Friday, 14 November 2025

In this Edition...

1. Landmark planning reforms pass NSW Parliament

2. What’s next in addressing the housing supply crisis?

3. First quarter of National Housing Accord down – how have Councils performed?

...and much, much more.

4. Council watch
5. Upper House committee report into RAB and DBP legislation
6. Urban Taskforce/Savills Market Update
7. Only red tape will slow down new performance space at EQ
8. 2025 Infrastructure Markey Capacity Report
9. The benefits of the BTR lifestyle
10. Members in the news

1. Landmark planning reforms pass NSW Parliament

NSW has a better planning system after the landmark Planning System Reforms Bill 2025 passed both houses of NSW Parliament with bi-partisan Labor/Coalition/ and independent Members’ support. Only the Greens and the Animal Justice Party opposed the Bill in the end.

A number of critical reforms have now become embedded in law through the legislation, including critical new objects of the Act – housing and proportionately in planning decision making.

For too long housing has been seen as almost by product of the NSW planning legislation. These reforms put housing front and centre of the raison d’être of planning laws in NSW.

The enshrining of the Housing Delivery Authority into law and the establishment of the Development Coordination Authority are two positive reforms that institutionally focusses the Government on delivering more state led approvals for high value, high yield in a timelier fashion, while establishing a one stop shop for dealing with the myriad of NSW Government agencies who all want a say on housing development.

There will also be more complying development and targeted assessment pathways which will also help speed up the planning system when it comes to housing.

Given the litany of failed attempts at planning reform, 2025 was a year of solid achievement!

The Daily Telegraph noted our comments welcoming the bipartisan reforms which would lead to greater supply and affordability across the board:

Almost 12 months ago, Urban Taskforce and the Daily Telegraph, kick started a campaign to get the major parties to come together on planning reform. For too long it has been a political hot potato where one side was afraid of taking a stand for fear of the other side exploiting planning reform for political points.

When Premier Chris Minns and Opposition Leader Mark Speakman agreed over the new year period to work together on pragmatic reform, politics was left at the door and the opportunity for historic reform opened up.

The Urban Developer picked up our comments on what the bipartisan approach to planning in NSW means:

And why are we so tough on the Greens? Ahem … they grandstanded.  They filibustered. They ranted like they were on a milk crate at the old Harold Park hotel! They opposed the reforms and in so doing, showed their contempt for young people who are struggling with housing affordability.

Their cynical opportunism showed what policy disasters were avoided by the major parties agreeing on a common way forward. While the Greens used the Bill to talk to their increasingly boomer base, they stood in the upper house for hours delaying the inevitable. At most 6 members in the 42-member upper house voted for any of their multiple time-wasting amendments.

To be clear, Mark Latham MLC is more concerned about housing supply, housing affordability and the prospects for young people who are renting or looking to buy and home, than the Greens. The Greens Party in NSW are now the true conservatives.

In Question Time this week, Planning Minister Paul Scully could hardly conceal his disdain for the cynical politics of the Greens:  

The reforms that went through Parliament this week won’t solve the housing supply crisis, but they are a solid foundation upon which to build a planning system that works for housing and jobs, not against them.

2. What’s next in addressing the housing supply crisis?

The Minns Government cannot rest on its laurels.

2026 needs to see the reforms embedded across the planning system. This will take time and effort.  

Even that prestigious lag indicator, the Business Council of Australia’s Regulation Rumble, gave NSW the wooden spoon when it came to planning systems:

BCA, Regulation Rumble, 2025

A reformist approach to planning needs to be an iterative process, and something to which both sides of politics should commit.

The planning reforms that passed this week are a good start, but NSW needs more. In the short term, the Government now needs to turn to the enabling regulations to ensure the spirit of the laws are embedded in the fine detail.

For the first time in living memory, we have an Opposition willing to work with the Government on tricky policy issues like planning reform. With the politics out of the way, and broad community support for tackling the housing supply and affordability crisis, this is an opportunity that cannot be allowed to fall away. But, as Tom said, it will require a concerted effort across the board.

