Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute - AHURI

Time is running out to register for the next , 'Overcoming constraints on Australia's housing construction'.

Join us on Wednesday 24 June from 12.00–1.00 pm AEST as Dr Andrea Sharam (RMIT University), Dr Rob Sobyra (BuildSkills Australia) and Dr Rachel Trigg (Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute - AHURI) unpack the key constraints on housing construction across Australia, address the central part market volatility plays in reducing output, and explore eight interconnected policy development options to improve sector productivity.

Register now for free! https://ow.ly/NH0J50ZcyAS

Did you miss our last , 'Short-term rentals under the microscope: finding the smartest way to regulate'? Watch it On Demand.

Catch up on the discussion between Professor Nicole Gurran, (University of Sydney), Kelly Grigsby (Chief Executive of Municipal Association of Victoria) and Dr Michael Fotheringham (as outgoing Managing Director, AHURI) exploring new about the impact of short-term rental platforms on housing availability and affordability across Australia — plus a special farewell at the end!

Watch now: https://ow.ly/ry9t50ZetGL

AHURI’s new Inquiry into housing construction productivity found the average time to complete a detached home roughly doubled since the start of the century.

At the start of 2000, the average house completion time was 5.4 months, compared to 10.8 months at the start of 2024.

Contrary to popular belief, research shows bigger houses weren’t to blame — the increased completion times were due to market volatility and other industry constraints and challenges.

AHURI’s 18-month Inquiry found fixing housing construction capacity constraints, while addressing rising costs and poor building performance, will be very challenging.

Unpack all the key constraints – and what it'll take to tackle them – here: https://ow.ly/HB8b50ZcxVr



With RMIT University, Monash University, University of Tasmania, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and UNSW.

Australia’s housing construction sector has a productivity problem. The rate of detached housing completions has barely changed in over four decades and apartments are taking longer to build. Despite this, a holistic investigation of the sector has never been undertaken – until now. A newly released 18-month AHURI Inquiry provides answers to the questions: what is constraining home building, and how can productivity barriers be overcome?

Join our on Wednesday 24 June as we unpack findings from the Final Inquiry Report: Overcoming construction constraints for the supply of new detached and high-rise housing.

Speakers:
- Dr Andrea Sharam (RMIT University)
- Dr Rob Sobyra (Build Skills Australia)
- Dr Rachel Trigg (AHURI Head of Research Program)

Register now: https://ow.ly/VWjG50ZbI1i

The housing construction industry in Australia is at crisis point, and the rate of Australia’s detached housing output has been largely static since at least 1980.

Researchers from the latest concluded that market volatility presented the most significant risk for builders. Dr Andrea Sharam, lead author of the report said, “During booms costs spike, labour shortages hit, supply chains are disrupted and timelines blow out… Booms also draw in marginal operators and under-skilled workers, increase pressure to cut corners, and disrupt work scheduling creating task queues.”

There is no overarching strategy aimed at addressing housing construction constraints. New provides eight interconnected options for policymakers and industry.
The study, ‘Overcoming construction constraints for the supply of new detached and high-rise housing’, was conducted by researchers from RMIT University, Monash University, University of Tasmania, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and UNSW.

Read more: https://ow.ly/v9mE50Z6Xwa



Andrea Sharam, Ali Zolghadr, Louise Dorignon, Ron Wakefield, Ehsan Gharaie, Mehrdad Arashpour, Peter Fairbrother, Anil Sawhney, Mohammed Mojtahedi, Chyi Lin Lee

After 12 and a half years leading the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute - AHURI, Dr Michael Fotheringham concludes his term as Managing Director on 17 June.

AHURI’s Head of Development, Dr Tom Alves will step into the role of Acting Managing Director, bringing a career that spans from the coalface of the building industry, to academia, to direct contributions to policy at the Victoria Department of Premier and Cabinet.

The AHURI Board and Executive have commended Dr Fotheringham for his distinguished leadership, which delivered more than 250 research reports and 17 national conferences, and its lasting impact on housing and homelessness policy across Australia.

Dr Alves takes the reins as AHURI's 2027 Research Agenda launches, targeting housing supply, First Nations housing, pathways to deliver affordable homes, infrastructure delivery, and other pressing housing and homelessness challenges.

Image description: Departing AHURI managing director Michael Fotheringham at the Institute’s offices in Melbourne.

A new has found system-level reform is needed to reduce market volatility and address other challenges for housing construction across Australia.

This Inquiry provides the first significant examination of the Australian construction sector’s ability to deliver both detached and high-rise housing. It analyses:
- construction workflows
- markets
- regulation
- workforce
- technologies
- supply chains.

The study, ‘Overcoming construction constraints for the supply of new detached and high-rise housing’, was conducted by researchers from RMIT University, Monash University, University of Tasmania, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and UNSW.

Read more: https://ow.ly/mO5350Z6X1a



Andrea Sharam, Ali Zolghadr, Louise Dorignon, Ron Wakefield, Ehsan Gharaie, Mehrdad Arashpour, Peter Fairbrother, Anil Sawhney, Mohammed Mojtahedi, Chyi Lin Lee

AHURI’s new report on the short-term rental sector shows, as of December 2023, about 43% of Australia's 171,416 Airbnb listings belonged to single-property hosts. The remaining 98,384 were controlled by just 18,187 operators.

These multi-listing operators include commercial businesses who manage listings on behalf of homeowners seeking to offset the costs of a second property that would otherwise be for their personal use, as well as property investors seeking higher financial returns than those available in the long-term rental market.

The report authors say Airbnb and similar platforms have changed fundamentally. What began as a way for ordinary people to share spare rooms has become a highly professionalised sector dominated by whole-property listings – and regulation needs to be targeted accordingly.

Read more: https://ow.ly/CIrP50Z5ZvA



With The University of Sydney, UNSW and University College Dublin.