Proposed development in Brisbane’s Highgate Hill.

They are the suburbs where residents love to say “Not In My Back Yard”.

As Australia remains crippled by a national housing crisis, in which we are crying out for hundreds of thousands of new homes to be built, new research has uncovered the areas where residents and councils are standing in the way.

According to ABS data, the nation commenced work on just over 168,000 homes in 2024.

It was a 3000 property increase from 2023, but still fell 72,000 short of the 240,000 annual builds needed to reach the National Housing Accord’s 1.2 million new homes target by 2029.

A study by MCG Quantity Surveyors looked at building approvals over the past two years and

discovered that in the 24 months to January 2025, only 337,564 dwelling units were approved nationally.

Digging deeper, MCG pinpointed the specific areas with the lowest building approvals over that period. The suburbs identified had less than 5000 building approvals, coupled with less than a 1 per cent increase in housing stock.

Construction is struggling due to a number of issues. Picture: Getty

QUEENSLAND

Queensland is facing a critical shortage of homes in 65 suburbs marked as hotspots of NIMBY resistance, with virtually no new dwelling approvals despite growing demand and rising property prices.

The analysis revealed “an entrenched pattern of underdevelopment” across some of Brisbane’s most established inner and middle-ring suburbs, intensifying the state’s affordability crisis as families compete for a limited supply of new homes.

FULL LIST:Qld’s worst NIMBY suburbs

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

South Australia was found to have 15 key locations marked as NIMBY hotspots.

These locations included some of Adelaide’s most established suburbs.

“Australia’s housing market faces significant pressure due to surging population growth, heightened demand, and an alarmingly low rate of new dwelling approvals,” MCG Quantity Surveyors managing director Mike Mortlock said.

“While many regions grapple with meeting housing demand, certain suburb areas stand out starkly as hotspots of resistance to new developments.”

FULL LIST:SA’s worst NIMBY suburbs

Mike Mortlock from MCG Quantity Surveyors.

VICTORIA

Melbourne’s outer east has been revealed as Victoria’s NIMBY paradise, with a handful of areas recording fewer than 20 new home approvals in the past two years.

From The Basin and Montrose to Rowville and Frankston, there has been a less than 1 per cent increase in the supply of new homes since 2023.

However industry experts have warned there could be deeper issues with building costs, insurance availability and other market forces that could mean they are never developed.

Mr Mortlock said areas with restrictive zoning, strong heritage overlays, or vocal local councils could be problematic.

“These are the suburbs where new development is tightly controlled, and the existing character of the area is fiercely protected,” Mr Mortlock said.

“If you’re someone who values predictability in your streetscape and doesn’t want a mid-rise apartment block popping up next door, these locations offer a kind of residential preservation.”

FULL LIST:Victoria’s worst NIMBY suburbs

Australia desperately needs more construction. Picture: Zak Simmonds.

NEW SOUTH WALES

Chronic opposition to new housing in prime western suburbs has strangled attempts to supply Sydney with the vital homes needed to meet surging population growth.

The MCG analysis revealed multiple, large Harbour City enclaves where fewer than 20 new homes were built over the past two years, with local housing supply growing by less than a per cent.

There were 78 suburb areas identified as having “minimal to negligible” housing growth due to low dwelling approval rates.

The low approval rates were “indicative of local opposition or restrictive zoning practices”, the research revealed.

It comes as NSW continues to fall behind housing targets, with the state well short of the 377,000 homes needed to be built to meet the National Housing Accord target of 1.2 million new homes by 2029.

Sydney areas with the least new housing approvals tended to be established suburbs dominated by low density, single-level homes.

These suburbs often had space to grow and much of the community opposition to the new homes has been on density grounds.

FULL LIST:NSW’s worst NIMBY suburbs

The post Study reveals Aussie suburbs with the lowest levels of housing approvals over two years appeared first on realestate.com.au.

Chronic opposition to new housing in prime western suburbs has strangled attempts to supply Sydney with the vital homes needed to meet surging population growth.

Alarming new analysis has revealed multiple, large Harbour City enclaves where fewer than 20 new homes were built over the past two years, with local housing supply growing by less than a per cent.

