2000s and made up 20 per cent of all approvals (figure 2). Since 2010 growth-area approvals have slowed but still make up a substantial proportion of Melbourne’s new housing. Figure 2: Annual number of building approvals by selected dwelling type and location, Melbourne 2001-2014 Source: ABS Building Approvals, cat. No. 8731.0 The role of planning in economic development: a case study of the Laverton North industrial area Introduction This article presents a time-series analysis of industrial land consumption in Laverton North, from the early 1990s to today, to illustrate the impact of long term planning and investment on economic development. Over the past 25 years, strategic planning has provided the preconditions for Laverton North to
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