_Knight Frank representative appointed Chair of housing supply expert panel

Julie Saunders takes up the role, with first meeting recently completed

July 13, 2018

Knight Frank’s Associate Director of Commercial Sales, Julie Saunders, has been appointed Chair of the Queensland Government’s new housing supply expert panel. The first meeting was held at the start of July.

The panel, which is the first of its type in Australia at a state level, will provide transparent, independent advice to the government about how to measure, report on and address land supply, development and housing affordability issues in South East Queensland, a region that will house another two million people by 2041, requiring nearly another 800,000 dwellings.

The panel’s role is crucial in providing independent advice on growth in South East Queensland, with the issue of housing supply a very important one for the state, and indeed Australia. From a state perspective, it is the only of its kind in existence at the moment.

The relationship between supply and affordability is going to be of growing importance going forward, and the panel will look at becoming more sophisticated at monitoring and adapting policies to ensure adequate supply is available. The work the Department is undertaking in the land supply monitoring space is leading edge, and one that other states are going to watch, as housing supply is an issue all around Australia.

Ms Saunders brings a wealth of experience to her role as panel Chair, with a career in town planning spanning 30 years, before a move into the commercial property industry, into a role as Associate Director of Commercial Sales with Knight Frank. Ms Saunders will chair the panel alongside eight other high-calibre professionals from across the property, planning, economics and demography disciplines, and from around Australia.

The establishment of the panel is in response to a joint submission from the Property Council of Australia and the Queensland Council of Social Services, on the draft South East Queensland Regional Plan 2017, Shaping SEQ.

The submission made the case for an independent agency to be established to monitor land supply and development to match population growth.