Shellharbour, Gosford Rezonings Target 7600 Homes

Three rezonings with a combined yield of about 7600 homes are on the agenda for the NSW Government next year with exhibitions slated under the State Significant Rezoning Policy program.

The Shellharbour City Centre proposal would clear the way for 5000 homes under the state-led planning pathway. Exhibition is projected for the second quarter of 2026 and finalisation by the end of that year.

The rezoning would enable 125ha of low to high-density housing and public space, including up to 750 social and affordable homes, and would redevelop the former Shellharbour Hospital and TAFE.

The Shellharbour Hospital Precinct would yield 700 homes under the state-assessed pathway, with an exhibition expected sometime in 2026.

The 90ha precinct would include medium to high-density housing and retail, with components reserved for key workers.

Private health facilities, a 150-key accommodation facility for families visiting patients, and other short-stay accommodation would also be enabled by the rezoning, next to the new $781.9-million Shellharbour Hospital.

Planning minister Paul Scully said that the rezonings would help “essential workers such as healthcare workers, teachers and hospital staff find affordable housing within the community”.

The Illawarra-Shoalhaven region is projected to be the fastest-growing in the state, according to the Government, and the rezonings will support housing and infrastructure near hospitals, transport links, and schools.

In the year to June 2022, Covid seachangers drove population growth in Shellharbour to 250 per cent above the state average, and another 23 per cent is projected by 2036.

▲ The Shellharbour City Centre proposal would clear the way for 5000 homes.

Scully said that “this kind of forward planning will make sure we have the right mix of homes, infrastructure and services in place to support that growth”.

Property Council regional director Matthew Wales said that Government and industry must work together “to move quickly from rezoning to construction, while sequencing the infrastructure that makes new neighbourhoods work”.

“With 427,000 people already calling the Illawarra Shoalhaven home and the region ranked as NSW’s third-largest economy, the focus must now be firmly on delivery,” Wales said.

Separately, a 238ha Gosford City Centre state-led rezoning would allow development of about 1900 homes on the Central Coast.

That proposal will rationalise planning controls in the area and incentivise higher density by rewarding design excellence with height and floor space ratio uplift.

Gosford has been at the centre of a flurry of recent development activity, including $600-million twin towers among a number of Aland projects. The Government has also pushed $348 million towards the redevelopment of Gosford Hospital.

Transactions are also healthy in the region, with the $62.75 September sale of the Imperial Centre the largest non-metro neighbourhood shopping centre deal in the state since 2021.