Lack of sewage and electricity infrastructure block 33,000 new homes
A lack of sewage and electricity infrastructure plus better road access is blocking the delivery of tens of thousands of new homes in Western Sydney, with $868 million needed to spur it along.
NSW
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A lack of sewage and electricity infrastructure and better road access is blocking the delivery of tens of thousands of new homes in Western Sydney, a new report has found.
An investment of $868 million into enabling infrastructure on Sydney’s western fringe would unlock almost 33,000 new homes within five years, according to the Western Sydney Building Blocks report from the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA), released on Friday.
This comes after The Daily Telegraph revealed that building delays were pushing up the price of detached houses in Sydney, 75 per cent higher than in Melbourne or Brisbane.
The new report found the lack of supporting infrastructure was by far one of the biggest blockers to new greenfield housing, with more than half of all standalone housing projects in Western Sydney requiring road and sewage infrastructure.
A third are without sufficient water infrastructure.
The Minns government is under pressure to deliver 377,000 homes by July 2029 under the National Housing Accord, in order to alleviate Sydney’s crippling housing crisis.
UDIA NSW chief executive Stuart Ayres said while the government’s emphasis on high-density apartments was important, they were not getting built fast enough to keep up with the demand. He said additional investment in enabling infrastructure would spur on the private sector to deliver more homes.
“Western Sydney has the most to lose if we keep falling behind our housing supply targets,” Mr Ayres said.
“With infill apartments not coming online fast enough, the government must pivot to new and diversified greenfield homes to build momentum.”
The report identified nine priority infrastructure projects across Western Sydney, which would unlock 33,000 homes, which is nearly 40 per cent of the houses required in Western Sydney to meet the Accord targets.
Delays in critical infrastructure have prevented development applications from being processed in some areas, such as Austral near the Western Sydney International Airport.
The report identified the need for $65 million in potable water upgrades for the area as being crucial for getting new builds approved, contributing around 5000 homes.
Another project near Penrith, upgrading the Orchard Hills main distributor road with an investment of $108 million was identified as helping unlock 3800 homes within the area.
Legacy Property head of strategy and acquisitions Mike Williams, who oversees builds of both apartments and detached homes, said demand for greenfield housing across Western Sydney had remained high despite a period of high interest rates.
“A lot of the focus is on infill development and what we see is the feasibility of that development is a lot more challenging – there are a lot more barriers and challenges to apartment delivery,” he said.
“Often there is a misconception that these new suburbs are remote from the Sydney CBD, but more often families have jobs based in the western CBDs in Blacktown, Paramatta, Liverpool and Penrith.”
Planning Minister Paul Scully said there were various enabling infrastructure projects at different stages of delivery, including $5.2 billion designated for new roads in Western Sydney.
“The NSW government has brought industry, local and state governments and utility providers together to identify infrastructure needed to support housing, jobs and better communities so that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the previous government that have left a backlog of infrastructure needs despite housing growth,” he said.
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