Australia’s truffle capital, Manjimup, WA, has mushrooming housing shortage: HIA

The regional centre of Manjimup, about 300 kilometres south of Perth, the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest producer of perigold black truffles, has also gained the title of the local government area with the most acute housing shortage.

The list of the 30 municipalities contains just three locations on the metropolitan fringe – the Perth suburbs of Melville, Mundaring and Joondalup – weakening the argument that land release problems in the outer suburbs of the major cities is a key reason for Australia’s contested housing shortage.

Over the weekend, CSR chief executive Rob Sindel rejected the notion that Australia is suffering from a nationwide housing shortage – he says there are shortages in certain places such as NSW, south-east Queensland and WA.

The top 30 list compiled by the HIA is dominated by WA, which makes up half (15) of the local government areas with the most chronic undersupply of homes, followed by Queensland (7), NT (3), Victoria (3) with one each in NSW and South Australia.

Manjimup needs almost an additional four dwellings (3.94) for every 100 people in the town, which has a population of just over 10,000 – or 399 dwellings, according to the HIA.

The agricultural rich lands of Manjimup (it also home to the pink lady apple) are just ahead of the more arid municipality of Palmerston (3.93 dwellings required for every 100 people), the planned satellite city next to Darwin followed by the WA town of Geraldton, 430 kilometres north of Perth, a beneficiary of the mining boom where a major iron ore terminal is located. Geraldton has a dwelling shortage of 791 for its 21,000 population.

The median house price in Manjimup is $265,000, according to Australian Property Monitors.

A kilogram of Manjimup truffles is worth around $2,000 – last season the biggest truffle unearthed weighed 348 grams.

Manjimup truffles are sought as far afield as Manhattan restaurants and in eateries in France and Germany, with truffle season running for three months from June until September.

According to realestate.com.au, there are 248 Manjimup properties for sale, including this 55-hectare farm featuring a three bedroom residence. Listed for sale by Rodney Musulin of Primaries Real Estate for $970,000, it is “ideal for most horticulture pursuits, including highly prized truffles and avocados”.

The list includes two suburbs close to the Perth CBD – Subiaco, which ranks sixth on the list with a shortage intensity of 3.383 and 611 homes, and eight-placed South Perth, with a shortage intensity of 3.048 and 1,386 homes.

In absolute terms, Joondalup, about 16 kilometres north of Perth has the highest shortage of houses at 3,955 a shortage intensity of 2.38 houses for every 100 people.

Top 30 LGA government areas where a housing shortage exists

Source: HIA, median house prices provided by APM.