Houses and Apartments in Australia
Houses and Apartments in Australia
in Australia
Tom Rosewall and Michael Shoory*
Apartments have become an important part of the housing mix in Australia. This has
several implications for assessments of residential activity. The lag from a change in
monetary policy to the effect on residential activity might increase, because it takes longer
to build large apartment buildings than detached houses. Apartment developments use
different construction materials and labour, and may face different cost pressures to the
detached house segment. They also face different supply-side constraints.
Introduction                                                                          Graph 1
                                                                      Residential Building Approvals
The composition of homes being built in                 ’000                                                                     ’000
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    2                                                                          2
                                                                                                                    Graph 3
                                          Detached houses                                        Higher-density Building Approvals
                                                                                     ’000                                                                       ’000
    1                                                                          1
                  Higher-density dwellings
                                                                                      60                                                                        60
    0                                                                         0                                               High-rise apartments
             1966          1976         1986           1996      2006      2016
        *   Private sector; excludes alterations and additions
        Sources: ABS; RBA                                                             40                                                                        40
                                                                                               Semi-detached dwellings
        The relative importance of supply-side issues,
        such as land availability and planning processes,                             20                                                                        20
        also differs between houses and apartments.
        In addition, the two types of dwellings use                                                             Low-rise apartments
                                                                                       0                                                                    0
        different materials and supply chains which have                                             1996       2001          2006         2011          2016
        and final prices (which ultimately feed through to                            Building approvals for apartments have been
        the consumer price index (CPI)).                                              highly concentrated in large cities – the capital
                                                                                      cities accounted for 90 per cent of apartment
        Dwelling Types and Recent Activity                                            approvals in 2016, of which most were in
        Dwellings approved for construction in Australia                              Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (Graph 4). By
        can be broken down into two broad categories                                  comparison, approvals for detached houses
        (as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics                            have been more geographically dispersed, with
        (ABS)): detached houses, which accounted for                                  around two-thirds of approvals last year located
        about three-quarters of the dwelling stock in                                 in the capitals, and less than half in the eastern
        the 2011 Census; and higher-density dwellings.                                seaboard capitals. In the major cities, apartments
        The latter can be further split into apartments                               have been mostly constructed in inner (and,
        (defined as ‘flats, units or apartments’), which                              to a lesser extent, middle) suburbs, which are
        accounted for about 15 per cent of the stock                                  well connected with employment centres and
        of dwellings in 2011, and ‘semi-detached’                                     amenities, though the concentration has varied
        dwellings (such as townhouses, terraces and                                   somewhat by city (Graph 5). In contrast, new
        semi-detached houses), which accounted                                        house construction has largely been located in
        for 10 per cent.1 ‘High-rise’ apartments have                                 fringe or outer suburbs of cities where land is
                                                                                      more readily available.
        1	 This level of disaggregation of building type is not available for most
           other indicators of residential activity, including other ABS data
           releases (such as building work done), and housing price indicators        2	 The ABS building approvals data for apartments in buildings that are
           compiled by the ABS and other sources.                                        four storeys or greater are unable to be disaggregated any further.
2       R E S E R V E B A N K O F AU S T R A L I A
                                                                                                           H O U S E S A N D A PA R T M E N T S I N AU S T R A L I A
                                                                                        900                                                                            900
 30                                                                            30
  0                                                                             0                               Sydney
                2004                   2008                2012             2016                                                                      Melbourne
       *
                                                                                        600                                                                            600
           Includes public approvals for all locations
       Sources: ABS; RBA
                                                                                                                        Brisbane
                                       Graph 5                                          300                                                                            300
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        prominence of these buyer types differs for houses                            on the housing supply will depend on the
        and apartments, and can also vary by location                                 location and size of the existing property the
        (particularly for apartments) (Shoory 2016).                                  purchaser is moving from and whether there is a
        Information from the Bank’s liaison program                                   change in the rate of household formation.
        suggests that, in recent years, domestic investors
        and foreign buyers have generally been much                                   Development and Construction
        more prominent in purchasing new apartments                                   Development and construction timelines for
        than they have been for new houses.3 Demand                                   both detached houses and apartments are long
        from these buyers has partly driven the shift                                 and variable, and the time taken at each stage
        towards apartment construction, and is likely to                              can vary greatly. These differences are important
        have led to an increase in the net supply in rental                           to consider when assessing market conditions,
        apartments. Rental yields for apartments are                                  including changes in supply and demand, and
        higher than those for houses (Graph 7). Foreign                               the response to changes in interest rates.
        buyers are also likely to be more familiar with
                                                                                      Even before construction commences, the time
        apartment-style living, given many international
                                                                                      spent developing apartment projects is often
        cities have a high share of apartments, and are
                                                                                      lengthy. Once a developer has purchased a
        likely to prefer locations in more convenient
                                                                                      site, it may take several years until construction
        inner-city areas or near existing communities. In
                                                                                      commences (Table 1). Securing a development
        contrast, owner-occupiers reportedly account for
                                                                                      approval (DA) may take several months or years,
        the majority of new detached home purchases,
                                                                                      particularly if planning issues are encountered.
        partly reflecting demographic factors and
                                                                                      Evidence from the Bank’s liaison program
        household size. The net effect of these purchases
                                                                                      suggests that most apartment projects require
                                      Graph 7                                         the majority of apartments to be pre-sold off
                        Dwelling Rental Yields*                                       the plan for the developer to secure finance.
