I've had a great time reading and discussing a wide range of books this year to help find the best policy-relevant reads for Grattan's Prime Minister's Summer Reading List. Catch the full list on our website, along with our accompanying Wonks' List. 1/ grattan.edu.au/news/...

Two months ago, I wrote a paper for the Electoral Matters Committee. It clocked in at 23,000 words with 16 data tables, 11 graphs, 204 footnotes and 30,000 datapoints. I made the case that we should take advantage of this historic juncture to expand participation in our representative democracy.

Responding to our 'More homes, better cities' Grattan report, Professor Nicole Gurran wrote that our plan to boost housing supply needed a 'reality check' in part because 'building completions fall when prices stagnate'. Here's why that argument misses the mark. 🧵

‘Australia’s economy is in a post-pandemic slump. To dig us out, state and federal governments must tackle the chronic shortage of housing in our biggest cities.’ Catch our latest piece in Pearls and Irritations:

'Housing in Australia’s cities is now among the least affordable in the world. At the heart of the problem is the fact we just haven’t built enough homes to meet rising demand.' Catch our latest op-ed in The New Daily:

1/ Housing in Australia's major cities is among the least affordable in the world. A big reason is that we no longer build enough homes, especially where people most want to live.

Housing in Australia is both too scarce and too expensive. Yet our major cities are among the least dense of their size in the world. Our latest Grattan report show how we can reform our urban planning rules to allow for more homes and better cities. 🧵

3-storey townhouses and apartments should be permitted on all residential land in all capital cities to help fix Australia’s housing crisis. Building more homes will create cheaper housing and more productive cities. Our new report shows how. buff.ly/NfAM6C7 #auspol

I'm back again telling everyone who'll listen and a lot of people who won't that we need more politicians! Today, the ACT Assembly's inquiry into the 2024 election published a submission from @francismarkham.bsky.social and myself arguing it's time to make the Assembly bigger... again.

It’s notable to me that recent media reports on the low and mid rise housing policy in NSW struggle to explain the details of how it works, and miss the fact that it was scaled back from the policy originally proposed. A short 🧵

A common meme in housing policy is that such and such a view (e.g. supply scepticism or neoliberalism) is dominant among policymakers. I’ve increasingly come to think that this is just wrong: there’s remarkably little agreement on what our housing problems actually are.

A great project here by Michael Weibe, who is writing accessible literature reviews on topics in housing research. The first article is all about vacancy chains. open.substack.com/pu...

Low density suburbs in growing cities often face a problem - as property values rise and older homes are replaced with larger new ones, they become steadily less affordable. But as this paper from the US shows, thoughtful zoning reforms can change this story. 🧵

Low density suburbs in growing cities often face a problem - as property values rise and older homes are replaced with larger new ones, they become steadily less affordable. But as this paper from the US shows, thoughtful zoning reforms can change this story. 🧵

The claim here that we can't (or won't) build more than 50 homes per hectare is puzzling. When Marcus Spiller's SGS colleagues estimated housing capacity in Boroondara LGA, they assumed 75-100 homes per hectare even for 'general' residential areas. www.abc.net.au/news/...

I’m old enough to remember when the swing vote in the US Senate on major party-line reconciliation bills was so concerned about US government debt levels he had an aide text him the $ value every morning. Ah the good old days.

Earlier this week I presented to an ABS/RBA conference on data insights in housing. While my presentation was on Grattan’s February report, ‘Renting in retirement’, the conversation in the room left me with a range of important takeaways on housing tax and productivity. 🧵

I’ve often enjoyed Annie Lowery’s work, but as an Australian, it was painful to read this nonsensical article about preferential voting. PV isn’t more ‘chaotic’ because candidates recommend preferences instead of choosing whether to drop out entirely. www.theatlantic.com/...

Planning reform discourse is confusing because it often revolves around abstract terminology such as ‘red tape’ and ‘deregulation’, rather than the underlying policy reality that for decades we’ve effectively outlawed new townhouses and flats in large parts of Australian cities.

A cool research paper here that 1) uses weather-related delays to housing completions in Germany to estimate the reduction in rents from new homebuilding and 2) models how new market-rate housing supply reduces rents for low-income earners. 🧵

Cities across Australia often have rules on the books that mandate a certain amount of parking as part of new housing projects. As one study from Colorado shows, removing them wouldn’t just make many homes cheaper to buy - it would also help more homes get built. 🧵

The ACT’s ‘missing middle’ planning reforms show that Canberra doesn’t have to choose between protecting the “garden city” and making housing more affordable. It can, and it should, do both. Read the full op-ed below from Brendan Coates and myself. grattan.edu.au/news/...

Something that comes up often in housing policy discussions right now is the idea that planning reforms won't shift the dial because construction costs are just too high, so new homes will only be profitable if prices rise. A few thoughts on why I don’t think it’s this simple. 🧵

One of the big reasons I left Canberra was that it was almost impossible to live near your friends. So many left the city, it was so hard to meet new ones and the ones who stayed are spread across a giant sprawling city. This is a pro-social policy.

Big news on housing policy in the ACT, which is proposing to allow low-rise flats and townhouses in its most restrictive residential zone. Previously, apartments and townhouses were effectively banned on 80% of Canberra’s residential land. www.abc.net.au/news/...

