NSW commits another $500m into housing

The vast majority of this measure, which has been coined the NSW government’s 2022 Housing Package, is the $300 million dedicated to establishing new dwellings across Sydney and some regional areas. 

According to the state government, this injection of funding will co-fund and accelerate the “delivery of ‘shovel-ready’ infrastructure projects”. 

The budget has also allocated $89 million to help “unlock more homes sooner” across the state through “faster planning assessments”, as well as $69.8 million to accelerate the rezoning of key precincts across Sydney and the state to “make more land development ready for new homes”. 

The state government has said it will commit $33.8 million to address housing supply throughout the regional areas of NSW. 

This sum will also be used in developing a 10-year regional housing supply pipeline intended to “make housing and infrastructure delivery more certain”. 

An additional $3.8 million has also been guaranteed for a “call-in” team dedicated to “accelerated council led rezoning”. 

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said of the funding that housing supply, ownership and affordability were some of the biggest challenges facing the state.  

“This is about getting keys in doors with this commitment supercharging housing supply to help people across the State get one step closer to home ownership,” Mr Perrottet said.

“Being able to buy a home has a huge impact on where people choose to live, work and raise a family and this investment will help give people more choice and deliver a brighter future for NSW families.”

State Treasurer Matt Kean added that, with these measures, hundreds and thousands of new homes will be delivered sooner than initially expected.

“Prioritising planning assessments for new homes will make it faster for high quality planning proposals to be approved,” Mr Kean said.

“We are anticipating hundreds of thousands of homes will be delivered sooner, through faster state and local rezonings and approvals.”

NSW Minister for Planning and Minister for Homes, Anthony Roberts, commented that one of the key recommendations from the 2021 Regional Housing Taskforce was the lack of infrastructure being built in the state’s regional communities. 

“This investment will help regional NSW keep up with current and future demand,” Mr Roberts said.

“It’s important that industry receives the certainty they need to deliver housing supply for our growing population both in Sydney and in our regions.”

Earlier this year, at a March NSW budget estimates hearing, Mr Roberts noted that the regional NSW housing crisis was a “market failure”.

“So we are pivoting as a department, and I have made it quite clear to the secretary and, in fact, to regional councils that we are moving our focus and we are working together with Landcom, with housing providers, and together as a cluster – that is why it is Planning and Homes – together with Crown Lands to develop a number of programs such as what we did down in Cooma, working with Aboriginal land councils to start delivering more homes rapidly to regional New South Wales,” Mr Roberts said at the time. 

According to CoreLogic data, the median cost for a dwelling in Sydney during May was over $1.12 million.

Earlier this week (20 June), the NSW government announced it would be investing $780.4 million to trial a share equity scheme for teachers, nurses, those in police as well as single parents and older singles. 

Under the program, the state government will contribute up to 40 per cent for a property, with buyers only requiring a deposit of at least 2 per cent.

[Related: NSW stamp duty growth soars above house prices]