Ballarat's housing target looks impossible under current rules, experts warn
Ballarat cannot meet Victoria's 46,900-home target because 60 per cent infill housing requirement exceeds current market capacity.
Ballarat must deliver 46,900 homes between 2023 and 2051. Victoria's policy says 60 per cent must be infill housing in established suburbs, which equals about 1,005 homes per year.
Ballarat delivered an average of just 96 infill homes annually between 2018 and 2025. Analysts from Colliers point out a striking fact.
Nine out of every ten approvals since 2002 were for detached family homes. The infill target would need a tenfold jump in apartment and townhouse approvals.
However, regional areas struggle to build apartments people can afford. Without intervention, analysts warn greenfield land could run out in 10 to 15 years.
Then Ballarat will fall short on homes. The council disputes this claim.
More than 37 years of infill capacity exist, it says. And 28 years of greenfield capacity exist.
It is considering high-density development at Wendouree Station to lift infill numbers.
- 46,900 homes by 2051
- Housing target
- 1,005 homes per year
- Required infill rate
- 96 homes per year average
- Actual infill delivered 2018-2025
- 9 out of 10 approvals
- Detached homes since 2002
Why it mattersIf Ballarat cannot build homes fast enough, housing shortages will get worse. If it builds the wrong types of homes, affordability will suffer more.
AustraliaBallarat's housing crisis reveals a broader problem across regional Victoria: state policy and market demand are misaligned, and without a shift, regional towns will struggle to house their growing populations.
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 3 h ago
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