The other significant challenge for 2026 is the bottleneck created by the raft of Government fees, taxes and charges which undermines feasibility and hinders housing approvals turning into housing starts.

And unfairly, it places too much of the burden of paying for the infrastructure associated with the economic development of the state on one subset – new home buyers.

The NSW Coalition seems to have picked up on the message from industry. They have promised to defer Housing and Productivity Charges throughout the Housing Accord period and to shift the burden of taxes to have them paid at the time when construction ends, rather than the time when construction commences. Small steps, but extremely important.

The Coalition have made themselves relevant to the main political issues for the next 18 months: housing supply and housing affordability.

Unlike the slow burn of planning reform, removing the impost of housing taxes can be done at the behest of the Treasurer.

Given the success of the outbreak of bipartisanship on planning reforms, it would be great if the Minns Government joined with the Speakman Opposition and took Treasury’s hands out of the pockets of new home buyers.

3. First quarter of National Housing Accord down – how have Councils performed?

September 2025 marks quarter time for the National Housing Accord, and the ABS data which breaks down approvals on a council basis clearly shows those having a go as opposed to those who aren’t.

Unsurprisingly, the list of shame when it comes to Councils not performing are largely those councils who from week to week get a dishonourable mention in the Urban Taskforce Council Watch reports:

Source: ABS 87310DO005_202509 Building Approvals, LGA data cube released 10/11/2025

This is not a coincidence.

Ironically, the Council currently holding the wooden spoon, North Sydney, last Friday placed an interim heritage order on properties where even their own heritage advice said that they had little heritage value.

Would North Sydney Council planners approve this?

On the other side of the ledger, Canada Bay, Burwood and Hawkesbury were easily exceeding the approvals needed to reach their housing targets (assuming these approvals convert to housing starts.

The remaining councils in the top ten were Western Sydney suburbs, which have done most of the heavy lifting over the past 2 decades:

Source: ABS 87310DO005_202509 Building Approvals, LGA data cube released 10/11/2025

North Sydney’s chief competition for the spoon, Strathfield, is coming up with its own "heritage strategy".

Priorities.

CEO Tom Forrest spoke with 2GB’s Mark Levy on the approvals data:

While we are at it, we also had a look at the other councils in the old “Six Cities Region” (remember that??) and noticed a world of difference.

Unfortunately, the Federal Government is apparently paralysed when it comes to programs and funding to help lift supply. But they are adding demand stimulus into the mix, which is placing even upwards pressure on housing prices. Peter Switzer when discussing our data with 2GB’s Ben Fordham put 2 and 2 together in terms of demand outstripping supply:

The first home buyer support is worthy, but it needs to be supported by housing supply boosting measures.

Converting the $3 billion New Home Bonus program to an incentive for states to further stimulate housing supply would be a start. Right now, it seems that Victoria will take all of the $3 billion – but that is not good policy or a good outcome for that matter.

4. Council watch

Mosman - let's try affordable housing taxes to kill off housing

Handwringing, leaflets, hopping in on private legal challenges – Mosman Council has tried everything it could to block the Minns Government’s LMR reforms.

But what if you could propose a policy that sounds like you want to encourage affordable housing but in actual fact, the impact of the policy is to block housing of any type? Therein lies the beauty of local affordable housing taxes for NIMBY Councils.

Mosman is now joining the conga line of NIMBY Councils proposing another tax on new housing, with Council last week endorsing the preparation of a draft Affordable Housing Policy.

And the justification seems to be about everything other than delivering housing:

Mayoral Minute, 4 November

Nothing about actually delivering housing on the ground – but that’s not the point, is it?

Local affordable housing taxes are proliferating across the once protected enclaves on Sydney’s east and north, and even in Sydney's west, but they have time and time again proven to be effective handbrakes on feasibility and housing supply.

Council’s have been able to bring in affordable housing taxes for 25 years. But only now, with planning reforms starting to open up hitherto exclusive parts of Sydney for infill redevelopment, are we seeing NIMBY Councils scramble to start imposing these taxes.

It’s not a coincidence!!

