We’re in the midst of an inner-city housing affordability crisis. But we believe there is a solution – one that rests on the shoulders of the IT sector, big business and government.

The ‘why’ of the inner-city housing price hike

Property prices within 15km of the CBD have doubled over the past 5-7 years as population increases have placed a huge demand on houses. It doesn’t really matter what the government does to try to encourage people to live further out, people will continue to choose to live close to the CBD to reduce their work commute (which is where the majority of jobs are located).

The solution
As we see it, three big sectors of society can combine to address the inner-city housing problem. Here’s how:

1. Big business & IT
   Large companies and the IT sector can create multiple ‘regional hubs’. Companies such as Telstra, ANZ, CBA, IBM and PWC can join forces with the ‘techies’ to utilise technology to set up remote satellite offices in regional areas such as Bendigo, Ballarat or Geelong. Staff can work from any of these satellite offices, ‘dialling in’ to head office to work with their team. So an employee at the CBD ANZ office could choose to move to Bendigo and work there, but still continue to remotely connect with their colleagues in the CBD and beyond. This eliminates the need for the entire team to be in the same office.Imagine a future where Bendigo has 20-30 satellite offices of the ASX top 30 companies. And the same exists in Geelong, Ballarat etc. These new regional hubs would reduce demand on inner-city properties, thereby easing the housing affordability crisis.
2. The government
   Government can also play a huge role. They can offer tax incentives to big businesses – or even joint partnerships – to facilitate these changes and assist with associated costs. Rather than spending billions making bigger highways and adding to the inner-city crush, they can spend it on establishing thriving regional hubs. Places where people can live and work from – rather than concentrating on CBD offices as the only option and placing a strain on the inner-city housing market.

If you’ve got some more innovative ideas about how to solve the inner city housing crisis, please feel free to connect with us and share them. We’d love to hear your suggestions.