There were 78 suburb areas identified as having “minimal to negligible” housing growth due to low dwelling approval rates, according to the SuburbTrends and MCG Quantity Surveyors data.

The low approval rates were “indicative of local opposition or restrictive zoning practices”, the research revealed.

It comes as NSW continues to fall behind housing targets, with the state well short of the 377,000 homes needed to be built to meet the National Housing Accord target of 1.2 million new homes by 2029.

Sydney’s north shore was one of the city regions with the lowest approvals.

Sydney areas with the least new housing approvals tended to be established suburbs dominated by low density, single-level homes. Less than a third of the homes in these suburbs were units or townhouses when the last census was taken in 2021.

These suburbs often had space to grow and much of the community opposition to the new homes has been on density grounds.

Council areas where lower volumes of housing were being approved covered much of the north shore and the inner west, along with parts of the Hills District.

But individual suburbs flagged as some of the worst perpetrators of NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard) were in Sydney’s outer west – where there is generally space for new housing developments.

They included Glenmore Park in Sydney’s outer west, along with Harrington Park, Londonderry and Bligh Park.

Real estate investor Peter Diamantidis, with wife Mary, built a house in Glenmore Park in the 2010s but said planning approvals were much easier to get back then.

Other pockets with particularly low housing approvals were Menai, Illawong and Alfords Point in the Sutherland Shire and Cromer, on the northern beaches. The research excluded suburbs with less than 1500 dwellings.

Low development in these areas was “placing significant pressure on existing housing stock and exacerbating local affordability issues”, the SuburbTrends and MCG research revealed.

MCG Quantity Surveyors director Mike Mortlock said low approvals in many areas painted a “clear picture of entrenched resistance to new housing”.

“Places like Glenmore Park, Illawong and Cromer are emblematic of the challenge: low-density communities, often with strong local identities, where planning inertia and local opposition continue to choke supply,” Mr Mortlock said.

Many of the areas with the lowest housing approvals could benefit from densification, he added.

MCG director Mike Mortlock said many of the areas with the least new home building could benefit from moderate densification.

“What’s striking is that several of these areas, such as Springwood and Wentworth Falls, offer the very lifestyle benefits that would make them ideal candidates for moderate densification. Yet we see barely a trickle of approvals,” Mr Mortlock said.

“These are the suburbs where policy needs to evolve from rhetoric to implementation, because the mismatch between demand and local supply is only widening.”

Regentville, Windsor and Yarramundi were also flagged as low development suburbs, although these suburbs had strict flood control or bush fire zones that limited where new housing could be built.

Regional towns within SA4 areas such as Newcastle, Wollongong, and The Central Coast also reflect strong opposition or restrictive planning policies, according to the research.

This has limited new housing growth in these areas despite them being critical to relieving housing pressures in metropolitan Sydney.

HIA chief economist Tim Reardon said the housing approvals system needed an overhaul. Picture: Tertius Pickard

Housing Industry Association economist Tim Reardon said a “perfect failure” in the town planning system had allowed NIMBY tendencies to flourish in certain councils.

“Town planners get no reward for approving a development and face risks if they do approve a development,” he said.

Mr Reardon added that councils were often overly concerned with how new developments would influence voter decisions at local elections, thinking approvals would turn ratepayers against them.

“The areas where there is stronger resistance to new development tend to be older suburbs. We need to strike a balance between preserving these areas and supplying new housing.

“The solution is to take development approvals out of the hands of local councils and let state governments handle it while councils focus purely on town planning.”

Source: MCG Quantity Surveyors

Mr Reardon explained that a change in homeowner attitudes would also help.

“Opposition from rate payers to higher density developments is often with the view that it will devalue the existing homes and stretch amenities but new developments often deliver the opposite.

“Well-designed developments will often bring better amenities and services and make areas more desirable.”

Real estate entrepreneur Peter Diamantidis built a house in Glenmore Park back in the early 2010s and said the current planning system was unrecognisable compared to when he built.

“Most of the area was built about 30 years ago and they staggered land releases over a few years but now it’s really slow,” he said.

