This research report prepared by Quantify challenges Victoria’s 70/30 housing policy of delivering 70% of new homes in established suburbs, highlighting that delivery is constrained by the systems needed to support planning ambition.

Snapshot

Across Melbourne, ageing infrastructure, fragmented governance, and misaligned funding frameworks mean many established areas cannot absorb additional housing at the scale assumed, creating a growing gap between zoned capacity and what can actually be delivered.

This report challenges the long-standing assumption that infill housing is inherently cheaper and more efficient than greenfield development, showing that this only holds where infrastructure capacity exists. Once that capacity is exhausted, costs rise sharply and can match or exceed greenfield delivery, while also shifting more of the burden onto the public sector. As a result, the report concludes that a more balanced, capacity-led approach is needed, that reforms infill systems over time while continuing to enable growth areas to deliver housing at scale in the near term.