Login
iscover
The state government’s new slate of housing reforms will remove restrictions on developing low and mid-rise housing around hundreds of town centres and stations across NSW.
The NSW government’s new Low and Mid-Rise policy will take effect on 28 February 2025 and aims to deliver 120,000 new homes across the state over the next five years.
The new reforms will change planning controls within 800 metres, around 171 town centres and stations across NSW, to allow the development of “mid-rise” housing such as dual occupancies, terraces and townhouses across metropolitan Sydney, the Central Coast, Illawarra-Shoalhaven and Hunter regions.
Through these changes, the state government said it aims to “reintroduce housing choice and diversity” back into communities by filling the “missing middle” between high-rise apartments and greenfield development.
Premier Chris Minns said the homes built through these reforms will be located near transport, open spaces and essential services, fostering better-connected and more liveable neighborhoods by utilising existing critical infrastructure.
“These types of homes have played a really important part in delivering homes over the last century, but recently councils have effectively banned them; this reform changes that,” Minns said.
According to the NSW government, only two of 33 councils in Greater Sydney permit terraces and townhouses in low-density (R2) zones, with residential flat buildings being prohibited in 60 per cent of all medium-density (R3) zones.
The new changes will remove the restriction on developing terraces, townhouses and low-rise residential flat buildings on R1 and R2 zoned land, in addition to removing the restriction on delivering medium-rise residential flat buildings on R3 and higher density R4 zoned land in these areas.
Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, Paul Scully, said that the new policy “fills a gap in new housing supply”.
“Allowing low and mid-rise housing in more locations will help increase the number of homes in our state, improve affordability for renters and buyers and give people a choice on the type of home they want to live in,” Scully said.
The state government also noted that the new planning reforms would further enable the rollout of the NSW Pattern Book, with the successful designs which were revealed in November last year providing low and mid-rise designs that can now be built in areas zoned for low and mid-rise housing.
“Housing is the single largest cost-of-living pressure people are facing, and these changes will deliver more homes for young people, families and workers,” Minns said.
The Property Council of Australia welcomed the NSW government’s new reforms, and stated it would deliver more diverse housing across the state.
The peak body’s NSW executive director, Katie Stevenson, said the new policy would allow more dual-occupancies, terraces, townhouses and residential flat buildings to be built across NSW.
“These long-awaited reforms bring certainty and confidence to support the industry to deliver more housing, improve affordability, and provide greater choice for home buyers and renters,” she said.
Moving forward, Stevenson said that ongoing government engagement with industry would be critical to support the successful implementation of the reforms.
“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,” she concluded.
You are not authorised to post comments.
Comments will undergo moderation before they get published.