Today’s announcement by Chris Minns, Leader of the NSW Opposition of plans to scrap stamp duty outright for those first homebuyers planning to buy a home worth up to $800,000, while offering a concessional rate to first-home buyers purchasing a property up to $1,000,000 – was seen by UDIA NSW as a positive approach to assist more people to get onto the property ladder.
The announcement aligns with recent research commissioned by UDIA NSW which revealed that the cost of living is the number one issue for the NSW electorate and the cost of housing being the single most significant cost for families.
“The central issue however, is still about supply needing to meet demand and while we are in the midst of a chronic housing shortage, we hope to see both sides of politics doing everything they can to fast-track the housing NSW so desperately needs,” said Steve Mann, CEO UDIA NSW.
When analysing historical new housing supply in NSW, it is clear that apartments are at the heart of the housing shortage in NSW, reaching 43% of supply in 2018 through to March 2020 and now back down to 27% (June 2022). In a comprehensive research study, Urban Development Institute of Australia NSW (UDIA) 2022 Apartment Supply Pipeline Report reveals that NSW is facing a significant backlog of 48,000 apartments heading into FY23.
Today’s Building Approvals from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that Apartment approvals are down 32% compared to November 2021. This is the lowest rolling annual number of approved apartments in NSW since September 2012 and puts Apartment approvals 68% below their 2016 peak.
“Without action to remove the obstacles holding back supply, we expect the backlog to rise to nearly 60,000 over the next two years due to continued declining supply, which means NSW would need to produce 13 consecutive years of record high completions, just to reverse this backlog,” said Mr Mann.
In the report, UDIA presents some tangible policy recommendations and UDIA’s Election Manifesto – Let’s Tackle the Housing Shortage in NSW, details the policy to use stamp duty rebates for sales off-the-plan to enable apartment developments to achieve funding to get apartment supply to market.
There is a long lead time of many years to get apartment projects competed, so we need to see policy actions taken now to improve market conditions in the next few years. Any government serious about making life better for the people of NSW needs to take action to tackle the apartment shortage and make homes more affordable,” added Steve Mann.
The full UDIA Apartment Supply Pipeline Report 2022 can be found here
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Media Enquiries:
Deanna Lane 0416 295 898 or dlane@udiansw.com.au