Australia risks squandering $5.2bn by building 86,000 unwanted car parking spaces over the next five years, according to a new report from the Grattan Institute. The research, which examined planning rules across major cities, found that about 40% of parking spaces under apartment buildings sit empty each night, yet strict minimum requirements continue to force developers to include more.
The report recommends urgent reform, including scrapping the requirement for a minimum number of car parking spaces per bedroom for new builds. In Sydney, for example, a new one-bedroom apartment must come with an average of 0.6 car spaces. But about 40% of households in studio or one-bedroom apartments do not own a car, and many who do may not need off-street parking.
Grattan estimates that these rules add between $62,000 and $137,000 to the cost of a typical two-bedroom apartment, depending on the city. Dominic Behrens, a housing researcher and co-author of the report, said the rules make it harder for developers to profit, reducing housing supply and pushing up rents. '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,' he said.
The report also highlights the emotional attachment to parking, which makes it difficult for politicians to make rational decisions. David Mepham, author of 'Rethinking Parking', said: 'Everyone wants more parking, but no one wants to pay for it.' To address this, the report recommends state governments intervene to remove councils' power to impose parking minimums, as New Zealand did in 2020.
Other recommendations include 'unbundling' parking costs so that spaces can be bought or leased independently of the property, and better management of on-street parking through permits, time limits and user charges. The Grattan Institute says the changes could cut thousands of dollars from the cost of new homes, reduce construction time, and avoid building 86,000 unwanted car parks.
