Yesterday’s announcement by the Minister for Planning & Public Spaces, Rob Stokes, on the rezonings in key growth areas in South West Sydney is very welcome news, although a lot more needs to be done to get infrastructure ready before housing can start.

The rezonings in South-west Sydney will boost housing in Glenfield, Leppington and Lowes Creek Maryland creating more than 16,000 homes.

The UDIA NSW Greenfield Land Supply Pipeline Survey – an in-depth survey of greenfield land developers in the Greater Sydney Megaregion (Greater Sydney, Illawarra-Shoalhaven, Central Coast, and the Hunter) – identifies the anticipated schedule for future lot delivery and quantifies the barriers.

The report revealed that four out of five lots, a total of 64,000 lots, that developers are hoping to deliver between FY22 and FY29 require enabling infrastructure including power, state roads, local roads, or a combination of these, all which need to be resolved to bringing lots to market and deliver new housing.

“While the rezonings announced in the South West are an encouraging step, the question remains, when will land supply in other regions start to be released, including in North West Sydney Growth Area, where the NSW Government has yet to resolve the flood evacuation issues,” said Steve Mann, CEO, UDIA NSW.

Land needs to continue to be released and a reliable pipeline of future zoned and serviced land needs to be established.

If all expected lots are delivered, including those currently facing infrastructure constraints, supply will fall short of demand in all the regions that make up the Sydney Megaregion by FY30, as outlined below:

• South West Sydney and Greater Macarthur by 1,500 lots per annum.
• North West Sydney is facing a significant undersupply of new housing with 5,100 homes worth of unmet demand for greenfield housing;
• In the Illawarra-Shoalhaven supply will fall short, with 5,700 homes worth of unmet demand for greenfield housing;
• Hunter and Central Coast supply will fall short of demand by 240 lots per annum, with 2,000 homes worth of unmet demand for greenfield housing.

We were pleased to see the NSW Government provide some funds for enabling infrastructure in the budget via the Accelerated Infrastructure Fund (AIF). However, the NSW Government needs to provide a lot more enabling infrastructure in the years ahead if we are going to meet the demand for new homes that was recently highlighted in the reports by the NSW Productivity Commissioner and the NSW Intergenerational Report.

“This is a good start, but the NSW Government needs to do a lot more to build the greenfield housing pipeline and tackle the housing and affordability crisis”, said Steve Mann.

ENDS

Media Enquiries:
Deanna Lane 0416 295 898 or dlane@udiansw.com.au.
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