New lands office

THE state government’s new Office of Land and Housing Supply will have the power to work across other government agencies and local governments to ensure timely delivery of land.

Premier Colin Barnett announced the establishment of the office last week, which will become the definitive government source of information on land and housing supply.

The office will report to both Planning Minister John Day and Housing Minister Bill Marmion.

Mr Day said one of the functions of the new office would be to identify any impediments to releasing land for housing projects.

“The new office will work with the Department of Planning to identify short- and medium-term infrastructure requirements to support strategic land and housing projects, and coordinate their delivery across government,” Mr Day said in a statement prepared for WA Business News.

He also said the office would monitor land release approvals, support stalled projects, identify policy and practices needing to be addressed to deliver efficient and sustainable land and housing supply, and help in coordinating land and housing supply priorities.

Urban Development Institute of Australia chief executive Debra Goostrey said it was critical the office of Land and Housing Supply be given the mandate to work across government departments.

“Many of the issues of land supply relate to key government departments not talking to each other,” she said.

“Hopefully this new office will be able to fully focus on the issues and make positive long-term changes to urban land supply.”

The formation of the Office of Land and Housing Supply was followed by comments from Housing Minister Bill Marmion, who said in parliament last week the Department of Housing was assessing the feasibility of releasing as much of its current land stocks as possible.

“That will reduce the pressure on housing supplies. It will also help us keep the median price of houses at its current level, or, hopefully, bring it down,” Mr Marmion said.

“Our aim is to bring the median house price down and to have it lower than the median house price in other states.”

A spokesperson for Mr Marmion said a summary of government land holdings was not readily available.