    %                                                                             %
                                                                                      Marketing to prospective buyers may take
                                                            Apartments**              months or even longer than a year, depending
                                                                                      on the characteristics of the project. Builders
    4                                                                             4   are typically secured by developers via a tender
                            Detached houses
                                                                                      process, and only once all these arrangements
                                                                                      are in place will building permits be obtained.
    2                                                                             2   This is the stage at which the ABS typically
                                                                                      records a building approval. Given that most of
                                                                                      the development time occurs before a building
    0                                                                             0
                                                                                      approval is recorded, building approvals data do
              2007         2009         2011         2013       2015       2017
                                                                                      not provide a read on how the earlier stages of
        *
        **
             Based on a hedonically adjusted index
             Flats, units, apartments, townhouses and villas                          the development pipeline may be evolving.
        Source: CoreLogic RP Data
                                                                                      Developing land and building detached houses
        3	 Foreign individuals and temporary residents are permitted to
           purchase any new dwelling. Temporary residents with visas that
                                                                                      are often separate processes. Greenfield land
           allow them to stay in Australia for a continuous period of more than       estates are often developed by specialists who
           12 months (such as some foreign students and people on skilled
           business visas) are permitted to purchase one established home
                                                                                      then sell to individuals (who source their own
           provided it is used as their principal place of residence while in         builder) or to builders (who sell house and land
           Australia and is sold once vacated.
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packages to households).4 The timelines for                               to 6–9 months for most detached houses.5
developing housing on greenfield land can vary                            Additions to the housing supply from apartment
significantly, particularly if rezoning is required                       construction are also lumpier, with the largest
(Table 2). Once land has been developed and                               projects comprising more than 1 000 dwellings.
registered to an owner, construction of a house
may commence quickly. For detached houses in                              Implications of development timelines
established/existing suburbs, referred to as ‘infill                      The longer and lumpier apartment project
housing’, the overall planning process is typically                       construction timelines have a range of
shorter than in greenfield areas (though it may                           implications for forecasting dwelling investment
be extended if characteristics of the build are                           activity, and also understanding the contribution
unusual relative to the local area).                                      of dwelling investment to economic activity. In
It generally takes longer to construct apartment                          the current cycle, the shift in housing composition
buildings than detached houses due to their                               towards apartments, and more specifically towards
larger scale. Liaison with industry contacts                              high-rise apartments, has led to an increase in
suggests that construction of a large high-rise                           the average construction time for dwellings.
project takes 2–3 years, though this can increase                         Historically, dwelling investment in Australia has
to 4–5 years for very large towers, compared                              been very responsive to changes in monetary
                                                                          policy. Although it is difficult to formally test the
4	 Some land developers are also builders. A limited volume of            5	 ABS (2016) suggests that in recent years the average completion
   speculative house and land development also takes place, where a          time is around 6 quarters for apartments (covering projects of all
   builder will construct a house and then sell it on the market.            sizes) and 2 quarters for detached houses.
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and the planning and approvals process                 with increased population density is a necessary
(including land-use zoning, the DA and building        consideration for the relevant authorities).8
permits).                                              The impact of these supply issues also varies by
The extent to which supply-side factors influence      location. For instance, land supply constraints for
the responsiveness of construction of new              houses have been particularly acute in Sydney in
dwellings differs for houses and apartments. Land      recent years; geographic constraints and strong
developers and home builders in the Bank’s             demand for land have contributed to substantial
liaison program generally report that the greatest     price increases and lengthy development lags. For
impediment to the supply of new houses is the          apartments, the time and complexity of the DA
availability of land that is serviced with necessary   approval process reportedly differs both across
infrastructure. This reflects a combination of         and within cities, and influences the number and
geographic constraints (which limit the raw            scale of apartment projects, and the speed with
quantity of land available for development),           which supply responds to demand. The Bank’s
fragmented ownership of the land that has              liaison with industry participants suggests that a
been identified for potential development, and         more centralised framework (such as when the
the provision and financing of infrastructure to       state government planning department assesses
service that land (including water and sewerage        the DA) generally facilitates a quicker response
systems, public transport and roads). The latter       compared with situations where local councils
is particularly relevant for the construction of       make the decision (Shoory 2016).
new houses because these dwellings are usually
located in new suburbs (i.e. greenfield areas).        Input Costs and Dwelling Prices
The planning and approval process is generally         There are differences in the labour and material
cited as a significant impediment to new               inputs used in the construction of houses
apartment construction by developers in the            compared with apartments. These differences
Bank’s liaison program. This includes the zoning       and the composition of the new dwellings
restrictions attached to land in established           being constructed have potentially important
suburbs, such as density and height restrictions       implications for assessing cost and price inflation
and permissible uses of that land, and the time        in the economy.
and complexity associated with obtaining a DA.
