There are a lot of rubbery (some plain wrong) numbers quoted when it comes to public transport use, and it seems that trains and train stations are among the worse offenders. Perhaps because the costs of maintaining, operating, or expanding network facilities are so eye-watering, the promised benefits need to be overstated? Let’s start with…
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
Interstate migration is one of those news stories that media networks love because of the easy headlines and “human interest” angles. Real estate people love them too when the numbers help them boost market interest. The latest data release from the Australian Bureau of Statistics achieved both in Queensland. But what’s the deeper story behind…
The impact of Covid-19 shutdowns on much of the Australian economy was variously predicted to be anywhere from apocalyptic to benign, depending on which industry you most followed, which commentators you believed and what news networks you watched. It is now more than 18 months since Covid escaped the City of Wuhan in China, with…
The Australian Census is coming. It will be on Tuesday 10th August. That’s the only prediction I am likely to get 100% right. What are some of the key themes that might be revealed by a Census taken in the midst of a pandemic? I have one prediction which might sound counterintuitive. If I am right,…
When the Hawke-Keating Government in 1991 announced the Better Cities program to revitalise previously run down (mostly inner city) areas, it was the New Farm–Teneriffe area identified by then Brisbane Lord Mayor Jim Soorley as one ripe for renewal. He appointed Trevor Reddacliff to head an Urban Renewal Taskforce and a 20 plus year program…
Many Australian CBDs continue to languish, with major CBDs only at from one third to two thirds of their pre-pandemic occupancy levels, despite the end of lockdowns and the lifting of many restrictions. This is having collateral impacts across the spectrum of CBD businesses that rely on office workers being at their CBD offices. Retail centres, restaurants,…
The next Census will be conducted in August 2021, by which time you’d expect economic life has largely settled around ‘a new normal.’ It’s pretty clear that when the data is released on place of work, CBDs will probably have fewer people working in them than the previous 2016 Census, and this may last for…
“Mr. Covid has been the best city and regional planner Australia has ever had. The suburbs will shine and regions will grow. Maybe we should forget about big city infrastructure projects for a while and spend it on our future resilient communities where people look out for each other.” That’s a note from late 2020…
Population growth has been a mantra of our property industry for as long as I can remember. And once again there are predictions of a surge in growth, driven (this time) by people allegedly fleeing Victoria. However, there are good reasons to think this may not happen, and that we may need to prepare for…
There’s no shortage of speculation about how the global Coronavirus pandemic, which has seen cities the world over in partial or full lockdown, might impact city planning and development in years to come. Much of that speculation falls into the category of what USA President John F Kennedy once described as “the comfort of opinion…