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5 April 2024

In this Edition... 

1. Urban Taskforce CEO at Western Sydney Summit - more dollars needed from the Albanese Government for housing enabling infrastructure
2. Construction industry insolvencies comprise a third of all insolvencies
3. NSW Premier has to take the lack of progress on housing supply "on the chin" 
4. ABS housing approvals reveal the housing supply pipeline is dry
5. More Transport Oriented Development precincts on the way?
6. NSW Opposition poses 10 questions to Government on housing supply
7. The Aerotropolis needs focussed leadership from the NSW Government to deliver the infrastructure needed to underpin housing and jobs
8. Industrial land – time for a rethink on retain and manage policy
9. Minns Government moves to increase participation of women in construction
10. A city with no grandchildren – the stark prospects facing Sydney
11. K&L Gates to host Built to Rent panel discussion
12. National Competition Policy review
13. New Independent Planning Commission Chair appointed
14. Land and Property Minister announces expansion of cemetery levy to all operators
15. Another helpful graph from Peter Tulip
16. DPHI update for State significant project submissions

17. Members in the news

1. Urban Taskforce CEO at Western Sydney Summit -  more dollars needed from the Albanese Government for housing enabling infrastructure

Tom on the Summit's housing panel

Urban Taskforce CEO Tom Forrest was delighted to be a guest of The Daily Telegraph's Ben English, for their annual Future Western Sydney summit. Tom called for a better response from the Albanese Government to the twin challenges of accommodating additional migration and the new housing required under its National Housing Accord.

The States and local councils are fiscally constrained – hence their over reliance on developer contributions to fund infrastructure – which ends up being paid by the purchasers of new homes.

While the $62.5 million support package announced by the NSW Minister for Planning for Western Sydney infrastructure is welcome, more is needed. This is where the Commonwealth must get more involved with serious funding allocations.

CEO Tom Forrest spoke at the summit, defending the immigration settings but also calling for billions of dollars for housing enabling infrastructure to be funded in the upcoming Federal budget. 

To read more on the Daily Telegraph's Western Sydney summit and the strong voice of Urban Taskforce on housing and jobs, click the following link:

*Please note this article may be paywall protected. 

Daily Telegraph | Future Western Sydney: Local leaders blast Albanese's migration numbers

The Daily Telegraph's Future Western Sydney Summit covered many of the issues and challenges that are holding back this economic powerhouse. And housing is central to it all.

To watch the Housing Panel discussion featuring Urban Taskforce CEO Tom Forrest, click the following link:

*Please note this link may be paywall protected. 

Future Western Sydney Summit – Housing Panel

2. Construction industry insolvencies comprise a third of all insolvencies

Depicting the challenges experienced over the last decade, a recent RBA graph shows that of the more than 75,000 insolvencies in Australia since 2014 – almost 30% are from the construction industry.

This is why delays, levies, fees and taxes, and overall uncertainty and risk in development pathways is having such a cumulative impact on development and construction. Yet this is the muscle needed to achieve the completions committed to in the National Housing Accord.  

While some populists deride those that deliver the essential public good called housing – our industry is disappearing under a feasibility cloud.

A graph for every level of Government to reflect upon.

Source: RBA

3. NSW Premier has to take the lack of progress on housing supply "on the chin" (again)

The Premier was once again confronted with a raft of poor metrics coming out of the Planning system, but attention is increasingly focussed on infrastructure delivery as being a large part of the problem. 

Nonetheless, he admitted his Government had to "take it on the chin" over the lack of meaningful progress on measures such as DA approval times coming out of local councils.

The media reported this week that the longest approval times were apartments and shop top housing developments (which will have to do much of the heavy lifting when it comes to housing supply in Sydney). The time taken to approve housing above shops skyrocketed 194% in February, while assessment times for residential flats increased by almost 125% over the same period.

The usual suspects led (or blocked) the way – with North Sydney Council taking an astounding 267 days on average to assess DAs, followed by Hunters Hill at 254 days and Willoughby Council taking 237 days to assess DAs. This data is all averages for all DAs (from pool fences and driveway adjustments to multi-storey mixed-use developments .  The fact is that for serious large-scale projects, the approval times are much longer than these. Including swimming pool fences in the data brings the averages artificially down.