Local affordable housing policies should be deemed defunct where HDA, TODs, LMR and Infill affordable housing applies.  There should be no double dip on affordable housing contributions. 

The complete failure on inclusinary zoning schemes applied by local councils render them useless. They should be scrapped, or at least, over-ridden where State Government obligations apply.

Northern Beaches Affordable Housing taxes – one step forward, two steps back

While we note that Northern Beaches Council has proposed reducing the affordable housing tax for development on non-government-owned land in the Frenchs Forest precinct from 10% to 3% (unsurprisingly the tax was preventing any new housing), Council is now aiming to impose a new 2 to 3% tax across the board on new homes. They are preparing a planning proposal to:

• establish a new 3% affordable housing contribution for most types of residential development subject to the NSW Government’s LMR Reforms
• establish a new 2% affordable housing contribution for higher density residential developments within the remainder of the Northern Beaches

So the NSW Government has spent 2 years developing a sensible LMR reform package with no affordable housing contribution compaonent mandated, only to see Northern Beaches Council immediately seek to change it, and apply a new tax!  What is their real motivation? This is blatant anti-housing supply agenda from a council that has never shown any interest in the delivery of affordable housing.

Anyone buying into the Northern Beaches has just seen the price go up a further 2-3%. Is the Minns Government comfortable with a $30,000 hot on a $1 million home. For a first home buyer, that’s about half to three quarters of what they saved under a stamp duty exemption.

Another concern is this will be applied to home buyers in addition to any development under the NSW Government’s infill affordable housing bonus scheme: a 10-15% dedication of all homes for affordable housing for 15 years.

Taxing new home buyers to enable an affordable housing  lottery for a lucky few is not good policy. And this is on top of DCP changes deliberately designed to weaken the LMR reforms.

Nonetheless, there is hope. The changes will need to be signed off by the Planning Minister. All eyes will be on Minister Scully to see if he will countenance approving a Council policy designed to undermine his own.

Parramatta Council – "Ummm ... do you think we can we be exempt from HDA?"

Notwithstanding decades of political instability, ICAC raids and a revolving door when it comes to CEOs, Parramatta Council believes it should be exempted from the HDA’s state led planning pathway. Apparently, they are worried about infrastructure!

There are 14 proposals in Parramatta that have been fast-tracked through the Housing Delivery Authority, which would deliver 7,500 new dwellings to the area.

While Parramatta’s approvals are only 25% off where they needed to be to meet their Housing Accord targets, exempting particular councils from the HDA would be the thin edge of the wedge. And Parramatta is the last place where you want to let them run their own show. 

Fortunately, the Planning Minister gave Parramatta’s bleating short shrift, telling the SMH that there are "no plans to exempt the operations of the HDA".

Parramatta Council seems like a rudderless ship in a parallel universe repeat with a milieu of denial. They are even asking for their own Act (goodness knows what the intent or impact would be), separating themselves from the operations of the EP&A Act in NSW! They are also seeking to prevent residential (including BTR) from the commercial core, undermining all the good work to try to breathe life into the space post COVID.

It begs the question: do these Councillors attend meetings in person or do they just Zoom in?

Despite the protestations of Business Western Sydney and the relocated ABC, the Parramatta CBD is dying, and mixed use is the best way to energise the city centre and be ready for the massive investment in both the light rail and the metro - all coming their way.

5. Upper House committee report into RAB and DBP legislation

The Public Accountability and Works Committee has released its report into the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 and the Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Act 2020.

Its recommendations include

• That the NSW Government liaise with industry stakeholders to identify potential strategies to reduce complexity and costs, without compromising the essential objectives of the existing framework.
• That the NSW Government, as a matter of urgency, undertake additional consultation with all relevant stakeholders concerning the proposed regulations that will accompany the draft building bills.
• That the NSW Government publish a policy statement outlining the intention of the draft building bills as soon as possible.
• That the NSW Government establish a new dispute resolution process for building defects that provides for mandatory mediation; places a formal stay on proceedings for a fixed period to ensure the limitation period is paused; for transitional purposes, places a formal stay on proceedings on any legal proceedings already underway; and provides adequate resources and funding to Building Commission NSW to ensure timely and efficient resolution of disputes.

