NSW government announces new transport hubs to help boost housing project

A plan designed to help stop the drain of young people leaving Sydney is in motion but there are questions on just how fast the new homes can be built.

A NSW plan to build more high-density housing has been expanded but the state government is still unsure how many will be built within the next five years.

More than 170,000 new dwellings are set to be built in areas with better access to transport hubs throughout Sydney, the Illawarra, Hunter and Central Coast.

NSW Premier Chris Minns revealed Belmore, Lakemba and Punchbowl stations will be added to the list as well as Cardiff and Cockle Creek near Newcastle, and Woy Woy on The Central Coast.

All six stations were suggested by local councils for inclusion.

But just how many of those new homes will be built within the next five years, the period covered under a housing deal with the Commonwealth, is yet to be finalised.

“We’re going through those finer details of some areas, but we’ll have more to say on that,” Planning Minister Paul Scully said.

Chris Minns couldn’t say just how many of the new homes would be built within five years. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

Under the Housing Accord, an average of 75,000 homes would be built across the state by 2029.

Mr Minns has previously acknowledged it would be “extremely difficult” to reach this target amid chronic labour shortages in the state’s construction sector.

On Friday, he stressed he wasn’t trying to be “coy” about the figures.

“The steps are turned on, so it might be quick. You might get an enormous amount of development into these (Transport Oriented Development) sites straight off the gate,” the Premier said.

“The problem we’ve got is that, obviously builders are in the private market … they’re dependent on labour, on land costs and the ability to get builders on site to complete the buildings.

“What we’re doing with this reform, though, is removing the blockage from the government.

“And by any objective measure, that’s been one of the leading reasons why the pipe has been blocked when it comes to new dwellings.”

Thousands of homes are expected to be built across NSW. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Diego Fedele

A recent Productivity Commission report found between 2016 and 2021, Sydney lost twice as many people aged 30 to 40 as it gained.

Less than 20 per cent of new dwellings were built within 10km of the CBD, it said.

Mr Minns said “a city without young people is the city without a future”.

Local housing plans will also be developed with the councils of Bayside, Burwood, Canada Bay, Canterbury-Bankstown, Central Coast, Cumberland, Georges River, Inner West, Lake Macquarie, Newcastle, Penrith and Wollongong.

The government will also work with Wollongong Council to further investigate Coniston and Unanderra as additional stations to be included once further analysis of the water and wastewater capacity is fully understood.

Inner West Council has also nominated sites for social housing.