On Census night 2016 there were over one million dwellings unoccupied in Australia - but absentee landholders, sitting on properties and waiting to make a capital gain, aren’t to blame for the unoccupied residences, according to the latest analysis of the census.

Census data shows that Australians are shifting to a more compact and cosmopolitan lifestyle. Explore our interactive dashboard. Australia’s economy is continuing to shift towards a knowledge-based services economy concentrated in the centre of our big cities. At SGS, we often talk about this economic phenomenon that has driven a resurgence in compact living as people trade large houses on big blocks for better access to transport, jobs, services and amenities.

A new Urban Renewal Compact is needed in growth and renewal areas in Melbourne and Sydney says SGS Principal and Partner Patrick Fensham. The Greater Sydney Commission has proposed ‘Growth Infrastructure Compacts’ which will involve state agencies aligning their asset management and investment plans to government-endorsed development sequencing and infrastructure plans in major planned renewal areas. The first is to be developed...

Comparing population growth across Melbourne shows a clear need to increase the supply of medium-density housing into the missing middle. The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) population growth data (2015-16) found that South Morang [1] had the biggest population increase in Melbourne during 2015-16, with almost 5,000 people added. Other suburbs with high growth included Cranbourne East, Craigieburn – Mickleham and Point Cook...

An innovative approach to value capture can fund infrastructure, affordable housing and more sustainable cities. Developers should be charged a licence fee for the ‘development rights’ they receive through planning approvals. This would be similar to the fees charged for access to other government regulated markets, for example, liquor distribution, commercial fisheries and broadcasting bands. Development licence fees would be calculated on the uplift in value generated through more intensive use of land made possible by development consents or rezonings. As price takers, developers would pass the cost of the licence fee back to the sellers of development...