Enhancing Australian housing affordability: off-site manufacturing supply chain strategies

Abstract

Housing affordability refers to an ability to pay for the household costs associated with their home ownership. Housing stress refers to a situation when a house customer struggles to pay the housing costs. In Australia, the 30/40 rule is commonly used to measure the housing stress. The Demographia Survey in 2014 highlighted the deterioration of housing affordability across 39 housing markets in Australia. The decline is likely caused by housing supply and demand factors. The affordability issues from the demand side have already been focused. To bridge the gap of knowledge, this paper addresses the affordability issues from the housing supply side. Off-site manufacturing (OSM) is a modern construction method which provides some benefits including better finished houses quality, extra housing productivity, and reduction in house prices. In this paper, reviews of the related literature to identify the factors drive the Australian housing affordability are conducted. It aims at introducing OSM supply chain to increase the supply of affordable housing in Australia. The suggested supply chain focuses on two strategies which incorporate lean and agile concepts to manage house building processes.