Source: MCG Quantity Surveyors

“There is a lot of land around there but it is not as easy to build.

“The problem with a lot of areas like this is that they are really poorly planned. A whole lot of promises were made about what kind of services would be built in the area but they often haven’t done that.

“There are a few suburbs that are like Glenmore Park. They have to be better serviced before they can be developed further. Right now, the infrastructure is coming in last.”

The post Worst NIMBY suburbs: Sydney areas choking housing supply appeared first on realestate.com.au.

Generic aerial photo of Townsville. Picture: Supplied

Townsville needs more than 9000 new homes within the next five years to house its booming population, a new report has revealed, as the number of dwelling approvals in the North Queensland region has plummeted since 2021.

The recent report by property analyst Michael Matusik predicted prices in the critically undersupplied Townsville property market would shoot up, building on a strong run of price growth in 2024 and driven by the shrinking supply of new houses and apartments.

Mr Matusik said dwelling approvals and dwelling registrations had slumped so low in the past four years, the demand equation for current approvals in Townsville was sitting at one new dwelling for every six adults looking for a home while dwelling registrations were at one new dwelling for almost nine adults.

Mr Matusik said the city had grown by an estimated 3850 new residents in 2024, taking Townsville’s population to 205,283 and making it the region’s largest growth spurt on record.

“Much of the lift in population growth is expected to be in older age groups, and in particular downsizers and retirees, which is leading to heightened demand for premium apartments,” he said.

At the same time property prices in the NQ region had skyrocketed.

Building approvals are down in Townsville. Picture: David Clark

Mr Matusik said Townsville has been among the top regional performers with median apartment and home values surging almost 30 per cent in 2024 – led by apartment price growth.

“The Townsville market is well into the upswing phase of the property cycle as evidenced by median house values increasing 28 per cent last year,” he said.

“But local median apartment prices were tracking even higher than the broader market, rising 29 per cent.

“This compares with the median results for other major Australian regions, which saw housing prices rise, on average, just 3.5 per cent during 2024.”

The report found almost 1875 new residences would need to be built in Townsville each year over the next five years to meet sustained demand.

Mr Matusik said the Townsville unit market was particularly undersupplied and with just two approved apartment projects in Townsville to hit the market in the past twelve months, representing 50 dwellings in total, supply issues looked to continue.

Property analyst Michael Matusik. Picture: Bev Lacey

The Matusik report found on average across the Queensland coast, new boutique apartments were typically priced between $20,000 per square metre and $22,000 per square metre – levels likely to hold despite any potential market corrections.

“This price has almost doubled since Covid-19,” said the report.

“It is important to note that whilst pricing has increased substantially since the pandemic this was primarily due to the increases in the cost of construction.

“These costs are fixed and not market driven, so any correction to costs of construction is unlikely.

“In fact, it is very rare – when looking back over five decades of data – that housing construction prices fall.”

One of the developments underway in Townsville is Maidment Group’s $65 million ‘Marina Residences’.

Comprising 18 apartments across 10 levels, Marina Residences apartments range in price from $2.7m to $3.5m, with a 495sqm Sky Home priced at $7.5m.

The development offers gross floor rates of $12,000 to $15,500 per square metre.

“This is around 35 per cent less than similar new apartment product elsewhere along the Queensland coast,” Mr Matusik’s report said.

The post Townsville critically undersupplied appeared first on realestate.com.au.

South Australia is facing a critical shortage of homes in 15 key locations marked as hotspots of NIMBY resistance, with virtually no new dwelling approvals despite growing demand and rising property prices.

A shock analysis revealed “an entrenched pattern of underdevelopment” across some of Adelaide’s most established suburbs, intensifying the state’s affordability crisis as families compete for a limited supply of new homes.

Research by MCG Quantity Surveyors pinpointed areas with the lowest building approvals over the past two years, with undersupply also dire in regional growth areas, including Berri, Port Pirie, Peterborough and Mount Remarkable.

“Australia’s housing market faces significant pressure due to surging population growth, heightened demand, and an alarmingly low rate of new dwelling approvals,” MCG Quantity Surveyors managing director Mike Mortlock said.

