Canberra architect and planning activist Jack Kershaw is warning land prices per square metre in new suburbs are heading toward levels paid in prestigious suburbs of Forrest and Red Hill.
Mr Kershaw said shrinking block sizes in the new suburbs of Crace and Macgregor West were seen as a solution to housing affordability, but were becoming more expensive.
''Is this the direction we want to go in housing?'' he said.
''It is treating people like peasants medieval in a way.''
He said the building sector was competitive and not to blame.
The fault was in land supply which was an easy target for quick profits.
Mr Kershaw compared a home for sale in Forrest, where he estimated the land component would be about $760 a sqm, to Macgregor West where a 352sqm block was advertised for $511 a sqm.
He said land at Crace was even more expensive, yet some of the blocks were only 4m wide.
Canberra Investment Corporation's regional general manager ACT and NSW Malcolm Leslie said as a general rule where block sizes in new and existing suburbs decreased, the total price fell, but the price per square metre rose.
For more, pick up a copy of today's Canberra Times
Email a friend