Homing in on housing models

THE Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute?s Western Australia Research Centre (HURIWA) was established in 2000 as a consortium of Murdoch University and Curtin University.

It is one of eight regional centres comprising the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Australia?s largest collaborative venture in the social sciences.

It aims to assist governments, private industry and the community to improve housing, housing policies and urban/regional development by conducting and disseminating research into current housing and urban and regional issues.

THE real effects of government taxes and welfare policies on the Australian housing market are now being scrutinised using a microsimulation model just developed at HURIWA, the WA branch of the Australian Housing Research Institute.

The model is a first for Australia, said Centre Director Dr Gavin Wood.

There is currently a large gap in Australian policy analysis quantifying the economic and social impacts of housing-related policy reforms.

Dr Wood said the model has already confirmed some experts? beliefs about the impacts of the First Home Owners Grant.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the grant has been very successful in attracting a large number of applications from young professionals at the higher end of the income bracket, he said.

These are mainly people who would have bought anyway, at a later date.

First home owner grant recipients have typically bought in the lower price quartile of the housing market, which is placing pressure on developers to increase urban density or build on cheaper urban fringe sites.

Also, about half of the first home owners grant recipients are new households, which means that their housing demand must be met by a net addition to the housing stock, either from new construction or conversion.

Not only that, but each new household has to set themselves up buying white goods and furniture, and this is why the grant has been so successful in maintaining economic activity in Australia.

Dr Wood, who worked closely with Murdoch researchers Paul Flatau and Richard Watson to develop the microsimulation model over the past year, said it had many other Commonwealth and State Government policy applications.

One such application is the use of the model to analyse the impact of a low income housing tax credit as a means of promoting the supply of affordable rental housing.

Dr Wood was invited to talk about this proposal at the Affordable Housing Summit in November sponsored by Brisbane City Council, Queensland Department of Housing and the Property Council of Australia.