“While many regions grapple with meeting housing demand, certain suburb areas stand out starkly as hotspots of resistance – often referred to as NIBMYism (Not In My Back Yard) – to new developments.”

In the 24 months to January 2025, only 337,564 dwelling units were approved nationally.

MCG’s report identified 15 suburbs in SA with less than 5000 building approvals, coupled with less than a 1 per cent increase in housing stock.

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Adelaide’s worst-ranked areas included: Hallett Cove, Coromandel Valley, Aberfoyle Park, Sheidow Park, Trott Park, Flagstaff Hill, Woodcroft and Happy Valley.

“In South Australia, the pattern is most concentrated in Adelaide’s southern suburbs, where household growth is being outpaced by a lacklustre supply pipeline,” Mr Mortlock said.

“Suburbs like Hallett Cove, Aberfoyle Park and Flagstaff Hill show the hallmarks of low-approval inertia-well-established, owner-occupied enclaves with limited infill opportunities and persistent resistance to change.

“Even in regional centres like Port Pirie and Berri, where affordability is strong, new supply remains surprisingly muted.  “This isn’t just a planning issue—it’s cultural. Without a shift in attitudes toward housing renewal and moderate density, these communities risk becoming increasingly exclusive, and increasingly out of reach.”

MORE NEWS: Nation needs to build 260k homes a year to meet target

SA’S Top 10 NIMBY suburbs.

Separate research by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows Australia missed its housing construction targets so badly in 2024 that instead of needing to build 240,000 homes a year – that figure has now jumped to 260,000.

According to the data, the nation commenced work on just over 168,000 homes in 2024.

It was a 3000 property increase from 2023, but still fell 72,000 short of the 240,000 annual builds needed to reach the National Housing Accord’s 1.2 million new homes target.

Locally, SA is falling almost 26 per cent below its housing quota for the last September quarter, Property Council of Australia data shows.

According to the PCA, SA delivered only 3104 new homes between July and September 2024 – 1087 short of the 4191 required per quarter to meet the National Housing Accord Target.

In the year to September 2024, SA completed 11,854 homes, despite an annual supply target of about 16,000 homes, the council said.

MORE NEWS: Federal Election 2025: Labor, Coalition housing policies slammed

MCG Quantity Surveyors managing director Mike Mortlock.

“The Property Council recently conducted research showing that Adelaide is now Australia’s second most expensive housing market on a relative basis and only trails Sydney when you consider incomes relative to house prices and that if action is not taken this will worsen out to 2030,” PCA executive director for SA Bruce Djite said.

“Suburban infill is an important piece of the supply puzzle and considering the enabling infrastructure challenges currently plaguing the state, infill is the fastest way to materially increase supply and give us a slim chance of achieving our share of the National Housing Accord Target.

“While the Malinauskas Government is investigating how it can increase the supply, density and diversity of various forms of housing, we have called on the government to refrain from further populist policy such as tree and garaging provisions that bow to suburban NIMBY pressures and rather to investigate how statutory development costs are impacting supply and affordability.”

Ray White economist Nerida Conisbee said skyrocketing building costs had made it more affordable to buy an existing home than purchase a new one – undermining policies aimed at encouraging new construction.

“Construction challenges have worsened, with industry insolvencies continuing to rise and now exceeding 1,200 annually,” Ms Consibee said.

“Labor productivity remains low, and the average time to complete a house has increased from approximately 6.5 months pre-pandemic to over 10 months today.

“These factors severely limit the industry’s capacity to deliver on ambitious housing targets.”

The post Listed: SA’s worst NIMBY hotspots appeared first on realestate.com.au.

Homes in suburbs like Olinda have been labelled a NIMBY’s paradise.

Melbourne’s outer east has been revealed as a NIMBY’s paradise, with a handful of areas recording fewer than 20 new home approvals in the past two years.

From The Basin and Montrose to Rowville and Frankston, there has been a less than 1 per cent increase in the supply of new homes since 2023.

