Bendigo's Housing Squeeze: How Our City Stacks Up Against Global Peers

Bendigo faces a housing affordability crisis that mirrors challenges confronting mid-sized cities worldwide, yet our response is taking a decidedly different path from comparable urban centres in Canada, New Zealand, and Europe.

The median house price in Bendigo has climbed 34 per cent over the past three years, reaching $653,000 according to recent Real Estate Institute of Victoria data. This mirrors the squeeze experienced by cities like Hamilton, Ontario and Christchurch, New Zealand—mid-sized regional hubs caught between rural affordability and metropolitan demand.

But while Hamilton has aggressively rezoned inner suburbs for medium-density housing and Christchurch rebuilt with mandatory inclusionary zoning following the 2011 earthquake, Bendigo's City Council has adopted a more cautious incrementalism.

The Bendigo Planning Scheme's recent amendments permit dual occupancies in established neighbourhoods like Kangaroo Flat and Golden Square, mirroring strategies deployed in Adelaide and Melbourne's inner ring. Yet developers remain hesitant, citing council approval timelines that stretch to nine months—double the 4.5-month average in comparable Australian regional cities.

"We're seeing international best practice in planning frameworks," says a spokesperson from Bendigo's Strategic Planning department. "The challenge is translating those into our local context while maintaining community confidence."

The city's Lachlan Street precinct revitalisation offers instructive parallels to global examples. Similar to Manchester's Northern Quarter regeneration and Melbourne's Collingwood transformation, Bendigo is incentivising mixed-use development that combines heritage preservation with new residential supply. Yet unlike those precedents, Bendigo has not mandated affordable housing percentages in new developments—a tool deployed effectively in Vancouver (20 per cent) and Berlin (30 per cent).

Local interest groups including the Bendigo Community Housing Forum argue our city should learn from Toronto's successful laneway housing program, which unlocked thousands of affordable units by streamlining approvals for rear-lot development. Similar trials are underway in Echuca and Shepparton, but not yet in Bendigo proper.

The Bendigo Advertiser's analysis of 2025-26 council planning data reveals only 187 new dwellings approved in the municipality last financial year—a fraction of housing demand estimates pegging annual need at 600-700 homes.

Bendigo sits at a crossroads. International precedent suggests decisive action—mandated inclusionary zoning, accelerated approval pathways, and strategic laneway development—can unlock affordability within existing urban footprints. Yet our city's deliberative approach reflects genuine concerns about heritage character and community liveability that our global peers have sometimes sacrificed.

The question facing council and residents alike: can Bendigo chart a middle course, or must we ultimately choose between affordable housing and the charm that makes our city distinctive?

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