NSW to Unlock Infill Sites in Bid to Fix Housing Crisis

“NSW needs more homes,” NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said as he outlined his Government’s plans to build 30,000 new homes in the state.

“More homes for renters. More homes for key workers. More homes for people escaping violence at home. More homes in metropolitan NSW. More homes in regional NSW. More homes close to public transport. More homes in the neighbourhoods people love living in.”

And more homes on government land—21,000 of those planned homes will be on land surplus to the NSW government needs, activating infill sites and creating housing within existing communities.

A central plank of the second Budget from the Chris Minn’s Government, under the plan sites will initially come via Landcom, the state’s development arm and Homes NSW.

Sites will be assessed for suitability for the government agencies to build homes on them. They will be offered for sale to private developers if not.

Carrots including accelerated pre-approvals will be dangled to bring developers onboard and, hopefully, help convince them the projects can stack up financially.

In fact, $253.7 million is earmarked for planners and improving the online planning portal to shorten development approval timelines.

Land banking the sites will be forbidden.

While not revealing where, the Government said it had 44 sites already identified, all close to public transport infrastructure. Those locations would be announced soon, the state said.

“We would much prefer to use land near transport than continue to expand the footprint of our city, which leads to higher electricity and water bills,” Mookhey told media.

The Treasurer said that “Homes NSW and Landcom have first call, and they can decide whether it’s suitable for their needs, which shows we’re being pragmatic”.

He said having identified the land, the government was now looking to unlock it so that “Homes NSW and Landcom have the certainty to begin that work”.

▲ NSW Treasurer Daniel Moohkey hands down the State Budget on June 18. Image: Facebook

Also contained in the Budget handed down yesterday was a $5.1-billion spend on social housing—8400 new—the biggest investment in that sector in NSW’s history.

Of those homes, 6200 will be new while 2200 social housing homes will be brought up to standard.

The state revealed a $650-million allocation for essential worker housing that includes $450 million for a Key Worker Build-to-Rent Program to be delivered by Landcom across Sydney, and $200-million for key health worker accommodation in rural and regional areas.

The Labor Government’s 2024-25 Budget records a $3.6-billion deficit and would absorb a $11.9 billion loss in GST revenue thanks to being based on “must haves and not nice-to-haves”, Moohkey said.

The Treasurer has said the GST is unfair that for every dollar Victoria gives to the smaller states next year, NSW will give “upwards of four”.

He said the state “deserves its fair share”.

Infrastructure is a winner in the Budget, with funding for the second stage of the Parramatta Light Rail, costing $2.1 billion; more western Sydney public transport—a spend of $24.7 million over four years—and a $1-billion-plus allocation on roads around the new Western Sydney Airport precinct.

But the Budget was not so kind to investors, holiday homeowners and commercial property owners—the tax-free threshold for properties in those categories has been frozen at $1.075 million. About 35,000 more property owners will now go over that threshold, handing the state another $1.5 billion.

As well, NSW’s foreign purchaser duty surcharge will increase from 8 per cent to 9 per cent from 2025, and the foreign owner land tax surcharge will increase from 4 per cent to 5 per cent.

Help for renters was muted—while another $20.7 million is allocated to the rental commissioner, and strata and property services commissioner to develop and enforce renter protections, nothing to help tenants in the face of spiralling rental rates was revealed.

Housing supply ‘must be supercharged’

With the Minns Government deriving almost $1 in every $5 in revenue from property taxes and duties, Urban Taskforce acting chief executive Stephen Fenn said that NSW needed to ensure housing supply was supercharged over the next five years.

If not, the Budget bottom line could further deteriorate and the National Housing Accord targets would not be met, he said.

Fenn said the Budget made it clear that property was the source of a significant proportion of the NSW Government’s own revenue—Budget Paper No. 1 shows that property taxes and property transfer duties will raise more than $21 billion in revenue for NSW in 2024-25—44 per cent of total state generated revenue and 18 per cent of total revenue.

“The risk here is that policies and funding priorities in this Budget kill off or significantly harm the goose that lays the golden eggs,” he said.

“The Budget did nothing to remove the raft of government taxes, fees and charges on new housing—in fact it introduced a new charge in the form of the Strategic Biodiversity Component charge for the 2024-25 financial year, which will take a further $50 million from new housing over the next four years.

“These charges not only impact feasibility of new housing but, at the end of the day are simply added to the price of a new home—and young people and families are a big portion of this market.”