A gentle suggestion to those opposing planning reforms that allow denser housing in existing suburbs: it does somewhat undermine your credibility when you claim that the reforms won’t increase supply, even though they will lead to reckless unchecked development.

Charging for or allocating rights to scarce public space is one of core policy tools available to local councils to manage congestion. That so many of Melbourne’s councils refuse to charge for parking shows an abject lack of respect for the public they serve. Full article below.

Housing policy was central to the federal election. But when it comes to building more homes, it is state planning reforms - like those that are underway in Victoria - that could really shift the dial. Our latest for The Conversation outlines why they matter. theconversation.com/...

The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) recently published a study of landlord behaviour that received some media attention for its finding that the median period of rental investment was just two years. Here's why this figure appears much too low. 🧵

There’s been discussion about whether a US-influenced ‘abundance’ agenda on infrastructure + housing applies to Australia, where our cities seem much less sclerotic. But in part, this is a sign of how often we exempt projects from ‘normal’ legal review and planning processes. 🧵

‘Gina Rinehart also singled out Italy and Hungary, which are governed by populist rightwing coalitions, as countries Australia could aspire to…’ Should Australia aspire to be Italy or Hungary?

Every election, at least one friend or family-member asks me the question ‘who are X party preferencing?’ because press coverage of how to vote cards has confused them about how preferences work. Well and truly time for the media to reconsider how they cover this issue.

Very flattered to be asked to write about this grim election for @goodauth.bsky.social! goodauthority.org/news/austral...

Housing policy in Melbourne is being reformed to allow more townhouses and flats across the city, especially near public transport. In our submission to a Legislative Council inquiry into the reforms, we argue they're key to unlocking better housing choices for Melburnians. grattan.edu.au/news/...

An odd piece here. While it argues that income support for renters in NZ is less effective than support for mortgage-holders, the underlying data mainly shows that among people in the same income quintile, housing assistance recipients pay more rent. theconversation.com/...

“Over the past three years Daria Kasatkina has slowly come to terms with a painful truth: the country she was born in, grew up in and represented with great success in the most prominent women’s sport steadfastly rejects her existence.“ A heartbreaking yet hopeful story. www.theguardian.com/...

I sincerely hope that one day, the National Capital Authority will realise that our current practice of closing roads in central areas of Canberra every second weekend to make them suitable for public gatherings strongly suggests that many of them should be closed permanently.

Something I’ve been reflecting on given all of the recent focus on tariffs: *the* story of tax in Australia since federation is the shift from excises/customs to income taxes as the workhorse of our tax system. Important reforms like GST, FBT, & CGT are small in comparison.

So much housing policy, so little time! In the latest pre-election Grattan pod, we cover: - The Housing Australia Future Fund - Serviceability buffers - Migration and foreign resident homebuyers - Capital gains tax - Paying states to build more (town) houses… …and much more! Link below.

No argument in the housing debate is more of a dead-end than the claim that ‘no one wants to live in apartments.’ If there was no demand for apartments, then rules that limit where they can be built could be removed with no effect. Few really believe this to be the case.

Victoria’s new Rescode reforms will make 3-storey townhouses and flats easier to build in residential zones. Those opposing them on the basis that they harken back to the 70s would do well to consider what that era evokes to young people suffering under high housing costs.

Over the past 25 years, unaffordable housing has become one of the biggest drivers of inequality in Australia. If we want to tackle our growing generational divide, we need to build more homes. Read the latest from @brendan-coates.bsky.social, Joey Moloney, and myself. theconversation.com/...

Housing in Australia is less affordable than ever. Brendan Coates, Joey Moloney, and @mbowes.bsky.social explain how to make housing cheaper. buff.ly/NzbY1Sq #auspol

A recently published NBER paper aims to show that supply constraints do not explain variation in house prices or home building across US cities. Here’s a brief summary, and why I don’t think it detracts from the case for pursuing planning reforms to unlock housing supply 🧵1/ www.nber.org/papers/...

The Grattan Institute verdict on Budget 2025. Is this the right budget for these economic times? Answer: No. By Kate Griffiths in The Conversation

A recently published NBER paper aims to show that supply constraints do not explain variation in house prices or home building across US cities. Here’s a brief summary, and why I don’t think it detracts from the case for pursuing planning reforms to unlock housing supply 🧵1/ www.nber.org/papers/...

Why are grocery prices in Australia so high? It’s not just inflation—it's about competition. The ACCC just dropped a key insight: simplifying planning laws can lower prices by letting more supermarkets compete. Here's what's happening 👇

Grattan’s Orange Book 2025 is all about the policies we need to chart a course to a more prosperous Australia. It’s a challenge that requires action across the economy, but nowhere more so than in housing policy. Short 🧵 grattan.edu.au/repor...

If you’re someone who cares about allowing people to move to housing that better suits their needs, then do I have a tax reform proposal for you! grattan.edu.au/report/orang...

Enjoyed appearing on ABC Melbourne’s ‘What if Wednesday’ program yesterday to talk about why improving tenant protections, building more homes, and boosting Rent Assistance are the best ways to support struggling renters. www.abc.net.au/liste...