To read the Daily Telegraph's article on the latest worrying trends in DA approval timeframes, click the following link:

*Please note this article may be paywall protected. 

Apartments and shop-top housing are taking the longest time to get assessed | Daily Telegraph

The Premier is, by his own words, increasingly frustrated over the State planning system and the distinct lack of progress on the one issue he has said trumps all others.

While he inherited a basket case from the former Government, a year on we need to see things turning the corner.

The Premier continues to be a strong advocate for housing supply, yet his government is struggling to land the policies and strategies needed to deliver the new housing NSW so desperately needs.

Allowing some councils a temporary "get out of jail" card for the next 6 months on the Tier 2 TOD reforms is a case in point.

While this might be sensible for councils which are certain to over perform on housing targets (like Burwood), some councils would like nothing more than to slip back into a strategic planning mode where report after report is compiled but no new housing completed (yes, Willoughby – we are looking at you!).

This was a fundamental error that occurred under Rob Stokes as Planning Minister in the former Government, and his unwillingness to be strong with councils like Ku-ring-gai – when they flagrantly refused to deliver on housing supply, sent a disastrous message to all other councils.  Now we have a crisis of supply when prior to 2019, supply was going well under Anthony Roberts.

As Michael Koziol from the SMH wrote this week in an article on the Croydon Station Tier 2 proposal:

Cynics (or is that... political realists?) point to the fact that a 6-month extension pushes deadlines beyond the local government elections to be held in September. Perhaps a chance to remove this as a potent platform for those opposed to planning reforms?

While the SMH focussed on the argy-bargy around the four train stations included in the Tier 2 program in the Ku-ring-gai local government area, the real political heat is in the inner west, where even Labor-controlled councils are pushing back on Government reforms.

At the end of the day, a government back down, even temporary, pushes back solving the deteriorating housing supply crisis even further. This could only be acceptable if new ambitious Housing targets are published and councils resolve to over–achieve and beat those targets.  Otherwise – our message to the Minister is beware of giving councils an excuse to delay and procrastinate.

And with the Tier 1 TOD reforms unlikely to be finalised till the end of the year, we urge the government to expand this program and get obvious candidates for increased height and density like Chatswood, Edgecliff, Bondi Junction, Burwood North Metro and Five Dock in as part of the T1 TOD program.

To read the SMH story on the Government giving some councils an extension on the Tier 2 TOD reforms, click the following link:

*Please note this article may be paywall protected. 

NSW housing: Councils get extra six months to devise plans before new controls take force (smh.com.au)

4. ABS housing approvals reveal the housing supply pipeline is dry

The Premier's concerns over failings in the planning system were underlined in this week's ABS new dwelling approval figures.

The ABS data showed NSW apartments and detached housing approvals stalling at a decade low.

Source: ABS, Building Approvals, 4 April 2024, Series 8731001

With low approval numbers comes falling commencements and falling completions.

Less than 100 days until the start of the National Housing Accord, NSW is only churning out 50% of the approvals needed to achieve the 76,000 new dwellings required each year under the Accord.

This week's ABS data is a wakeup call to all Governments, particularly the Commonwealth, which needs to support the States and local councils with a massive investment in housing enabling infrastructure.

The nationwide housing approvals figures should be of great concern to the Federal Government:

The Albanese Government has been tiptoeing through the housing supply crisis. With its fiscal might, boosted by the revenue from skilled migration intakes, it needs to become a key player in solving the housing supply crisis.

A lot is riding on Dr Jim Chalmers' Federal budget next month.

To read Urban Taskforce's release on the poor ABS housing approvals data, click the link below:

Media Release | ABS housing approvals data for February shows a dry housing supply pipeline

5. More Transport Oriented Development precincts on the way?

Reports this week emerged that additional train stations could be added to the Tier 2 TOD list to encourage more well-located development.

Urban Taskforce has argued ever since the 31 Tier 2 TOD stations were announced that more was needed.

