The release of today’s Building Activity report by the ABS shows that NSW has a long hard road ahead of it, if the state is serious about tackling the housing supply crisis.
In the 12 months to June 2024, new residential commencements recorded their lowest annual total in 11 years in NSW, compounded by a nose dive in apartment commencements to 9,900, which sits 72% below its 2016 peak.
UDIA also noted that today’s data revealed a minor uptick in new completions as compared to previous quarters.
“Any increase is better than going backwards but these building activity figures show we are a long way from getting out of this crisis.” said Stuart Ayres, CEO, UDIA NSW.
“The NSW Government calls it a housing crisis but acts like it’s business as usual when it comes to increasing housing supply,” said Stuart Ayres.
Source: ABS; UDIA NSW
UDIA remains concerned, then, with feasibility and economic conditions deteriorating, pressure on household budgets and increasing infrastructure costs making it harder to start building new homes, the likelihood of any fast increase to housing is looking more like a distant dream.
UDIA has been warning government for some time now that more needs to be done to improve feasibility and increase housing supply. We know from our developer Members that there are a number of projects that have DAs under assessment and some that have already been given approval, however as the sharp decline in commencements shows, due to a number of feasibility challenges, the chances of getting projects to completion are significantly limited.
We see opportunity to do more to unlock the full potential of the projects particularly in the apartment sector. Our Making TODs Work report shows that projects in many areas, particularly those well located and close to rapid transport, could move forward by allowing increased height and density.
TOD policies are welcome but are yet to yield any substantive results and will take more time. More transport sites like today’s announcement about Sydney Olympic Park should be fast tracked so we can build more homes and better utilise transport infrastructure that has already been built.
“More action and substantial reform of the planning system is required if we are to break out of this anaemic growth malaise NSW currently finds itself in,” said Stuart Ayres.
Today’s figure show NSW would need to increase completions by over 50% to get on track. That is simply too far behind not to take additional actions.
–ends–
Media Enquiries: Deanna Lane, Director of Media & Communications UDIA NSW and National
dlane@udiansw.com.au 0416 295 898