The Government has until February 2026 to report back.

Urban Taskforce appeared before the Committee and spearheade industry's response. Our message was clear - let's move forward and get the Bill into Parliament.

The review of the RAB and DBP has taken too long. 

The new Building Commissioner has ushered in a new approach in terms of ensuring good building outcomes.

The focus now must be on streamlining and simplification of legislation, and weeding out aspects that serve little purpose other than slowing down the housing supply pipeline. Like returning greater agency to certifiers and allowing the minutiae of builds to be resolved quickly.

The Planning Systems Reform Bill set the tone that the new Building Act should follow.

For too long, critical changes have been caught up in the weeds.

Building reform – stuck in the weeds

6. Urban Taskforce/Savills Market Update

Savills have once again hosted an information packed market update for Urban Taskforce members. The biannual event grows in popularity and is members’ chance to get a pulse check on not just broader macro-economic trends and data but explore how the Sydney market and Sydney submarkets are faring in terms of consumer demand.

REA’s Angus Moore gave an overview in terms of the broader Australian economy, putting a positive spin on the issues that have heavily impacted housing supply since COVID – input costs, labour shortages and time to complete. While problems remain, there is hoe on the horizon – with the passage of the Planning reforms hopefully signalling less delay and costs in NSW in bring housing online.

Suffice to say, other comments focussed on the ongoing problem with feasibility, where building west of Homebush is basically a no go area in terms of making the financials stack up.

Fees taxes and charges are simply adding to the problem and creating a tale of two cities – the east where development does stack up, and the West where housing really struggles. This is a massive short-term problem for the Minns Government, as well as the Albanese Government which continues to be very shy in terms of funding housing enabling infrastructure.

Our thanks again to Chris Orr and the Savills team for putting on such an excellent morning tea presentation.

L-R Chris Orr, Tom Forrest, Angus Moore, Sandra Peachey, Gavin Speak, and David Tanevski

7. Only red tape will slow down new performance space at EQ

CEO Tom Forrest was asked by the Sydney Morning Herald on the appetite of the development industry to build a new 20,000 capacity indoor performance space.

Recently the NSW Government has opened the tender process for the revitalisation of the Entertainment Quarter (EQ) at Moore Park, hoping to kick-start a bright new future for the area. This is great news for a precinct that has been under-utilised for far too long.

Tom’s message was clear – we can build it – just don’t lumber it with red tape or you’ll be waiting for a decade:

8. 2025 Infrastructure Market Capacity Report

Growth has been driven by rising government investment in housing (now $28 billion in social and affordable housing) and utilities, supporting energy transition.

Transport remains the largest share, but is steady.

Ongoing challenges include severe workforce shortages (potentially 300,000 by 2027), supply chain constraints especially in regional areas, and the need for skilled labour and modern construction methods. 

9. The benefits of the BTR lifestyle

The Herald spoke to some of the tenants on the positives of this lifestyle option. Housing choice is critical as we move forward, and BTR will ensure more options for a broad range of people – young and old.

10. Members in the news

“… A former drive-in cinema site in Sydney’s west has returned to planning focus as Holdmark advances a revised $341-million mixed-use precinct of 482 homes… read more ...                                

The Urban Developer, 10 November
 

“… Sekisui House is at the halfway point of its mammoth $5-billion “urban heart” Parramatta masterplan, progressing two stages in recent months … read more ...                                

The Urban Developer, 10 November
 

“… Newcastle is booming and contractor Decode Group is positioning itself to leverage the city’s growth … read more ...                              

The Urban Developer, 11 November
 

“… Funds house Investa, advised by investment bank Barrenjoey, is making a $450m play for the 50 per cent stake in two office buildings in the World Square precinct in Sydney’s central business district that are being sold by Brookfield… read more ...  

The Australian, 12 November
 

“… According to Multiplex NSW regional director Dan Murphy, his team’s initial reaction upon winning the contract was “we’ve been awarded the delivery of an Opera House that sells fish”… read more

The Urban Developer, 13 November 

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