A report by MCG Quantity Surveyors has dubbed the locations as among the city’s ‘Not In My Back Yard’ (NIMBY) hot spots, and those potentially needing urgent intervention to ensure more homes get built there.

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However, industry experts have warned there could be deeper issues with building costs, insurance availability and other market forces that could mean they are never developed.

MCG managing director Mike Mortlock said areas with restrictive zoning, strong heritage overlays, or vocal local councils can often serve as a “NIMBY’s paradise”.

“These are the suburbs where new development is tightly controlled, and the existing character of the area is fiercely protected,” Mr Mortlock said.

“If you’re someone who values predictability in your streetscape and doesn’t want a mid-rise apartment block popping up next door, these locations offer a kind of residential preservation.”

Rowville came in the top 10 of Victoria’s NIMBY hotspots.

However, he said these home protections could also lead to housing undersupply — meaning stability for existing residents could arguably come at “the cost of broader housing affordability”.

“The reality is we’re grappling with a tangled web of issues — sluggish planning systems, tax burdens that inflate the cost of new housing, and a reluctance to acknowledge that a healthy rental market, supported by balanced policies for landlords, is a critical part of the solution,” Mr Mortlock said.

Urban Development Institute of Australia Victorian chief executive Linda Allison said topography and building costs could be preventing development in many of the areas, with steep inclines in the Dandenong’s difficult to build on.

With developing in Melbourne at the moment already “very difficult” due to the economics behind building, Ms Allison said “market forces” were likely having a significant impact on where developers were actively looking to create more homes.

MCG managing director Mike Mortlock said areas with restrictive zoning, strong heritage overlay can serve as a “NIMBY’s paradise”

“It’s good to have clear directions of where the government thinks the future of development should be, and they are very centred on train stations — which are good places for people to live and work close by,” Ms Allison said.

Yes In My Back Yard (YIMBY) lead organiser Jonathan O’Brien said in some of the areas that fire danger could also be a factor.

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If that was the case, there might be an argument more homes should not be permitted there as it could lead to extra government costs for evacuations and protecting homes in emergencies.

However, Mr O’Brien said across wider Melbourne more areas should be freed up for development so homebuyers could “vote with their feet” on where they wanted to live.

Montrose, which came in third on the list, has a typical home price of around $930,000.

“The reality is there’s two forms of NIMBY: the older, richer people who are turning up to council meetings and saying no; and the planning rules and regulations,” Mr O’Brien said.

“We have a lot of areas where people would like to build townhouses so they can age in place, but they legally can’t do it.”

Mr Mortlock said those hoping to “avoid the symphony of jackhammers and the parade of tradies’ utes” should seek out low-density zoning such as residential overlays, or regions covered by heritage protections and conservation areas that were “red flags” for development.

“So if you’re hunting for serenity, look for suburbs with restrictive planning overlays, a vocal resident base, and a local council that’s more clipboard than bulldozer,” he said.

Frankston North was also a surprise entry on the list for NIMBY hotspots around Melbourne.

In The Basin, LOCI Real Estate director Michael Hill said there were pockets where council rules would be hampering development in favour of preserving neighbourhood character — and that appealed to many buyers.

“We are getting quite a few people moving from Hawthorn and Camberwell to The Basin for a tree change,” Mr Hill said.

“So there would be a market for more homes.”

VICTORIA’S NIMBY PARADISES

Area: Approvals (2 years) — Percentage of wider area approvals — Typical House Price

The Basin: 6 — 0.40% — $840,000

Montrose: 10 — 0.40% — $930,000

Mr Dandenong-Olinda: 16 — 0.50% — $1.03m

Rowville-South: 16 — 0.50% — $1.01m

Upwey-Tecoma: 170.50%$848,000

Belgrave-Selby: 17 — 0.50% — $870,000

Wandin-Seville: 15 — 0.60% — $900,000

Rowville-North: 18 — 0.70% — $1m

Frankston North: 53 — 0.70% — $630,000

Wendouree-Miners Rest: 45 — 0.70% — $465,000

Areas cover Statistical Area 2 from the Australian Bureau of Statistics

Source: MCG Quantity Surveyors

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