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A Multivariate Study of Medium Density Housing Development and Neighbourhood Change Within Australian Cities

Author/s: Valerie Kupke, Peter Rossini, Stanley McGreal

Date Published: 1/01/2011

Published in: Volume 17 - 2011 Issue 1 (pages 3 - 23)

Abstract

The introduction of medium density housing development within suburban areas has been favoured by government as a means of improving the efficiency of land use, reducing the costs associated with the delivery of government infrastructure and services, increasing the opportunity for affordable housing and balancing social mix. However, it has been hypothesised that such development may be having a negative impact on local neighbourhoods in terms of social structure; for example, reducing diversity as measured by economic status and family makeup or in terms of local housing market performance as measured by price. This paper considers whether such outcomes are able to be measured in terms of social structure and housing market performance for three Australian cities: Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne between 2001 and 2006. The analysis is conducted at a disaggregated level to more accurately measure impacts at the local level. The paper attempts to identify whether medium density housing development has any impact on housing market performance at a suburb level as measured by median price and if there are associated changes in neighbourhood structure as measured by social constructs developed using the technique of principal components analysis.

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Keywords

Medium Density Housing - Neighbourhood - Social Structure

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