Adelaide's 400-home barracks plan won't solve affordability crisis
Experts say 400 new homes at Hampstead Barracks won't solve Adelaide's severe housing crisis.
The Prime Minister and South Australian Premier revealed plans on Tuesday to speed up building 400 apartments and townhouses just 6 kilometres from Adelaide's CBD. The redevelopment of the former defence site offers a rare inner-city chance.
Housing researcher Matthew Bowes from the Gatton Institute said Adelaide needed to do much more. The city is now one of Australia's least affordable.
House prices have jumped more than 90 per cent since COVID started. Rents on newly advertised properties have risen by at least 50 per cent since 2020.
Bowes said planning rules remained a major barrier to increasing supply. More than 80 per cent of residential land within 30 kilometres of the CBD is zoned for low-density housing only.
This blocks the townhouses and apartments that first-home buyers could actually afford. Removing those rules across established suburbs would put real downward pressure on rents.
- 400 apartments and townhouses
- New homes planned
- 6 kilometres
- Distance to CBD
- more than 90 per cent
- House price increase since COVID-19
Why it mattersAdelaide's affordability crisis needs much broader housing reform than one redevelopment can deliver, experts warn.
AustraliaSouth Australians searching for affordable homes face a structural shortage that one 400-home project cannot solve; planning reform remains essential.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 1 h ago
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