“Rapid population growth – at rates above 2 per cent, common in most developing countries today – acts as a brake on development. Up to a point, population growth can be accommodated… but the goal of development extends beyond accommodation of an even larger population; it is to improve people’s lives. Rapid population growth in…
Articles by Ross Elliott
Ross Elliott has spent close to 30 years in real estate and property roles, including as a State Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Property Council of Australia, as well a national executive director of the Residential Development Council. He has authored and edited a large number of research and policy papers and spoken at numerous conferences and industry events. Visit www.rosselliott.com.au
Population projections that talk of very high growth are welcomed by some parts of the business community and many governments. Others warn that the numbers and speed of growth will fast outpace our ability to provide the necessary social and other infrastructure required to maintain the quality of life that attracted people in the first…
Heavy commuter rail is a frequently mentioned “solution” to congestion. But just as frequently, it is revealed as horrendously expensive to build, expensive to operate and seemingly incapable of moving the dial-on mode share: that is, it doesn’t succeed in getting many cars off the road. Explosive cost blowouts are all around us In Melbourne,…
“We are excited that we will see another million cars on our roads by 2041, such is the growth our region will experience.” Yeah, nah. You’re never going to hear a growth booster make that statement. But it’s true. Or at least highly likely. Another 1.5 million people, based on the average ratio of cars…
Much of the news media lapped up the surprise announcement that Queensland will double the first home buyer grant to $30,000, effective immediately as of the weekend. The new grant, which applies only to new builds of up to $750,000, is intended to help stimulate supply rather than boost the overall market. To that end,…
As our population grows, so too will demand school places and new schools. This is going to prove a significant driver of demand for space – especially in suburban centres. But first, old thinking about schools needs to change to allow for the opportunities that the future presents and to avoid an inevitable shortage of…
One of the (many) furphies that get aired (frequently) in discussions around housing affordability is that we can build ourselves out of the problem by building a lot more high-density housing units rather than typical detached suburban houses. In fact, the opposite is likely to happen should we attempt this course of action. Here’s why….
The dreaded “Not In My Backyard” reaction of homeowners who have the temerity to object to neighbourhood changes they never voted for (or were even asked about) is reaching plague proportions if you believe what some urban designers and planners are saying. This scourge of the NIMBY is threatening the progressive development of cities, they’ll…
Where we work has everything to do with the transport choices available to us for getting there. For CBD and inner-city workers, transport choices are amongst the widest – including a variety of forms of public transport (ferries, buses, trains) along with more options for walking and cycling (thanks to the infrastructure but also because…
There is nothing inevitable about the rate of our population growth in Australia. So why does so much of our urban planning assume that the rates of growth are something “we can’t do anything about” when the opposite is in fact true? Only recently we proved it can be done when we pulled the policy…