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{{propApi.successMessage}} {{region}} Change locationHobart named Australia's most restrictive city for planning
Hobart named Australia's most restrictive city for planning
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That puts Hobart ahead of every other capital in the country.
The finding lands while reporting in today’s media highlights the latest round of infighting inside the City of Hobart, with councillors again at odds with one another.
"Hobart has now been independently ranked as the hardest capital city in the country to build a home in, and today the story out of the Town Hall is councillors arguing with each other, rather than being focused on what really matters for Tasmanians," HIA Executive Director Benjamin Price said.
"Families looking for somewhere to live do not care who said what in the council chamber. They care about whether they can get a roof over their heads, and right now the numbers say Hobart is making that harder than anywhere else in Australia."
HIA's own 2026 Planning Blueprint Scorecard rated Tasmania's planning system 2.0 out of 5.0, describing it as mediocre and lacking a strategic focus on residential land and well-located higher density housing.
"The fundamentals of a planning system are here, but the system needs refinement, resourcing and the political will to actually get houses built. That work does not happen while the people responsible for local planning decisions are busy fighting with each other in Town Hall."
Mr Price said Hobart's restrictiveness was a handbrake on supply at a time when the state can least afford it.
"If we are serious about housing affordability, freeing up where and how we can build in Hobart has to be part of the answer."
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