Four-part megacity could be cheap NSW housing solution, Perrottet says
Sydneysiders may need to move to Canberra to get a piece of Australia’s housing market in the latter part of the century, experts have predicted.
NSW
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A four-part global city with smaller, more efficient homes could be the secret to NSW meeting the ambitious target of 1.7m new homes by 2060.
Treasurer Dominic Perottet discussed the idea of a four-part global city – comprising Wollongong, Newcastle, Sydney and Canberra – as the solution to a lack of affordable housing at the launch of the NSW Intergenerational Report.
Experts said the government needs to plan for smaller homes with more energy efficiency and better transport to connect areas like Newcastle and Wollongong to Sydney.
NSW independent Planning Commission chair Mary O’Kane said the state needed more uniform homes spread out instead of concentrated in Sydney.
“One thing we can do is build homes smarter. We are pretty good in the world of artificial intelligence. We can make homes easier to live in and more efficient and more energy efficient. (We need) smart, clever, efficient housing and very much pattern modelled. We don’t have to have every new house designed from scratch,” she said.
“We talk about Sydney as a global city but we have very good cities like Newcastle, Wollongong and we have Canberra up the road which we sort of don’t see because it’s another jurisdiction.”
Ms O’Kane said the four-city structure would help avoid the need to build on flood plain, with the report showing the risk of flooding could increase by up to 12 per cent by 2060-61 and between 39,000 and 46,000 homes will be exposed to inundation and coastal erosion.
“We have four fantastic cities and if we thought of them as a global set, we can avoid (building on flood plains).
The report laid out that one-third of projected new housing will be apartments to accommodate the decline in the average number of people living in each home and as “undeveloped land becomes more scarce”.
The trend will see apartments become a much bigger part of the housing market, compared to the 20 per cent share they currently have in NSW.
Mr Perrottet said young people keen to enter the housing market did not need to fear a future with smaller homes.
“Smaller homes don’t necessarily mean worse homes. There are ways in which we can make housing affordable and beautiful at the same time,” he said.
“The average age for a millennial to get into the property market is much higher than it was for a boomer … there are two crucial areas to drive housing affordability for younger people: better planning and a better tax system.”
Mr Perrottet said the government intends to announce an update on the removal of stamp duty on property purchases.
“There is a lot of work that’s gone into it … we will provide an update in the lead up to this year’s budget.”
Business Sydney acting executive director Damian Kelly said NSW will need more investment in job creation to support the housing target set by the report.
“We are in yet another Sydney housing boom making it even more difficult for current, and the next generation, of workers to live in Sydney, so we must focus on addressing this through schemes like build-to-rent and stamp duty changes, if we are to house tomorrow’s employees in suburbs near to where the jobs are,” Mr Kelly said.
“The report says the fastest jobs growth will be in business and social services and this means developing precincts like the Tech Central to Everleigh and Pyrmont Peninsular, in order to generate the hi-tech, innovation, fintech and biotech jobs these precincts are designed for.
“Along with providing affordable rental and other housing options for these young tech workers of the future, we must also cater for key workers like police, nurses, teachers and other social services to live around these precincts through more affordable housing.
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