Australasian Housing Researchers
Conference (AHRC) 2025:  

Housing at a crossroad: wealth, inequality and housing futures 

Housing systems are in crisis across many parts of the world. The retreat of the welfare state, declining investment in social housing and the financialisation of residential property has seen the rise of a precarious private rental sector, a decline of home ownership and deepening disparities in housing wealth. 

Technological shifts and increasing ‘platformisation’ are reshaping the housing market, in many ways exacerbating rental precarity and affordability pressures. Planning reforms intended to increase housing supply and to enable more diverse and higher density housing forms have not ameliorated affordability pressures.

At the same time, continuation of unsustainable patterns of residential development and poor quality housing design are exposing households to increasing risks associated with climate change. First Nations communities face particular barriers to accessing affordable and appropriate housing, across urban, regional, and remote locations.

In the face of these complex and multiple crises, some jurisdictions have embarked on ambitious programs of policy intervention, while others remain at a policy crossroads.

The 2025 Australasian Housing Researchers Conference addresses these themes, bringing together researchers, policy makers and practitioners from Australasia, and around the world, to consider potential housing futures.