The real action on housing supply will stem from the Tier 1 TODs. This is where serious height and density will be delivered. The fact that new metros like Five Dock and Cherrybrook were left off the Tier 1 TOD list, as well as the absence of heavy rail stations like Bondi Junction and Edgecliff, was perplexing to say the least.

The fact that Chatswood, soon to be blessed with both heavy rail and a Metro station, was another glaring omission.

Mind the gaps- Sydney Tier 1 and Tier 2 TOD precincts (so far)

A housing supply crisis demands more than a steady as she goes approach. Urban Taskforce has consistently argued the magnitude of the crisis, and the ambitions of the National Housing Accord, demands all shoulders to the wheel.

To read more on the NSW Government considering more TOD precincts, click the following link:

*Please note this article may be paywall protected. 

Daily Telegraph | More train stations could get six-storey surrounds as Planning Minister launches charm offensive on councils

6. NSW Opposition poses 10 questions to Government on housing supply

NSW Opposition Media release, NSW Planning in Chaos, April 3

While their political opportunism and scaremongering on aspects of the planning reform agenda is disappointing, they have raised a number of significant questions around the direction, timing and outcomes of a number of initiatives the Minns Government has announced over the past 12 months.

Matters such as the NSW Government's land audit (announced almost 12 months ago), the release of housing targets and infrastructure priorities are important matters that need to be addressed asap.

But Urban Taskforce puts one question back to Mark Speakman, the Leader of the Opposition.  Will he back the Government's sensible planning reforms when it comes to delivering more well-located housing in Sydney's east and north?

Urban Taskforce sees the best chance of resolving the housing supply and affordability crisis as being through a bi-partisan approach to planning reform. There is time yet for the Opposition to lick their wounds and become a constructive participant in the debate – even back the government's reform agenda to support housing supply. 

Politics is a two-way street, and the Opposition needs to drop the protection racket for certain parts of Sydney and present a united front with the Government on delivering well located housing when and where it is needed.

To read the media release from the NSW Opposition and the Shadow Planning Minister posing these questions to the Minns Government, click the following link:

Media Release - NSW Planning in Chaos

7. The Aerotropolis needs focussed leadership from the NSW Government to deliver the infrastructure needed to underpin housing and jobs

Urban Taskforce has led industry criticism of a lack of strategic coordination within government to capture the opportunities offered by the new Western Sydney airport.

Now this all happened under the stewardship of the former government – but any suggestion that the Western Parkland City Authority was only responsible for delivery of infrastructure for the tiny new city of Bradfield is simply wrong.

Just look at the name of this authority – the Western Parkland City Authority.

The real problem was that they reported to Rob Stokes, and having lost the leadership contest 39-5, no other Minister in the former government took the agency seriously.

But with the new government now hitting its stride, there is a chance for a fresh approach.  WPCA should change its name to be the Bradfield Delivery Authority and focus on delivering the infrastructure that will see the 40 MOUs with major companies realised.

But someone needs to drive and co-ordinate NSW infrastructure agencies like TfNSW and Sydney Water to deliver the infrastructure upgrades needed to secure investment in housing and jobs in the rest of the WPCA area (everywhere outside of Bradfield).

Urban Taskforce has called on the State Government to assemble a taskforce or authority to knock heads together and get moving on the infrastructure needs for Western Sydney, particularly precincts close to the new airport.

The Minister for Planning's announcement to send more planners in to start to sort through backlogs is a good start, but what is needed is a body that can drive, deliver, and coordinate infrastructure.  

The Sydney Olympic Authority delivered the best ever games with a shorter timeframe than that between the announcement and completion of the new airport.

NSW has done it before, it needs to do it again. But this time the wheels have fallen off.

CEO Tom Forrest spoke with the Daily Telegraph, saying that when it came to infrastructure delivery and coordination, there needed to be intervention right from the very top, otherwise infrastructure behemoths like TfNSW would continue to act according to their own timetables and priorities, rather than those of the new airport and the needs of a fast growing Western Sydney:

Tom also spoke with Channel 7 News on the lack of progress on the infrastructure basics around the new airport, saying that investors needed to start seeing real progress on the ground otherwise "they'll be on their bike" to other states where land in cheap and serviced with infrastructure support.

