Bill Unlocking 61,000 Home Sites Passes in South Australia

Land for more than 61,000 homes has been unlocked in regional South Australia as the state rezones farming land to meet its housing needs.

The SA Government has passed into law a Bill making variations to Environment and Food Production Areas (EFPA), paving the way for the boost to greenfield land supply in Greater Adelaide.

Now unlocked are 43,000 houses at Roseworthy and Two Wells, 10,400 houses at Murray Bridge and 7000 houses at Victor Harbor (pictured at top) and Goolwa.

The State Planning Commission will continue to review boundaries every five years, “to support sustainable urban growth”.

The variations were a loss of less than 1 per cent of agricultural lands in Greater Adelaide and aligned with the Greater Adelaide Regional Plan released in mid-March, the state said.

In the past three years the state has approved and implemented 41 code amendments and rezoned almost 530ha of land to create almost 8800 homes.

Housing Industry Association SA executive director Stephen Knight said it had been a brave but necessary move by the State Government. 

“The residential construction industry needs certainty on land supply so that it can prepare for the future,” Knight said.

“When the EFPA was created in 2016 there was widespread industry concern that development land would be constrained forever. 

“Workforce requirements, investment in new technology and manufacturing of building products can now be planned with confidence knowing that one of the key components of the home-building process has been resolved.”

▲ Brave but necessary: The Bill unlocking greenfield sites is welcomed by the industry.

The State Government this month revealed it was looking to attract more developers to SA by releasing $740-million worth of projects to the private market.

The Developer Ready program included a mix of medium-density housing, commercial and industrial projects.

The first of those sites includes 8.5ha of residential land at Elizabeth South, three allotments for apartments at Munno Para, and 10.35ha at East Grand Trunkway and 2.91ha at Edinburgh for industrial development.

The next two projects to join the program are expected to be a 68ha greenfield development for 1000 homes at Onkaparinga Heights and a 1ha industrial allotment at Gillman.