Merri-bek

Housing target:	2,100 homes/year
Total housing capacity:	675,000
Land to build new housing:	1,252 MCGs

More homes in Merri-bek

The answer to the housing supply shortage will not be found in a handful of designated activity centres and precincts. Merri-bek needs to do its bit by delivering beautiful mid-rise homes near every one of its public transit stops.

Through broad transit-oriented upzoning and development, Merri-bek can deliver housing abundance and provide more housing choices to all current and future residents across the entirety of the city. This will fulfil the original goal of Plan Melbourne creating a vast array of 20-minute neighbourhoods, rather than a small number of scattered activity centres.

In Merri-bek missing middle upzoning will have the following effect:

Height	Number of lots upzoned
6 storeys	39,920
4 storeys	4,270
3 storeys	12,193
Total	56,383

Broad upzoning is needed across existing suburbs so that there is more land available to build homes for our children to live in. If only a few select areas are rezoned, then developers will be able to buy up that land and withhold supply. Broad upzoning of land across inner-Melbourne removes any power developers may have to speculate, and lowers housing costs for all.

Housing targets

Even though there are 675,000 total possible units that could be built in Merri-bek, it’s impossible for them to be built all at once. It is also not reasonable to assume that all possible units will ever be built, which is why excess zoned capacity is important.

For each lot in Merri-bek, we calculated whether it would be profitable to build housing under upzoning. We estimate that there are 369,000 viable units that could be built in Merri-bek.

Based off our data, in order to contribute its fair share to the the statewide target of 80,000 new homes per year, Merri-bek must build 2,100 units per year.¹

¹ This target should be fulfilled in addition to any construction taking place as a result of any further up-zoning, such as for Suburban Rail Loop Precincts.

Planning barriers

While there has been some housing construction, the total number of homes is struggling to keep up with Melbourne’s evolving housing needs.

The biggest thing holding back Merri-bek is restrictive zoning. Here is the current zoning map for Merri-bek:

As a result of this restrictive zoning, Merri-bek is not building enough homes to keep up with Melbourne’s growth:

Increasing zoned capacity in Merri-bek by 7.7x, with a focus on density around transport hubs, will enable more homes to be built where people want to live.

Heritage should not be a barrier to housing abundance

Of the 369,000 potentially profitable apartments that could be built in Merri-bek, 25% of these potential future homes are on lots subject to heritage controls.

If heritage and neighbourhood character protections in Merri-bek are too far-reaching, it could potentially affect Merri-bek’s ability to meet its housing targets.

We have outlined potential remedies for this earlier in the report.

Sketch by Archimarathon Studio

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