Western Sydney residents face extra $10,000 housing charge under proposal
Mayors set to rebel against new levy which could add extra $10,000 to cost of building a home – but only in western Sydney.
NSW
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Anyone buying or building a new home in western Sydney would get whacked with a new tax, adding $10,000 extra to the cost of building a new home, according to a new proposal.
The Western Sydney Planning Partnership – which consists of nine member councils across the region – is proposing a 1.5 per cent tax on new residential developments, which would then be used to build new affordable housing in the region.
Modelling done on the proposal shows that councils like Blacktown, the Blue Mountains, Camden and Hawkesbury would be charged more than $100 per square metre in a home.
In a 100 square metre home, a charge of $10,000 would apply.
Planning documents lodged with councils state that of a 200-unit apartment development, the monetary equivalent of three apartments would be charged under the levy.
The proposal would be phased in over three years and is being driven by the partnership, which was founded under the former NSW Government.
Numerous western Sydney mayors have hit out at the proposal and its timing, with Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone saying his council wouldn’t support it.
“What we don’t want to do is put another tax on top of new housing,” he said.
“How does putting a tax on a house make housing more affordable? That’s why my council will refuse this additional tax.
“Ultimately it’ll be the homebuyers who pay for this.”
Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun said he would also vote against the proposal proceeding, saying the upfront cost of the charge would eventually be passed on to the buyer.
“You’re taxing people who have worked their backsides off to get a deposit, to get their foot in the door on the property market – and you’re now adding another $8000 to $12,000 on that,” he said.
“Every time you put on a new tax it gets passed on the person at the end.”
Campbelltown Mayor George Greiss criticised the move as a western Sydney specific tax.
“We should not be imposing a 1.5 per cent tax on developments if that’s not the state government’s position,” he said.
“We shouldn’t continue to add taxes on developers and then pretend we’re trying to solve the housing affordability crisis.
“To say otherwise is kidding ourselves.”
“We should not introduce a tax on western Sydney if it doesn’t apply everywhere else – especially when we are the most affordable region in the city.”
Housing is deemed affordable if rent costs less than 30 per cent of the household’s income.
Affordable housing can be owned by private developers, local governments or community housing providers and is usually managed by the latter organisation.
Requests for comment from the partnership went unanswered.
A spokesman for the NSW Department of Planning distanced the NSW Government from the proposal, saying the partnership is “not a state government entity, it’s a collaboration” with no responsible Minister.
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