Sydney councils housing target performances from Urban Taskforce, latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data

A growing divide is emerging between the Sydney councils hitting housing approval targets and those falling far behind, with most underperforming months into the federal government’s ambitious new housing initiative. See how your council ranked.

A growing divide is emerging between the Sydney councils hitting housing approval targets and those falling far behind, with most underperforming months into the federal government’s ambitious new housing initiative.

Newly released Australian Bureau of Statistics data, crunched by Urban Taskforce Australia, has revealed only four out of 33 councils in Greater Sydney are on track to meet or exceed housing approval targets set for their local government area under the five-year National Housing Accord, which aims to deliver 377,000 new homes across the state by 2029.

The worst performing council was North Sydney, which has only approved 6 per cent of its completion target in the eight months since the accord started in July 2024.

North Sydney needed to deliver 787 by this February to be on track to meet its five-year target, but had only greenlit 44.

Strathfield, City of Sydney, Woollahra and Lane Cove rounded out the five worst-performing councils, meeting less than a quarter of their relative targets.

Burwood Council, on the other hand, has bounded ahead as the best-performing council in the city, exceeding its target by 245 per cent by approving 1078 homes in the first eight months of the accord.

Only three other councils - Hawkesbury, Canada Bay and Parramatta - exceeded their targets.

Urban Taskforce Australia chief executive officer Tom Forrest said a shameful trend was emerging.

Urban Taskforce Australia chief executive officer Tom Forrest. Picture: Richard Dobson

“Most councils aren’t going that well, some are going really badly and a few are standouts,” he said.

“If all the councils across NSW could perform like Burwood Council, we would not have a housing supply crisis today. The difference in performances is massive.”

Mr Forrest said NIMBY forces were to blame for North Sydney’s dismal performance, despite being given a leg-up with the new Metro line.

“Those in the top five have taken responsibility for delivering housing supply so as to ensure housing prices don’t become unaffordable in their suburbs, and the worst-performing have neglected, or actively sought to avoid that responsibility,” he said.

Originally published as Sydney councils housing target performances from Urban Taskforce, latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data