‘Eye-watering’ developer fees worsening SA’s housing crisis, says Neville Roberts

An SA developer has blasted an SA Water fee to connect just three new homes, saying “eye-watering” costs and taxes are making smaller projects unviable.

Property developer and former SANFL footballer Neville "Rocky'' Roberts in 2017. Picture: Matt Turner

SANFL star turned-property developer Neville Roberts says “eye-watering” government costs and taxes are making many small-scale housing developments unviable.

Mr Roberts is converting land in Wallaroo, on the Yorke Peninsula, into three small blocks for single residences, but he has been stunned by a $121,000 water connection bill from SA Water for the sites.

He said the bill almost doubled a quote of $76,000 by a private contractor for the same job, which would require an extension of the water mains.

SA Water wants to charge Neville Roberts $121,000 to connect water on this block of land. Picture: Harris

But if he used the contractor, he would still be forced to pay more to meet SA Water’s rigorous requirements for works on their infrastructure, making the contractor option even more expensive.

Neville Roberts in 1976. He played for both SANFL and VFL during his football career in the 1970s and 80s.

Mr Roberts said it was another example of excessive government costs – such as land tax, a new non-refundable GST, and council fees – pushing small developers out of the market.

“The cost is eye-watering,” he said. “Simply eye-watering.

“If you are a commercial developer of a small-scale, the purchase price, the development costs and the taxes will make five out of 10 developments non-viable.”

He said the situation was better for significant land developers who could negotiate with the government for discounts on government land.

“Part of the housing crisis that we have is the supply of land, and it’s no surprise to me that the supply of land has tripped on the back of developers like myself doing our numbers and finding that it’s not a viable transaction – so we move on,” Mr Roberts said.

Another of his developments, a 35-lot subdivision in Kadina completed in 2022, cost Mr Roberts $895,000 in taxes and government fees.

He said the costs would have made the “very small development in regional South Australia” unviable if he had not bought the land as a distressed site.

An SA Water spokesman said the Wallaroo job was “not a standard request for new connections as the allotments are located in a largely vacant area not connected to our water network”.

“This means we need to extend an existing water main with around 60 metres of new pipe to service the allotments,” he said. “The new section of water main is also required to be installed underneath a roundabout within a busy thoroughfare and requires extensive traffic management to ensure it can be undertaken safely.

“The package of work we quoted to Mr Roberts includes all end-to-end services required to connect these proposed allotments.”

Housing Minister Nick Champion was contacted for comment.

Originally published as ‘Eye-watering’ developer fees worsening SA’s housing crisis, says Neville Roberts