Planning Coup Clears the Way for 3000 Regional Homes

One rezoning project is delivering more than half of Wagga Wagga’s 5000-home target as regional development stays strong—despite the fastest and largest pricing downturn in more than 40 years hitting the nation. DevCore and fellow developer Sunnyside Ventures have been approved to rezone a 350ha area in Wagga Wagga’s south to deliver 3000 homes. DevCore will deliver 2200 of that total as part of its $2.5-billion Rowan Village project, having secured a trifecta: a rezoning planning proposal, development contributions and development control plan. “It was a large amount of well-located land and two proponents working together. It just made sense,” DevCore managing director Paul Thompson says. Sydney-based DevCore has a 5000-home pipeline in regional areas including 1800 homes planned at its Coral Cove project at Bundaberg, as the developer firmly plants its flag in the regional housing market. Getting regional housing over the line Taking on a rezoning is always a risky business. “There are quite a lot of examples of rezonings in the last five to 10 years that are still sitting there, not developed, because of infrastructure issues or planning delays,” Thompson says. While north Wagga Wagga has its own growth zone led by the council, fragmented landholdings made it a little less attractive. DevCore and Sunnyside took on the south area in a four-and-a-half year rezoning process. ▲ DevCore managing director Paul Thompson: With prices staying steady, governments, trades and buyers are seeing certainty in the regions. Having a pair of private proponents working together was a big tick for the Wagga Wagga City Council. But getting the Section 7.11 contributions plan alongside the rezoning and DCP was “unique” Thompson says. “I’ve been doing this for quite a while, and this is the first time I’ve seen such a coordinated outcome,” Thompson says. Less than a month from the rezoning, DevCore has submitted its precinct 1 development application. Thompson says DevCore is actively looking for NSW opportunities off the back of its rezoning success. “We like doing a planning proposal because it adds a lot of value. The Department of Planning has done a good job of making sure that the outcome that we’ve got at Rowan becomes best practice—everyone wants to make sure that these planning approvals actually convert to housing, not just to more zoned land.” Infrastructure challenges for regional greenfield With any greenfield development getting the infrastructure right is critical, but DevCore received an unexpected windfall at Wagga Wagga with a $75 million injection from the Accelerated Infrastructure Fund, delivering an upgrade to Plumpton Road, the main entry road to the new Southern Growth area. Thompson says that infrastructure studies are the “most important” technical studies DevCore undertakes from the outset. “It’s risky and often not feasible if you’re 100 per cent reliant on government funding and/or you can somehow afford that upfront cost,” Thompson says. ▲ DevCore’s first foray into Queensland is its $1.1-billion Coral Cove project at Bundaberg. Confidence in the market allowed Rowan Village to sit under a 7.11 plan and will cost $30,000 per lot in contributions. But these charges are generally the biggest challenge in the regions, Thompson says. “When you go and develop in those areas, you’ve got no ability to improve the commercials around that. It’s causing a lot of those areas to be slower in the delivery of housing.” DevCore’s 250-home Illawarra project, for instance, is costing around $150,000 per lot, including state government and Sydney Water contributions. “And there are not many other ways of resolving infrastructure, unless a lot of developers get together and work out a different way,” Thompson says. Building regionally A trades deficit is another major hurdle to developing in the regions. “There are pressures on local trade bases without new trades moving in,” Thompson says. “But with large releases like Coral Cove and Rowan Village where you’ve got large volumes, it provides investment and housing supply certainty, and that helps trades and builders to invest themselves.” ▲ Coral Cove’s location is drawing trades as well as buyers. Victorian trades have reportedly moved to Bundaberg to work for local builders as Coral Cove ramps up. “They know they have five or 10 years of housing supply ahead of them with strong demand, and we’re attracting trade bases up there because the trades can actually afford to live there,” Thompson says. “But I think that’s something that we could probably all do a bit better in the industry is coordination of demand.” House pricing in the regions It helps that pricing in the regions is staying steady, as national home values fall for the seventh consecutive month, dropping 1.2 per cent in October 2026 and 2.8 per cent over the past year to a median value of $884,855. At Coral Cove, house and land packages are starting well within the range, at between $700,000 to $800,000. A diversity of housing typologies and lot sizes is also attracting a diverse range of buyers. ▲ DevCore expects to be able to start works on its Wagga Wagga project in 2027. “In good regions, yes they’re experiencing a slowdown in sales volume, but they’re not experiencing a price reduction because the regions are far more affordable than they are in the capital cities,” Thompson says. “We’ll continue our rigor around being selective where we invest, but also continue to leverage where we already are, because if you work well with the ... council and community, you get a lot of return on your initial investment.”

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Clare Burnett
Tue 10 Nov 26

Planning Coup Clears the Way for 3000 Regional Homes

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