{"id":188137,"date":"2025-02-26T17:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/?p=188137"},"modified":"2025-02-28T08:57:29","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T21:57:29","slug":"victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/","title":{"rendered":"Victoria\u2019s Housing Fix: Cutting Red Tape for Townhouses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine a system where building a townhouse feels like playing a game of snakes and ladders<\/em>\u2014except the snakes are endless paperwork, delays, and appeals.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Victoria\u2019s planning process has been like for developers.<\/p>\n

But the state government just rolled out a new rulebook to shake things up.<\/p>\n

Premier Jacinta Allan and Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny announced a Townhouse and Low-Rise Code<\/strong> that in their words is all about speed.<\/p>\n

The proposal is that if a proposed townhouse or medium-density apartment development project meets the code\u2019s standards (think design, setbacks, tree cover), it gets a green light\u2014no VCAT appeals, no endless back-and-forth with councils.<\/p>\n

The premier suggested that the aim of this is to lash approval times by up to 60% and get more homes built faster.<\/p>\n

\"Victoria\"<\/p>\n

Why now?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Victoria needs 2.24 million new homes by 2051 to keep up with demand, especially for young workers and families.<\/p>\n

The new code targets in-fill development, in other words, new developments in existing suburbs near transport and jobs, instead of sprawling into outer suburban greenfield sites.<\/p>\n

Sure, it\u2019s a smart move for sustainability, but let\u2019s be real: this is also an election year.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t really think the timing of this announcement is accidental.<\/p>\n

The government wants to look proactive on housing, as housing affordability is a top voter concern.<\/p>\n

The devil\u2019s in the details<\/span><\/h2>\n

The new planning code standardises rules for 1-3 storey buildings, so developers don\u2019t have to reinvent the wheel each time.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the catch: local councils can still add their own rules (like heritage overlays), which might slow things down.<\/p>\n

The government is also working on a code for 4-6-storey buildings, but that\u2019s still in the works.<\/p>\n

Is this a game-changer?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

The new planning code aims to simplify and expedite the approval process for in-fill townhouse developments, which have often been bogged down by bureaucratic hurdles and lengthy approval times.<\/p>\n

By reducing red tape, the government hopes to encourage more developers to undertake in-fill projects, thereby increasing the supply of housing in established urban areas where demand is high. \r\n\r\n\r\n

<\/div><\/p>\n

Streamlining approvals could unlock more housing in areas where people actually want to live.<\/p>\n

However, this will not deliver affordable housing, as land in the middle ring suburbs is expensive and construction costs still rising, even though more slowly than they have been over the last couple of years.<\/p>\n

The elephant in the room: politics<\/span><\/h2>\n

Critics might say this is a pre-election sweetener.<\/p>\n

But even if it is, does that matter if it works?<\/p>\n

The real test will be how many homes actually get built.<\/p>\n

The Property Council of Australia praised the code but warned that taxes (like land tax) still stifle investment.<\/p>\n

They say without fixing those, even streamlined approvals won\u2019t solve everything.<\/p>\n

The bottom line<\/span><\/h2>\n

This code is a step in the right direction, but it\u2019s just one piece of the puzzle.<\/p>\n

However, it is crucial to manage expectations regarding its short to medium-term impact and to consider the political motivations behind the announcement.<\/p>\n

