Property Council lauds boost to housing supply; Urban Taskforce hits scaled-back plan
The New South Wales government’s stage 2 Low and Mid-Rise Housing policy, aimed at boosting housing supply across Sydney, the Central Coast, Hunter, and Illawarra-Shoalhaven regions, has drawn mixed reactions from industry groups ahead of its implementation on Feb. 28.
The reforms are designed to deliver more diverse housing, including dual-occupancies, terraces, townhouses, and residential flat buildings, with a target of enabling over 100,000 new homes — about one-third of the National Housing Accord target.
Property Council of Australia NSW executive director Katie Stevenson (pictured above left) welcomed the announcement, describing the reforms as “game-changing.”
“These long-awaited reforms bring certainty and confidence to support the industry to deliver more housing, improve affordability, and provide greater choice for homebuyers and renters,” she said.
Stevenson said that the reforms would help families, first-home buyers, and downsizers stay in their communities by providing more options close to transport and existing services.
“The reforms will boost housing supply where it is needed most, increasing density in areas well-connected to transport and close to existing services, to ease housing pressures and provide more affordable housing options,” she said.
“It’s now vital that local councils embrace these changes to ensure their smooth implementation, working collaboratively with industry to enable the homes we need to be built as quickly as possible.”
However, Urban Taskforce Australia chief executive Tom Forrest (pictured above right) labelled the reforms as a missed opportunity.
“The early assessment from the property sector is that under this policy, which will come into effect at the end of this month, much of the so-called ‘missing middle’ is still missing,” Forrest said.
He argued that the policy’s ambition had been scaled back significantly since its initial exhibition 15 months ago, with lower allowable densities making many developments unfeasible.
“The allowable density of development has been reduced from a floor space ratio of 3:1 to only 2.2:1 in medium density areas, and from 2:1 to 1.5:1 in low-rise areas. In most cases, it will not be possible to build dwellings at the permissible height within these FSR controls,” he said.
Forrest also criticised the limited scope of the reforms, noting that the policy would apply to only 171 designated “town centres and rail station sites,” far fewer than initially anticipated.
“This effectively pushes housing further away from transport nodes — the opposite of the transit-oriented development policy,” Forrest said.
Key sites such as Bondi Junction, Chatswood, and Edgecliff Stations were notably excluded from the reforms, which Forrest described as “ripe for considerable extra height and density.”
Despite the criticisms, Forrest acknowledged positive aspects of the policy, including adjustments to height controls for mid-rise developments to align with modern building codes and the allowance of apartments in all R3 and R4 medium and high-density residential zones within designated boundaries.
The policy does not introduce a new affordable housing component, although the existing 30% bonus Infill Affordable Housing SEPP rule will apply where taken up.
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