State government initiatives to help unlock residential land in Western Australia’s regions have been cautiously welcomed by WA’s peak real estate body.
Real Estate Institute of WA (REIWA) councillor and regional spokesman, and Dunsborough-based real estate agent, Joe White, said any funding to open up more land in major towns and smaller regional areas was money well spent.
The government announced just before Christmas it would set up a $400 million Housing Enabling Infrastructure Fund (HEIF) to deliver thousands of new homes across Perth and regional WA.
Through the fund, up to $100m per year would be available for the Water Corporation and Western Power to invest in new water, wastewater and electricity infrastructure.
This would be rolled-out in priority locations in Perth and the regions.
Co-ordination of exactly where the investments will be done will be in consultation with industry, local government and other key stakeholders.
Recommendations of what constitutes a priority project will be made to the Residential Lands and Housing Delivery Ministerial Oversight Committee.
The latest announcement, made in the government’s 2024-25 Mid Year Review, builds on a recent investment of $105m through the Housing Support Program – Priority Works Stream.
This is to support the delivery of up to 28,000 new housing lots across the State.
There is also the $80m Infrastructure Development Fund that is supporting the delivery of 5400 apartments in Perth and 720 homes for key workers in regional WA.
WA Treasurer Rita Saffioti said housing supply remained a critical issue in Perth and the regions.
She said the latest HEIF investment would ensure the government continued to prioritise strategic investments to unlock more residential land.
Through the fund, up to $100m per year would be available for the Water Corporation and Western Power to invest in new water, wastewater and electricity infrastructure.
This would be rolled-out in priority locations in Perth and the regions.
Co-ordination of exactly where the investments will be done will be in consultation with industry, local government and other key stakeholders.
Recommendations of what constitutes a priority project will be made to the Residential Lands and Housing Delivery Ministerial Oversight Committee.
The latest announcement, made in the government’s 2024-25 Mid Year Review, builds on a recent investment of $105m through the Housing Support Program – Priority Works Stream.
This is to support the delivery of up to 28,000 new housing lots across the State.
There is also the $80m Infrastructure Development Fund that is supporting the delivery of 5400 apartments in Perth and 720 homes for key workers in regional WA.
WA Treasurer Rita Saffioti said housing supply remained a critical issue in Perth and the regions.
She said the latest HEIF investment would ensure the government continued to prioritise strategic investments to unlock more residential land.
“By addressing critical water and power infrastructure needs, we can unlock land in high priority areas to deliver more homes and support a sustainable pipeline of housing for the future,” Ms Saffioti said.
Housing Minister John Carey said the HEIF would help deliver critical headworks to ensure more development-ready residential land will become available.
Water Minister Simone McGurk said water infrastructure was a critical enabler for housing development and this fund was another way the government was working to get more homes built for Western Australians.
Energy Minister Reece Whitby said housing was a major priority for the State government and Western Power had an important role to play in ensuring new developments are energised and ready for market as soon as possible.
“The HEIF will ensure developers can continue building houses at the pace required to meet the needs of WA’s aspiring aspiring homeowners,” Mr Whitby said.
He said housing pressure continued to be high in WA’s key regional centres and many smaller country towns.
Mr White said the main contributors to housing shortages in the regions were an influx of fly-in-fly-out mining workers who were wanting a coastal lifestyle and people wanting to move to the country in the aftermath of COVID-19 lockdowns.
“There have not been any new mining towns built in WA for about 40 years due to industrial relations actions and the imposition of fringe benefits tax on housing in mining towns,” Mr White said.
“The planning process is as painful as sticking a pin in your eye.”
Mr White said it would be a positive move for the State government to introduce a broad-based land tax on all transactions (with a GST top-up) and eliminate a myriad of other taxes, including transfer taxes and stamp duty.
“Transfer taxes and stamp duty stop people trading land and there is no incentive for people to downsize or for people to build higher density abodes close to towns,” he said.
“This mostly affects the bigger regional centres in the State.”
Mr White said smaller towns in regional WA, especially throughout the Great Southern would potentially benefit greatly from the new HEIF, as extending power and water and sewage in these areas would be easier than in the bigger regional centres.
But he said he expected much of the HEIF money would be spent in the bigger coastal towns where the demand for housing was higher.
“It would be good to see more initiatives specifically targeted at smaller towns, such as Katanning and Narrogin, where there is also high demand for housing,” Mr White said.
