Australia’s second-richest man, Meriton founder and Managing Director Harry Triguboff AO, said he is now looking closely at land lease communities as a solution to the housing affordability crisis.
The 92-year-old developer, long synonymous with high-rise apartments, told The Australian he is worried about the lack of money people have to buy apartments, with off-the-plan sales slowing dramatically in recent weeks.
“Nobody has the money to buy apartments, the market is very slow,” Harry said. “The position is very critical. We could sell 20 apartments a week; it’s down to five. But that is the situation.”
While acknowledging the downturn, Harry said he is now investigating principally all-age manufactured housing estates, where residents own their homes but lease the land beneath them – a model well-established in the US as one of the most affordable paths to home ownership.
He believes land lease could help relieve the housing shortage, but said structural barriers remain in Australia.
“The Government won’t recognise title to mobile home communities. If they don’t give titles, the banks don’t give loans. It will never work,” he said.
Harry said he would like to see banks provide mortgages to younger people to live in land lease communities, making the model more accessible beyond retirees.
“Because of the housing shortage, I thought it would be a good thing if we could have these land lease communities,” he stated.
