NSW Development News
GREAT DIVIDE: STATE, COUNCIL DISCONNECT STUNTS NSW HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
Author: Clare Burnett Urban Developer
But whether it be assessment times, misaligned planning policy changes or onerous developer contributions, a major hurdle is the fundamental disconnect between NSW Government and the state’s councils. According to Brendan Woolley, director at property industry analysts Charter Keck Cramer: “We’re experiencing extremely difficult development circumstances right now and success is becoming very project-specific.” “The overwhelming feedback I’ve had speaking to developers is that with one hand the state government is producing all of these planning changes, and enabling more potential supply but with councils on the other hand, they’re not speaking to each other.” Misalignment between tiers Of the more than 50,000 new homes required, 82 per cent of this new metro supply is proposed to be provided as infill housing, moving away from greenfield, an historic shift in focus. But this means that 35,000 new apartments will need to be built each year, according to Charter Keck Cramer. And the future is not looking too bright for apartments. In a report released this week it said the Sydney apartment development market remained subdued with only 7800 completions and 4800 apartments launched, a 37 per cent reduction on the same period in 2023. And apartment supply in particular is anticipated to fall short of the NSW five-year targets, suggesting a misalignment with what is being promised by state and federal government and what can be realistically delivered by developers and councils. “There just hasn’t been that cohesion between different levels of government,” Woolley says. “The National Housing Accord has set these significant targets and the NSW Government has jumped on it, delivering, as far as I can see, the most significant suite of concurrent planning changes in at least the 25 years I’ve been operating in Sydney.” These have included transport-oriented development areas(TODs), infill affordable housing policy changes, and low and midrise housing reforms, which came into effect in July across 124 NSW local government areas. “Then there are councils, who feel a bit hard done by, because these changes are being thrust upon them without consultation, and it varies between them,” Woolley says. “For the TOD SEPP locations currently on exhibition, some of them are just extensions of what councils are already Bringing new supply to market is the number one problem for Sydney developers right now. And with the NSW Government committed to a 52,680 annual new home target over the next five-years for Metropolitan Sydney, the heat is on.
22 – September / October 2024
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