UDIA has welcomed the Productivity Commissioner’s final Review of housing supply challenges and policy options for New South Wales and has called on the NSW Government to urgently adopt its key recommendations aimed to address apartment project feasibility, streamline the development approval system and prioritise investment in housing enabling infrastructure.
NSW is in a housing supply crisis and while the government has taken significant steps to improve the planning system, the Productivity Commissioner’s report has made it clear more can be done with greater urgency,” said Stuart Ayres, UDIA NSW CEO.
The report acknowledges a massive uptick in new housing across all types is needed, not just in the apartment market and calls out greenfield development as both critical and complementary to infill density when it comes to increasing supply.
The report confirms the findings of UDIA’s recent. Making TODs work research which found that mid-rise apartments projects are largely unfeasible in most parts of Sydney. UDIA welcomes the Commissioner’s recommendation to further increase densities around the announced TOD sites, expand them to 800m and add more locations to the program.
“We know the tier 2 TOD locations are unlikely to deliver housing at the scale the NSW Government hopes due to so many locations being unfeasible to develop. Doubling the permissible floor space ratio in these areas, was one of our key recommendations and will greatly assist in making more infill apartment projects feasible,” said Stuart Ayres.
UDIA notes the series of recommendations to improve the planning system which are all welcomed. These include establishing a concierge to act as a clearinghouse to escalate, coordinate, and resolve bottlenecks in the development assessment process, both before and after a DA has been approved, restricting the use of design panels and competitions and expanding exempt and complying development pathways. “UDIA’s research shows too
many approved housing projects are grinding to a halt because of complex post consent approvals which can take up to 12 months to resolve before construction can commence. This must change and the Productivity Commissioner is to be applauded for recommending the establishment of a concierge service that can step in and resolve these issues,” said Stuart Ayres.
Home buyer and developer contributions to infrastructure are an important part of the housing supply equation.
“While it is disappointing the Commissioner has not recommended switching off fees, taxes and contributions for home buyers as industry has recommended, it would be more productive if contributions are paid when the owners move in and settlements have occurred,” said Stuart Ayres.
We also encourage the Government to prioritise upfront investments in housing enabling infrastructure. An upfront Government investment now, will be recouped through future developer contributions and state revenue like stamp duty, land tax and payroll taxes, which are only paid to the Government when new homes are built.
“The alternative is Government’s business as usual approach of waiting years for developer contributions to accumulate before there is enough available to start funding a handful of these housing enabling projects. That approach is clearly not delivering homes at the speed that communities need them,” said Stuart Ayres.
Key recommendations in the Productivity Commissioner’s report that should be adopted include:
- Replacing the Retain and Manage policy for urban industrial land with a more flexible approach will allow more housing outcomes on many of these discarded sites where large format modern industrial projects can’t be developed.
- Improving the planning system including establishing a concierge to act as a clearinghouse to escalate, coordinate, and resolve bottlenecks in the development assessment process that arise both before and after a DA has been approved.
- Relaxing outdated controls like minimum rates of carparking and apartments sizes to improve feasibility and give greater choice to purchasers.
- Greater investment to increase the construction workforce.
The full Productivity Commissioner’s Report can be found at this link
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Media Enquiries: Deanna Lane, Director, Media & Communications
UDIA NSW and National: 0416 295 898 or dlane@udiansw.com.au