After the Kars4Kids ad is banned in California, we check in on nostalgic jingles past
California bans Kars4Kids jingle for being deceptive
NPR Topics: News1 min read
Scrapping 86,000 new car parking spaces could save $5.2bn and drive down rents, Grattan report finds
TL;DR
A Grattan Institute report suggests Australia could save $5.2 billion by eliminating 86,000 unnecessary car parking spaces in new developments. The report calls for reforms to planning rules, as many new apartments are built with more parking than needed.
Key points
- Australia risks wasting $5.2 billion on unnecessary parking spaces
- 86,000 car parking spaces could be eliminated in five years
- 40% of one-bedroom apartment households do not own a car
- Current planning rules require too many parking spaces
- Many parking spaces under apartments are unused
Australia risks squandering $5.2bn by building 86,000 unwanted car parking spaces in the next five years, according to research by the Grattan Institute.
The report recommends urgent reform to planning rules, including scrapping a requirement for a minimum number of car parking spaces per bedroom for new builds.
For instance, in Sydney, a new one-bedroom apartment is required to come with an average of 0.6 car spaces. But about 40% of Australian households in a studio or one-bedroom apartment don’t have a car.
Dominic Behrens, one of the authors of the report, said Australia already had far too much off-street parkingbecause of state and local requirements for new developments.
“We’ve required too many parking spaces for a long time, and as a result, we’ve got a lot more than we want, need, or use, particularly under apartment buildings,” said Behrens, a housing researcher. That means hundreds of thousands of people are paying for more parking than they need, with about 40% of the parking spaces under apartment buildings in Australia sitting empty every night, he said.
Grattan estimated that the rules add $70,000 to the cost of building a typical two-bedroom apartment in Sydney, $62,000 in Melbourne, $113,000 in Brisbane, $137,000 in Perth and $95,000 in Adelaide.
Behren said that makes it more difficult for developers to make a profit on building new homes, which both reduces supply and increases rents as costs are passed on.
“If we got rid of these rules and built more housing, it’s rents at the lower end of the spectrum that would go down the most, and so really the biggest burden of these rules falls on the people who have the least capacity to pay,” he said.
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email
Though some councils have made moves to shrink parking minimums, particularly in suburbs near good quality public transport, the report recommends simply getting rid of them entirely.
Grattan estimates the change would cut thousands of dollars from the cost of new homes, reduce construction time, and save Australia $5.2bn by not constructing more than 86,000 unwanted car spaces over the next five years.
Q&A
How much money could Australia save by scrapping car parking spaces?
Australia could save $5.2 billion by eliminating 86,000 unnecessary car parking spaces.
What planning reforms does the Grattan report recommend?
The report recommends urgent reforms to planning rules, including removing minimum car parking space requirements for new builds.
What percentage of Australian households in one-bedroom apartments own a car?
About 40% of Australian households in studio or one-bedroom apartments do not own a car.
Why are many parking spaces under apartment buildings in Australia unused?
Many parking spaces are unused because there are too many required by state and local regulations, leading to about 40% sitting empty each night.
