IN a visit to the region to discuss the property business with real estate agents, president of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, Leah Calnan took time out to talk about what the future looks like for regional Victoria and Shepparton in particular.
Leah noted the lack of available residential land and housing in that it was having some impact on her members.
“Covid has been amazing in that it is showing that people can work from home and more people are inclined to move to the regions. We have been saying for eight months that local governments are so slow in releasing new land and getting the infrastructure into it. They are going to need to fast track the process of development in order to accommodate the continued flow of new people into it, otherwise they will lose them,” said Leah.
“Anything that is sitting about two and a half to three hours from metro has had a lot of activity, that is metro people moving to the region for the affordability and lifestyle.”
“The only thing that will stop the recovery is housing, so you have to make sure you have the housing availability, make sure the investors are satisfied. The Federal Government is doing its job with Jobkeeper, councils need to do theirs.
“There is a shortage of rental property which will be further impacted by changes to the Residential Tenancy laws, perhaps in the second half of this year which isn’t going to be fixed and is only going to get worse,” said Leah.
“If regional centres want to see population growth and want that talent coming in, want to see an increase in the types of hospitality and retail then they are going to have to make sure they have the housing to accommodate it.”
“People coming in for instance to high end positions on $150 to $200K are not going to be satisfied with a $300 rental accommodation, they want a higher end property that meets higher expectation and they are not available.”
“Council also have to understand that they cannot keep expanding north and south, they will be in Nagambie next and council have to understand that they need to grow in manner to suit their infrastructure. As it is, the new high school requires kids from their outer regions to catch a bus rather than being able to walk to school. “
Shepparton is undergoing a rapid growth phase. Quoting from REIV figures, the median price for housing has gone from $264K in December 2019 to $354K in December 2020, an increase of 33 percent. The question is, does our local government have the capacity to manage the process before it reaches critical mass? Time will tell.
