Market Insights
MAJOR PLANNING CONTROL CHANGES TO HELP RELIEVE SYDNEY’S HOUSING CRISIS
Article supplied by Colliers Research
Sydney’s East and Lower North Shore have already seen major amalgamations come to market.
Sydney, 30th Augus t – Significant housing reform throughout Sydney’s East and Lower North Shore is set to transform the property market, opening up greater opportunities for residential development to alleviate the housing crisis. The introduction by the NSW Government of an amendment to the State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 in July allows development applications for dual occupancies and semi-detached dwellings to be submitted in more R2 residential zones. Other low- and mid-rise housing reforms will commence later in 2024, and will include townhouses, terraces and two storey apartment blocks near transport hubs and town centres in R2 low density residential zones across Greater Sydney, the Hunter, Central Coast and Illawarra regions. They will also include mid-rise apartment blocks near transport hubs and town centres in R3 medium density zones across these regions. These changes have already prompted major activity throughout Sydney’s premium suburbs, creating the ability to free up housing stock in areas that are largely undersupplied, according to Colliers National Director, Guillaume Volz. “The proposed low-to-mid-rise planning controls are already proving to be a very effective policy as they open up areas that have compliant zonings but haven’t had the appropriate controls to make feasible. Even ahead of the policy introduction, areas such as Mosman, Cremorne and Double Bay that are typified with strong end product demand have seen land owners recognise the opportunity to band together and offer their properties for sale to developers.” Mr Volz said. “We’ve always had extraordinary interest from developers that want to participate in those areas, however activating that interest has been difficult and local controls have never permitted enough development oportunities. The proposed changes now offer more oportunities and scale for significant investment in local communities. These will further enhance vibrant
10 – September / October 2024
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