It’s the Australian dream redux. First-home buyers today are more likely to look for proximity to work, shopping and leisure than a quarter-acre block and they’re willing to trade private space for public amenity.

In fact, with the housing crisis now straining middle Australia, politicians are more eager than ever to deliver new homes. And the strategy seems to be planning and zoning their way to density.

But property industry researchers and analysts say that the swathe of planning reforms sweeping the nation, while sprouting plenty of DAs, are insufficient to produce the density that suburbs, cities and Australians need.