                                                       The Bank’s liaison with industry participants
The availability of suitable land (‘sites’) is also
                                                       suggests that labour and materials each account
a factor for new apartment projects, though
                                                       for around half the cost of construction for both
geographic limitations and infrastructure provision
                                                       apartments and houses. Nevertheless, there
are generally less binding constraints. This is
                                                       are some differences in the types of labour
because these dwellings use land more intensively
                                                       and materials used. For instance, apartment
than houses, achieving much greater density.
                                                       construction typically involves a higher proportion
In addition, those sites are most commonly
                                                       of steel, concrete and glass relative to detached
located in established suburbs that are already
                                                       houses, while the latter requires a larger share of
connected with necessary infrastructure (though
                                                       timber and bricks. High-rise structures also require
upgrading infrastructure and amenities to cope
                                                       8	 More recently, a tightening in the availability of finance has been
                                                          cited as another significant impediment to developing apartment
                                                          projects, particularly in markets where banks are concerned about
                                                          the potential for oversupply.
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                                                    Detached houses
     5                                                                                5    10                                                                10
                                                                                                                                                Queensland
                                                                                            5                                                                5
     0                                                                                0
                                                                                            0                                                                0
                                                  Higher-density dwellings
                                                                                                                  Victoria
     -5                                                                               -5
                                                                                            -5                                                               -5
                                                                                           -10                                                               -10
    -10                                                                          -10
       2001               2005             2009             2013             2017
          Sources: ABS; RBA                                                                -15                                                               -15
                                                                                              2001              2005             2009         2013       2017
                                                                                                 *   Apartments and semi-detached dwellings
          9	 There are some similarities in labour, most notably in the ‘finishing’
                                                                                                 Sources: ABS; RBA
             components of construction such as internal painting, tiling and
             appliance installation.
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Box A
Housing and the Consumer Price Index1
Housing plays an important role in the calculation                       evaluate levels of inflation in the Australian
of the CPI. ABS estimates suggest that more than                         economy (ABS 2017b). The ABS has stated that
one-fifth of all spending by Australian households                       the most appropriate way to measure household
is directed towards housing, and this is reflected                       inflation is to use the ‘acquisitions’ approach. The
in the weight of housing in the CPI. The purchase                        RBA has previously stated it ‘strongly supported’
price of new owner-occupied dwellings has an                             the acquisition approach used by the ABS,
effective weight of around 9 per cent in the CPI,                        consistent with the CPI being a general measure
while rent has a weight of around 7 per cent.                            of household inflation (RBA 2010). This approach
These are the largest expenditure items in the                           defines the basket of goods and services as
CPI basket. Maintenance and property charges,                            consisting of all those consumer goods and
and utilities (including electricity, gas and water)                     services actually acquired by households during
account for a further 8 per cent of the basket.                          the base period.
Importantly, the CPI excludes land, as land is                           The ABS also publishes a range of indices
treated as investment not consumption.                                   designed to measure changes in living costs
Owner-occupier housing is difficult to include                           of different groups in the community. These
in consumer price indexes. The methods used                              ‘living cost’ indices are calculated for selected
to measure these prices differ depending on                              representative households including employees,
the conceptual approach used, though none                                pensioners and self-funded retirees. These indices
of the standard conceptual approaches to                                 are calculated using the ‘outlays’ approach, which
measuring price indexes include the cost of                              measures out-of-pocket expenses. Specifically, it
existing dwellings. The CPI is primarily used as                         defines the consumption basket in terms of the
a macroeconomic indicator to monitor and                                 actual amounts paid out by households during
                                                                         the base period to gain access to consumer
1	 This box draws on material from ABS (2017b). The authors would also
   like to thank Martin McCarthy (Economic Analysis Department) for      goods and services. ‘Cost-of-use’ is the third main
   his contribution.                                                     conceptual measurement approach, based on
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     the basket of consumer goods and services                     is equal to the rent that the household would
     actually consumed in the base period, regardless              receive for that dwelling, so they measure it as an
     of when they were acquired or paid for.                       ‘imputed rent’. The use of imputed rents is fairly
     The practical differences between the                         common internationally. Rent inflation in the CPI
     acquisitions and outlays approaches are limited               provides a rough indication of what this might
     for most areas of household consumption.                      look like in the Australian context. Rent inflation
     However, there are important differences in the               is around levels last seen in the mid 1990s, with
     measurement of owner-occupied housing costs,                  relatively weak outcomes across most cities and
     particularly relating to the inclusion of interest            strong deflation recently in Perth (Graph A2). The
     charges. The acquisitions approach, used for the              increase in supply of new housing in some cities
     CPI, measures owner-occupier housing costs as                 is putting downward pressure on rents. R
     the net acquisition of new dwellings excluding                                                Graph A1
     land. This includes both the cost of detached and                               Mortgage Interest Charges*
     attached dwellings such as apartments (as of the                                          2011/12 average = 100
                                                                 index                                                                            index
     March quarter 2017). This assumes the cost of the
     structure is the consumable item, while the cost             100                                                                             100
     of land is investment.
     Under the outlays approach, used for the ABS                  80                                                                             80
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