@DrCameronMurray There hasn’t been significant upzoning so it’s not clear how the chart could show “upzoning success”.
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the war on cars, not drugs
2.9K posts
Does this chart of annual building approvals for a city show an upzoning success story?
Can we tell by looking at it?
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We've added a little more than the entire population of South Australia to the country over the past five years.
Is that wise given how our housing and infrastructure delivery is going?
Cameron Kusher@cmkusher
Even with the pandemic, in the five years to September 2025, Australia's population has increased by 2,091,403 persons. I can't say that I believe we're building sufficient homes, roads, schools, hospital, public transport infrastructure etc to cater to that magnitude of population increase.
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@cmkusher We could try legalising adding housing wherever there’s a demand for it. Currently it’s illegal almost everywhere.
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the war on cars, not drugs retweetledi
This is shaping up as the most consistent finding in housing studies: Building lots of luxury housing can reduce rents at the top of the market—but the people it helps most are renters struggling to afford even the least desirable units
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@SydneyYIMBY I live in a 10-storey apartment building with zero parking. There are many similar buildings in my neighbourhood. Car ownership per household is 33% in my neighbourhood.
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Audience member: “Development without parking does not work. Everyone that lives in an apartment building has cars. We have collected the data looking at the street.”
Let us know in replies if you live in an apartment without a car, because we’re hearing you don’t exist.
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We’re at an event that’s being organised against Inner West Council’s changes to reduce parking spots in new developments.
Rowdy crowd. Speakers were introduced, they mentioned car parks being converted to social housing (which they oppose) and an old mate yells “let us speak!”
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@drsmithy @wheelreinvent I have. It’s common enough, but it doesn’t get as much emphasis as the urban stuff which seems to have broader appeal.
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@Bugs @wheelreinvent Never seen a YIMBY fighting to remove urban growth boundaries & restrictions on rural land.
Either they just don’t think about it, or they realise it would make land cheaper.
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Yimbyism is ideologically weird because on one had it assumes total selfishness (redistribution won’t work, only boosting supply will) but on the other hand is reliant on selflessness (you should support more housing in your neighborhood even if you think it will make it worse)
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@wheelreinvent Increasing supply (of housing) can be a form of redistribution (of land).
A majority in some (many?) neighbourhoods believe more housing in the neighbourhood is positive
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@drsmithy @wheelreinvent A blanket abolition of density restrictions will reduce the value of most land—particularly outer suburban and rural land.
It will massively increase the value of inner-city land.
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@wheelreinvent Yimbyism is about raising the value of land so that existing landholders get richer.
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@Chriscoveries @anthonysegaert @grok Our population growth rate has been in decline since 2013, and is nothing like the heights of the mid 20th century.
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@anthonysegaert Hey @grok how many net migrants have come to Australia since that article in 2013, and how does that compare to Australias total population, and total births. Explain to Anthony briefly how that might change things.
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it is endlessly fascinating to me how the density conversation has changed so rapidly in just a few years
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@westie_whinging @BaldingPhillip We have for centuries, and usually faster than currently. Growth is good; we get network effects, agglomeration effects, and greater specialisation.
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Aus institute vs the world for housing
Makes you wonder about the credibility of their research on gas
More interested in hurting rich people than helping poor people
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@TomWright165389 @lemraspberry @CompletedStreet Greater ability to access more stuff (people, jobs, shops etc) in less time.
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@lemraspberry @CompletedStreet What do you like about it?
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"There won't be a second date, but she now knows about induced highway demand, minimum lot sizes and the evils of sprawl."
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@westie_whinging @BaldingPhillip I understand. I don’t think it’s important. The larger the base, the easier it is to grow.
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@Bugs @BaldingPhillip You do understand that the base for this % is quite different in 1950 and 2020?
It’s like boomers yap about “high interest rates” in 90s.
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@BaldingPhillip You’re supporting mass immigration. There goes your “credibility” to judge anyone else’s. (And yeah, Aus “Institute” is a bunch of r3tards)
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@AussieWirraway Why are the bike symbols in the most dangerous part of the road to ride in? They should be to the right of the white line.
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Canning St, Carlton North has to be the greatest bicycle street in the world
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@HeinzyGuderian @DrCameronMurray Houses are legal to build everywhere.
Apartments are illegal to build almost everywhere.
Imagine how popular apartments would be if we legalised them to the same extent as houses.
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There is fewer free standing houses per capita than there was 20 years.
Having more studio apartments and retirement village cottages isnt going to help young people start a family
WE WANT HOUSES NOT DOGBOXES
but you knew that already and this waffle of yours is just pointless whataboutism
your journey from respected economist to widely ridiculed econobabblist is now complete
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I need to do a better job educating my followers. Most think there are fewer dwellings per capita today than 30 years ago.
The actual numbers are - population up 50%, dwelling stock up 60%. And the average dwelling is bigger and better than ever.
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@DrCameronMurray We outlaw adding housing to the areas with the highest housing demand. Housing growth elsewhere isn't so important.
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From 1997-2025, Australia's population grew 50%.
Our dwelling stock grew by?
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@edglaesersocial Simple:
1. Remove the Land Tax exemption for PPORs.
2. Reduce other taxes to compensate.
This also creates an incentive for people to build more housing, thus lowering home prices via increased housing supply.
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I am glad Allegra Spender has proposed solid reform.
But the one glaring gap I see in it, related to all the problems she’s highlighting, is this.
If you want to rebalance the inequitable tax system, you should also tax the outsized gains from PPORs, above a modest threshold.
Interested Onlooker@michaelsnape
Allegra Spender bought a new $25million family home in 2024. Any capital gains on that are tax-free She wants to reduce the CGT discount from 50% - 30% Why doesn't she propose a Capital Gains Tax on PPOR above say $5million?
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@samuelbarry04 But should we ban building apartments? They’ll always be cheaper than equivalent houses cos they use less land.
Nobody will be forced to live in them.
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@Concerned_Cit25 @AvidCommentator No, we need to allow building enough homes. That’s got nothing to do with destroying the environment.
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@Bugs @AvidCommentator So we should destroy our environment so people can move here?
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To me the entire migration debate often comes down to one simple question.
If we don't have enough homes for the size of our migration intake, should we lower it to reflect that?
If people answer no, you've got the only answer you ever really need and can act accordingly.
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