source : the age
These two neighbouring houses are in a prime location, walking distance to cafés and sought-after schools.
They are dated, yet liveable. But both remain empty.
They are among hundreds of homes sitting empty in some of Brisbane’s most prime suburbs, while thousands more are being used as secondary residences.
Neighbouring empty homes at 1 and 5 Kennington Road, Camp Hill, where a local builder has approval to build nine townhouses.Credit: Marissa Calligeros
Brisbane’s empty home rate is 1.2 per cent – about one in 100 homes – according to experimental data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics compiled using federal government administrative records and electricity usage.
That equates to about 6700 homes sitting empty across Greater Brisbane.
The suburbs with the highest empty home rate include the apartment-dominated CBD, South Brisbane, Newstead, Spring Hill and Kelvin Grove.
South Brisbane has the highest rate at 6.3 per cent – or about 407 dwellings, based on the total number of properties with available data.
The ABS estimates there are also more than 400 empty homes in both the CBD and Newstead – Bowen Hills. About another 200 are estimated to be vacant in West End, Fortitude Valley and Kangaroo Point respectively.
The bureau classifies “inactive dwellings” as those that were “opened” as a residential address for income, welfare, or tax purposes from 2016, but as of mid-2021 were “closed”.
But it warns the experimental PLIDA (Personal Integrated Data Asset) analysis must be interpreted with a degree of caution. The analysis was carried out in 2021, during the COVID pandemic, but it is the most recent available data.
“For inner Brisbane, the electricity data has uncommonly poor coverage … and the ABS is still refining our understanding of the PLIDA measure,” the bureau said in a statement.
The statistics also show there about 55,000 dwellings classified as a “non-primary” residence in Greater Brisbane.
Non-primary residences are those used as secondary homes, holiday homes, Airbnbs, short-term rentals, or that are empty because they are being sold.
Legal or family disputes, the process of winding up deceased estates, or deliberate land banking are all reasons homes and blocks of land can be unoccupied.
Delays in obtaining planning approval can also leave prime real estate sitting empty, as well as trouble securing the funds to get tools in the ground.
This five-bedroom house in Bridgeman Downs has been empty for the best part of a decade and has been the subject of several subdivision proposals.
This derelict house at 415 Beckett Road, Bridgeman Downs, has been empty for most of the past decade. Credit: Google Street View
The derelict and fire-damaged house at 415 Beckett Road last sold in 2019 for $2.2 million. The most recent development application proposes dividing the 9820 square metre block into 20 house lots as part of a larger subdivision.
“New housing projects are too often bogged down in slow approval processes. The longer an application sits on the desk waiting to be approved, the longer it takes to build that home,” said Matthew Kandelaars, group executive of policy and advocacy at the Property Council of Australia.
“We need to make it easier to get homes out of the ground. A ‘yes’ mindset is needed to simplify and streamline planning processes to remove bottlenecks and boost the supply of new homes.”
Local councils and the state government have limited power to intervene to put underutilised properties to better use.
Where rates or taxes are not being paid, they can take action, but that is often a long, drawn-out process.
Amy MacMahon, former Greens MP for South Brisbane, failed in her push for an empty homes levy in Queensland before she was ousted at the last state election.
She proposed legislation in 2022 that would charge owners of vacant properties a 5 per cent tax – a move she said would bring thousands of vacant properties into Queensland’s rental market and lower both rent and property prices.
Victoria is the only state to have introduced a vacant land tax.
It introduced the tax in 2018, initially targeting homes in inner and middle-ring Melbourne suburbs. This year, it was expanded to cover the entire state.
Under the legislation, all vacant homes in Victoria will be taxed at 1 per cent of their value if they are unused for more than six months a year, with exemptions for holiday homes and renovations.
“We can’t afford, really, to have vacant land in metropolitan Melbourne sitting idle. Our clear message to the landowners is to either develop land or sell it to someone who will,” Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas said when he announced the expanded laws in 2023.
It follows similar policies in San Francisco and Vancouver.
The Real Estate Institute of Queensland does not support a vacancy tax, with chief executive Antonia Mercorella saying the state should not “tax our way out of the housing crisis”.
“Given the shortage of rental properties and recent escalation in property prices, it’s important to examine ways that existing housing can be utilised to its full potential,” Mercorella said.
“However, the REIQ does not support a vacancy tax. We do not believe the solution is to pin the problem on property investors.”
The Property Council is also reticent.
“We need the right tax settings in place to spur investment,” Kandelaars said. “Additional property taxes increase holding costs and will deter investment in new housing at the time we need it most.”
Housing Minister Sam O’Connor would not be drawn on a vacant land tax in Queensland but acknowledged “it has never been harder to find a place to call home in Queensland”.
He said the state government’s plans to abolish stamp duty for first home buyers on new homes would incentivise construction, among other measures.
“We’ve also removed all barriers for first home owners to allow them to rent out a room which will increase the rental options in the market,” he said.
