DA blowouts and nosediving approvals stunt NSW’s 75,000 home target

Just weeks after the Premier announced a target of 75,000 new homes in NSW each year comes news that the number of housing approvals has dropped steadily and development application waiting times have blown out.

The wait to build or renovate a home in Sydney has blown out to record levels, with lengthy delays for development application (DA) decisions hurting everyone from mum-and-dad house-flippers to major developers.

As the Minns government faces a target of building 75,000 new homes annually — starting this year — the average assessment for a development application has blown out to 139 days at metropolitan Sydney councils this financial year, up from 107 in 2021/22 when the NSW Planning Performance dashboard started recording.

At the same time, statewide housing approvals have nosedived year on year from 2019/20, with just 51,706 new dwellings approved in the last financial year.

Worst performers include Liverpool City Council, where decisions on DAs — which cover anything from hundred-home apartment developments to backyard fences and swimming pools — have blown out to 283 days on average this financial year, up from 156 in 2021/22.

Georges River (an average of 251 days for decisions this financial year, up from 156) and Sutherland Shire (247, up from 149) followed.

Mark Bainey, Capio Property Group CEO, said many DAs were ‘political fireballs’ for councils. Picture: Jonathan Ng

NSW government guidelines insist straightforward DAs can be decided within 40 days.

Developers point the finger at protracted battles with local councils, with month-long arguments over issues as trivial as the number of car spaces leading to thousands of potential homes languishing in a cripplingly slow system.

The Minns government has pledged to clearly show which councils are lagging behind on development approvals, announcing at The Daily Telegraph’s Bradfield summit a new leaderboard to compare council performances.

Capio Property Group CEO Mark Bainey, whose business focuses on medium-sized developments across Sydney, blamed councils for the lack of approvals, saying many DAs were “political fireballs” they didn’t want to handle.

He has been waiting 120 days for Parramatta Council to approve a development of 100 apartments at Carlingford, with no determination date in sight.

“How are we to unlock housing in this market if we don’t get approvals?” he said.

Premier Chris Minns has set a target of 75,000 new homes each year for NSW. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone

Tim Robertson, project director at developer Aqualand, said the NSW government’s planning department had to shoulder the blame with councils.

“A pervasive culture of saying no has infected the planning system at all levels, including the department of planning and all councils,” he said.

At the same time Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show dwelling approvals have fallen year-on-year since 2019/20, with just 51,706 new dwellings approved in the last financial year.

It’s a continual slide from 59,825 approvals in 2020/21, with 54,574 in 2021/22.

Urban Development Institute of Australia NSW acting CEO Gavin Melvin said the jumble of DAs lodged with councils, including applications for swimming pools, fences and more, was slowing down new housing.

“In the middle of a housing crisis, we need to separate out pool fences, rear attic extensions and dual occupancies from the apartments and large residential developments that will get us out of this crisis,” he said.

“We need council planners and department of planning planners to focus their efforts on where they’re needed which is on new housing developments – not extensions and pool fences.”

A spokesman for Liverpool City Council said a “full restructure” of its DA processing system had reduced a backlog of 897 developments to 344 over the past year.

A Georges River Council spokesman said it was holding a series of workshops with councillors to identify where new housing opportunities existed, while Sutherland Shire Council said more recent DAs were being processed at an average of around 90 days.

A NSW government spokesman said the shortfall in DAs and approvals was a “problem we need to confront” and that “councils need to pull their weight”.

He cited 138,000 new homes near 31 train and metro stations would be enabled by snap rezonings to help them hit the 75,000 home a year target.

The government also said an upcoming pattern book of medium-density housing designs would offer developers a streamlined approval process.

Originally published as DA blowouts and nosediving approvals stunt NSW’s 75,000 home target