By focusing on streamlining the planning process, particularly for in-fill townhouse development, Victoria can make more efficient use of its urban land and move towards a more sustainable and inclusive housing future.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\r\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine a system where building a townhouse feels like playing a game of snakes and ladders\u2014except the snakes are endless paperwork, delays, and appeals. That\u2019s what Victoria\u2019s planning process has been like for developers. But the state government just rolled out a new rulebook to shake things up. Premier Jacinta Allan and Planning Minister Sonya…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":126378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,1118,1186],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-188137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-property-updates","category-news-and-features","category-weekly_latest"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVictoria\u2019s Housing Fix: Cutting Red Tape for Townhouses<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Imagine a system where building a townhouse feels like playing a game of snakes and ladders\u2014except the snakes are endless paperwork, delays, and appeals....\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Victoria\u2019s Housing Fix: Cutting Red Tape for Townhouses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Imagine a system where building a townhouse feels like playing a game of snakes and ladders\u2014except the snakes are endless paperwork, delays, and appeals....\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Property Update\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-26T06:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-27T21:57:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/victoria2-1160x774.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"5015\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"3345\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Greg Hankinson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/\",\"name\":\"Victoria\u2019s Housing Fix: Cutting Red Tape for Townhouses\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/victoria2-1160x774.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-26T06:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-27T21:57:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/5ec8613a96962920374c10ee21ff481d\"},\"description\":\"Imagine a system where building a townhouse feels like playing a game of snakes and ladders\u2014except the snakes are endless paperwork, delays, and appeals....\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdn.propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/victoria2-1160x774.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/victoria2-1160x774.jpg\",\"width\":5015,\"height\":3345,\"caption\":\"Victoria2\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Victoria\u2019s Housing Fix: Cutting Red Tape for Townhouses\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/\",\"name\":\"Property Update\",\"description\":\"Real Estate Investing Advice & Strategies From Experts You Can Trust\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/5ec8613a96962920374c10ee21ff481d\",\"name\":\"Greg Hankinson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdn.propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/cropped-Greg-Hankinson-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/cropped-Greg-Hankinson-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Greg Hankinson\"},\"description\":\"Greg and his team have successfully built and renovated in excess of 500 homes throughout Melbourne and are showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Being a Gold member of the Housing Industry Association and National Kitchen and Bathrooms Association, Greg\u2019s focus is on Continued Professional Development, not only for himself, but his team of industry experts.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/author\/greg-hankinson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Victoria\u2019s Housing Fix: Cutting Red Tape for Townhouses","description":"Imagine a system where building a townhouse feels like playing a game of snakes and ladders\u2014except the snakes are endless paperwork, delays, and appeals....","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Victoria\u2019s Housing Fix: Cutting Red Tape for Townhouses","og_description":"Imagine a system where building a townhouse feels like playing a game of snakes and ladders\u2014except the snakes are endless paperwork, delays, and appeals....","og_url":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/","og_site_name":"Property Update","article_published_time":"2025-02-26T06:30:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-27T21:57:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":5015,"height":3345,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/victoria2-1160x774.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Greg Hankinson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/","url":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/","name":"Victoria\u2019s Housing Fix: Cutting Red Tape for Townhouses","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/victoria2-1160x774.jpg","datePublished":"2025-02-26T06:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-27T21:57:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/5ec8613a96962920374c10ee21ff481d"},"description":"Imagine a system where building a townhouse feels like playing a game of snakes and ladders\u2014except the snakes are endless paperwork, delays, and appeals....","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cdn.propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/victoria2-1160x774.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/victoria2-1160x774.jpg","width":5015,"height":3345,"caption":"Victoria2"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/victorias-housing-fix-cutting-red-tape-for-townhouses\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Victoria\u2019s Housing Fix: Cutting Red Tape for Townhouses"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/#website","url":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/","name":"Property Update","description":"Real Estate Investing Advice & Strategies From Experts You Can Trust","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/5ec8613a96962920374c10ee21ff481d","name":"Greg Hankinson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cdn.propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/cropped-Greg-Hankinson-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/cropped-Greg-Hankinson-96x96.png","caption":"Greg Hankinson"},"description":"Greg and his team have successfully built and renovated in excess of 500 homes throughout Melbourne and are showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Being a Gold member of the Housing Industry Association and National Kitchen and Bathrooms Association, Greg\u2019s focus is on Continued Professional Development, not only for himself, but his team of industry experts.","url":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/author\/greg-hankinson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propertyupdate.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}