CEDA’s work on gentle density and the missing middle only reinforces the point: Hobart cannot keep growing one detached house at a time.  

We need more homes in the right places, built in ways that strengthen neighbourhoods. But wanting that and delivering it are very different things.  

Across Greater Hobart, well-located, sensible medium-density proposals, exactly the kinds of projects our region needs, are not progressing. Not because communities or planners don’t support them, or the private sector isn’t interested but its because the costs have blown out.  

Here’s what that looks like:  

• Increase in land prices;  

• Construction costs climbing year-on-year – labour shortages, materials volatility and sector challenges;  

• Enabling infrastructure (water, sewer, stormwater, power) struggling to align with growth, renewal programs falling behind and becoming more expensive; and  

• Financing and valuations constrained by Tasmania’s small and shallow market, often failing to meet benchmark requirements.  

Sitting across all of these is the factor that quietly destroys feasibility more than anything else: time.  

Every month a project waits in an approvals queue, for servicing advice or for changing lending conditions, the feasibility shifts again, almost always for the worse.  

Then there’s the timing of capital programs across the whole system.  

In Tasmania, one major infrastructure project landing at the wrong moment can soak up the entire labour pool. A pause in State Government works can force demobilisation. A few big projects running concurrently can stress our construction ecosystem.  

Other jurisdictions like NZ, WA, NSW, Singapore and at a precinct scale Renewal SA are now deliberately and actively coordinating capital activity.  

They smooth peaks and troughs, provide industry certainty, retain apprentices, attract capability, foster innovation, create investor confidence and alleviate unnecessary pressure shocks on the sector.    

Tasmania needs that discipline now more than ever.    

Local councils can’t fix the whole cost stack, but they can influence two factors that make a real difference – amenity and time.  

This year the Committee hosted roundtables with a cross-section of Tasmanian industry leaders, guided by David O’Loughlin, a respected national figure in renewal and local government.  

His message was simple and powerful: amenity is not decoration, it is delivery.  When streets feel safe, green, active and well cared for, communities embrace medium-density living. Investors follow. And neighbourhoods thrive.  

Governments often measure success by how many approvals they issue. But the real question is: how long did it take?  

An approval that drags for 18-24 months can kill a project before construction even begins.   

A local government in South-East Queensland recently demonstrated how powerful it can be when all parts of the system work together through their “DA in a Day” initiative.  

This isn’t about dropping standards, it’s about removing friction.  

Even with better amenity, faster approvals and a coordinated capital pipeline, Tasmania’s small market will still face feasibility gaps.  

That’s where de-risking tools matter – financing models, catalytic guarantees, pre-development funding, delivery governance and public-private-philanthropic partnerships.  

The Committee is exploring these models now because they could unlock strategically important, well-located medium-density projects that the private market cannot deliver alone.  

One thing Greater Hobart cannot afford is to fall into the “tragedy of horizons” where we focus only on immediate pressures while failing to prepare for what comes next.  

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney coined the term around climate and finance over a decade ago, but it applies equally to housing or any complex intergenerational issue facing our community.  

If we tackle the cost stack, coordinate our capital pipeline, improve amenity, remove hold-ups and embrace smart de-risking, we can build the homes and places our community desperately needs and the vibrant, inclusive city future generations deserve.

Also published in The Mercury, Thursday December 18, 2025.