Let's spend some money

At the Planning Institute of Victoria forum on Wednesday, Professor Rob Adams announced some startling findings, from a report commissioned by the DPCD.

Adams said, “the hidden costs of development, of 1000 houses built on the periphery of the city or the fringe of the city, are $300 million more than 1000 houses in the city… We are building in poverty. If we carry on building the way we are building, we will spend $110 billion more than we need to on building in the wrong places.”

Adams has calculated the infrastructure cost of 1000 new infill homes as $309M, about half that of fringe developments.

So the infrastructure cost of building on the edge works out at about $600,000 per dwelling. A fair whack more than the cost of the house and land, and a cost not borne directly by the occupier.

The Victorian Government is in the process of rezoning outer suburban farm land to cater to 134,000 new homes in the next two decades (not to mention the 150,000 or so more after that). The extra cost of placing these homes in woop woop, instead of intensifying existing suburbs, is around $40B. They better really appreciate their new backyards.

Tip: AP

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Posted by Peter on 17.07.09 in urban planning