States like Queensland and Victoria thrive on poaching investment from NSW. Only last month the Victorians announced it would remove stamp duty for industrial and commercial land and replace it with a land tax. NSW needs to do more to capture private sector interest and build on the natural advantages of the State.

To watch Channel 7 report on infrastructure backlogs failing to capture the opportunities presented by the new airport, click the following link:

7 News Sydney - Monday 1 April, 12min 18sec.

To read more on the Premier acknowledging their needs to be a more focussed push when it comes to the airport, click the following link:

*Please note this article may be paywall protected. 

NSW Premier Chris Minns admits planning system is 'too complicated' amid western Sydney aerotropolis malaise | Daily Telegraph

8. Industrial land – time for a rethink on retain and manage policy

The NSW Government needs to reconsider the current approach to industrial land.

While strategic sites in western Sydney are starved of the infrastructure needed to deliver much needed supply, too many underutilised sites in Sydney remain tired and dormant under the old "retain and manage/review and manage" policy.

The fact is, Councils and Planning Panels see this as a directive not to allow any mixed use development for any industrial site, no matter how inappropriate that old land use prescription now is.

Demand for industrial land is dynamic and ever changing, as evidence by the emergence of multi-storey warehousing facilities which radically change the intensity of land usage.

But the NSW Government lumbers on with the now abolished GCC's view of industrial land, which sterilises many traditional industrial sites which could service a range of demands, including employment and housing, through mixed use zoning.

"Retain and manage policy" clings to a 19^th and 20^th century view of industrial lands
Source: City of Sydney

Urban Taskforce has been a strong advocate of a "no worse off jobs test" which would see sites not consider of national or state significance subject to review and assessment.

This was the position strongly supported by NSW Treasury and the NSW Productivity Commission, backed by an independent cost-benefit analysis undertaken by Deloitte.

Under the former Government and the former (now abolished) GSC/GCC, the prudent case by case approach was stymied and blocked.

The Minns Government, by removing the GCC, has an opportunity to review the retain and manage policy.

The Premier's comments around the need to move forward in the job creating potential of industrial land around the Western Sydney airport must be the focus.

Clinging onto some pocket industrial sites in inner suburbs of Sydney that have evolved and need to look at uses geared towards the needs of a growing Sydney in the 21^st century is backward-looking thinking that does not create jobs nor housing.

Time for a rethink.

To read the SMH article on the industrial land shortage and Urban Taskforce's solution, click the following link:

*Please note this article may be paywall protected.

Sydney industrial land shortage set to spark pressure on consumers (smh.com.au)

9. Minns Government moves to increase participation of women in construction

These are important initiatives under the Women in Construction Infrastructure Skills Legacy Program aimed at identifying barriers and developing strategies to boost employment in a traditionally male dominated industry.

Industry can only benefit from these efforts and Urban Taskforce looks forward to seeing positive results flowing back into industry from the program. 

To read the press release on the NSW Government's initiatives click the following link:

Media Release - Boosting the number of women in construction to benefit the industry

10. A city with no grandchildren – the stark prospects facing Sydney

Late last week Channel 7 spoke to Urban Taskforce CEO on the failures of the planning system, leading to the gradual loss of younger individuals and families to other parts of NSW, Australia and the world.

This is the brain drain that the Premier and Productivity Commissioner keeps warning the community about, yet we still have NSW Government agencies dragging the chain when it comes to giving the green light to new housing.

