Anti-Planning Narratives, Housing Supply and Affordability: An Australian Case Study

Debates about housing affordability have in many countries focused on the role of land use planning in constraining new supply. Despite differences in regulatory systems and housing markets, there is a striking similarity in these debates which often prescribe deregulatory reform as a fix for affordability pressures. With reference to Australia where planning reform has been a primary response to such concerns since the turn of the new millennium, this paper examines the nature of Australia’s ‘anti-planning’ narratives; including the key claims made about the planning system and its impacts on housing markets; the key proponents of these narratives; and the strategies they employ. We situate this analysis against the backdrop of Australia’s ‘actually existing’ planning settings and housing market conditions over two decades, presenting key housing supply and market indicators (housing approval/refusal rates; completions; land supply pipelines; house prices; rental affordability). We conclude that ‘anti-planning’ narratives have mobilised concerns around housing supply and affordability to pursue deregulatory reform agendas which perpetuate myths around the causes of and solutions to housing problems in order to distract from fundamental structural change.