Hundreds of Australia’s top executives have ranked the nation’s housing crisis as a bigger issue than economic growth, climate change or technological disruption.

And they have warned the country has critical capability gaps in being able to deliver more homes, with more than two thirds of city leaders being worried about being able to house their growing population.

Urbis’ latest City Leaders Survey ranked the country’s supply of affordable housing as the biggest issue faced by business and the economy for the coming two years, and the biggest driver of inequality in every city. It was also labelled the most challenging to address.

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Urbis research director Mark Dawson said it was the first time the survey had ranked housing affordability as the top priority for the nation, and that it had been a resounding call from business leaders with nine out of 10 agreeing on its importance.

“It’s like the fundamental pillar for all other economic factors in our society, and it creates a draw for people to move and work in our cities,” Mr Dawson said.

“So we should not be surprised, but naturally we should be concerned that this is the state of peoples focus for key issues.

“Now we need to focus on how we work towards solutions.”

The biggest concerns about the nation’s rising population. Source: Urbis City Leaders Survey.

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Survey respondents included senior staff from the Committee for Brisbane, the Committee for Sydney, national developers, local councils, the NBN and the Planning Institute of Australia.

The respected urban planning and design consultancy has proposed solutions including a national housing innovation lab, for council efforts to approve new housing to be tracked and mapped and even an Australia-wide liveability and wellbeing index.

Compiled from the perspectives of 200 senior industry executives across the country, including capital city committee members, the survey found an increase in housing density for inner-city suburbs was a key requirement, followed by reducing taxes that increase development costs.

The key priorities city leaders believe are needed to address housing affordability. Source: Urbis City Leaders Survey.

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Mr Dawson said while there was significant engagement from all levels of government in the housing crisis, better consultation and a more unified response was needed to truly address the issue.

However, he singled out creating an appetite for financiers to back housing projects as one of the key issues needing to be addressed as soon as possible.

Governments now need to strike the right balance between incentivising investment and bringing in enough funding for necessary infrastructure to be built around new homes.

“Right now that environment is not necessarily crystal clear, and so we need to look at ways to make this more predictable,” Mr Dawson said.

How the survey ranked the biggest issues within the housing crisis. Source: Urbis City Leaders Survey.

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The survey showed executives also want to see an improvement in planning approval processes, more innovative use of land zoning and more government funding for social housing.

And the powerbrokers of the nation’s two largest capitals, Sydney and Melbourne, have also ranked declining liveability in their top three threats to economic development.

In response, Urbis have called for a national index for liveability and wellbeing that would be used to guide urban development.

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