Net loss of 40,000 in the 5 years to 2021
Source: NSW Productivity Commission and 7 News

CEO Tom Forrest urged agencies like TfNSW and the SES to get on board with the Premier's top priority of housing, and get on with the job:

To watch the 7 News Sydney story on younger generations increasingly forced to leave Sydney, click the following link:

7 News - Thursday 28 March, 16min 32sec

11. K&L Gates to host Built to Rent panel discussion

Urban Taskforce member K&L Gates will be holding a panel discussion April on this emerging sector in Australia from 12 noon to 2pm on Thursday 11. Panel members will be:

• Shauny Bult, Director at CBRE
• Sholto Maconochie, Head of Australia Real Estate at Jeffries
• Matthew Cridland, Tax Partner at K&L Gates
• Tom Forrest, CEO at Urban Taskforce

For further information and to RSVP, click the following link:

Please Join Us | K&L Gates Build-to-Rent Panel Seminar (emailcc.com)

K&L Gates published a Build to Rent handbook – insights and trends. Well worth a read, by clicking the following link:

K&L Gates (datasrvr.com)

12. National Competition Policy review

The adverse impacts of planning and zoning regulations on competition should be central to any outcomes of the Federal Government's review into National Competition Policy in Australia.

Barriers to entry, restricted competition and reduced innovation all feed off poor planning frameworks. The impact on house prices as a result of zoning restrictions is case in point.

The review should be able to give the Commonwealth Treasurer more reasons to incentivise the States to remove unjustifiable planning red tape through NCP payments. That, coupled with infrastructure support in the upcoming budget, would be a real game changer in addressing housing supply and promoting a more productive nation.

Submissions close 15 May.

To read the NCP discussion paper, click the following link:

Call for submissions - National Competition Policy analysis (pc.gov.au)

13. New Independent Planning Commission Chair appointed

Mr Mills was appointed as a Commissioner with the Independent Planning Commission in February 2023 and has been a member of its Risk and Compliance Committee since 2020.

Mr Mills succeeds long serving Chair and former Chief Government Scientist, Professor Mary O' Kane.

To read the Minister's press release, click the following link:

Media Release - New Chair appointed to Independent Planning Commission

14. Land and Property Minister announces expansion of cemetery levy to all operators

Previously only applied to the large Crown cemeteries in NSW, the Minns Government has announced it will implement a recommendation from IPART and the Statutory Review of the Cemeteries and Crematoria Act to expand the former Government’s Interment Industry Levy from Crown cemeteries to all active industry operators, driving equity and levelling the field in the sector.

This change will come into effect on 1 July 2024. Cemeteries and Crematoria NSW will begin consulting with industry shortly.

The Minister also released a Strategic Statement outlining the NSW Government's priorities for cemeteries and crematoria in NSW.

To read the statement, click the following link:

Delivering strong consumer outcomes for Cemeteries and Crematorial in NSW

15. Another helpful graph from Peter Tulip

The Chief Economist at the Centre of Independent Studies and former senior RBA economist, Peter Tulip, is a vociferous advocate for housing supply.

The following graph, based on the impact of Auckland's freeing up of planning restrictions, shows what type of impact YIMBY v NIMBY policies have on rent to income ratios.  

Source: X

Another question for all politicians to answer – do they want rent to income ratios in NSW tracking along the red line or yellow line?

16. DPHI update for State significant project submissions

From 1 April 2024, all submissions for State significant projects and development applications for non-State significant development where the Minister for Planning or Planning Secretary is the consent authority must be made online through the NSW Planning Portal. This ensures a more consistent and transparent submissions process.

DPHI understand some people may have difficulty using the portal to make a submission. There is help and resources available on the portal including a step-by-step guide on how to make a submission and answers to frequently asked questions.

For more information, see the planning portal submissions page.

For assistance with making a submission using the planning portal, call Service NSW on 1300 305 695.

17. Members in the News

*Please note, the links used below may be paywall protected.

"...Dexus said in February that about $1.2 billion of the $1.5 billion capital cost was still to be spent..."  read more...

AFR, April 1

"...Meriton wants to add nearly 200 apartments to plans for a site in Sydney's north-west by increasing the building heights from 33m to 110m..."  read more...

The Urban Developer, April 2

"...Billbergia Group has released new plans to construct six residential towers, classified as an 'affordable housing development', on the northern tip of the Rhodes peninsula next to the Parramatta River..."  read more...

The Daily Telegraph, April 3
 

"...The development arm of grocery giant Woolworths has received gateway determination for a mixed-use development on a 2257sq m site in a blue-ribbon Sydney suburb..."  read more...

The Urban Developer, April 4