This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
JUST six of the 43 councils tasked with housing delivery targets by the NSW government will meet their National Housing Accord goals on current development approval (DA) rates, official data shows, putting more pressure on the government to accelerate new supply delivery.
At the current pace, only 183,996 of the 322,000 new dwellings needed in Greater Sydney by July 2029 – the end of the National Housing Accord’s designated five-year period – will be delivered.
That figure is less than 60% of the NSW government’s commitment under national cabinet’s flagship housing supply initiative.
On current DA rates the only Councils that will meet their National Housing Accord targets are Blue Mountains, Canada Bay, Cessnock, Hawkesbury, Maitland and Parramatta.
“We’re already six months into the five-year Housing Accord period, and with a full suite of reforms now in place the next six months needs to see councils and the new Housing Delivery Authority shift into high gear and get on with the job of delivering more homes,” said Property Council NSW executive director Katie Stevenson.
The Housing Delivery Authority has just been introduced in a bid to fast-track assessment and approval of larger residential housing developments, through the planning stage bypassing local councils. The government said this could reduce the approval timeline by years.
The pathway is available for new housing developments above an estimated development cost of $60 million in Greater Sydney – which yield on average 100 or more homes – or a cost of around $30 million for regional project, yielding 40 or more homes on average.
Announcement of the new authority came just a day after the Minns government revealed it has been quietly trialling a housing taskforce that it said had unlocked more than 13,000 homes in just two months, by resolving delays on developments that have been stuck in government bureaucracy.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed the 43 councils approved a total of 15,333 dwellings in the first five months of the Housing Accord, an average of 3,066 a month. The monthly figure required to meet the goal is 5,366.
Councils including Burwood, Inner West, Lane Cove, North Sydney, Strathfield, City of Sydney and Willoughby are on track to deliver 15% or less of their housing targets.
The Property Council called on the NSW government to “make sure the reforms now in place and those yet to come are fine tuned to focus on delivering against their objectives as quickly and efficiently as possible after a slow start”.
“This is not just about numbers – it’s about making home ownership and affordable rentals a reality for more NSW residents. The new Housing Delivery Authority must act swiftly to bridge the gap between housing needs and delivery capability,” Stevenson said.
NSW is not alone in falling short of its National Housing Accord target. Analysts continue to voice concerns about the construction industry’s capacity to handle the huge demand for homes amid a national housing crisis, with early estimates suggesting that the national target of delivering 1.2 million “well-located” homes over five years will be missed by as many as 260,000 homes.
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced the new $900 million National Productivity Fund which will encourage states and territories to cut planning red tape in a bid to boost national housing supply.
