The Sydney councils failing to meet home approval targets

Fewer than one in four Sydney councils are meeting the state government’s average target time for approving higher-density residential housing, despite the government relying on them to combat the housing crisis.

Half of all applications for medium-density housing, residential flat-top housing and developments above shops were approved within the target of 115 days in the nine months to March 2025, according to analysis by the Property Council of Australia.

The Minns government’s low- and mid-rise housing policy – to build terraces, townhouses and small apartment blocks – is supposed to deliver almost a third of their promised 377,000 new homes by 2029.

North Sydney is one of six councils that received a letter from NSW Minister for Planning Paul Scully. Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

“The government sees infill development as key to solving the housing crisis, yet barely half of DAs for these developments in Greater Sydney get processed on time,” Property Council NSW executive director Katie Stevenson said.

Though the Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows approvals for apartments across NSW have increased in the past two months – up 41.6 per cent higher from a year ago – Stevenson said approvals dragging out for a year or more meant many projects were “failing before they can even start”.

Last month, Planning Minister Paul Scully sent letters to four of the 26 councils in Greater Sydney with average days above the 115-day target across all kinds of development dwellings: North Sydney, Willoughby, Sutherland Shire and Georges River.

“My expectation, as of July 2024, was councils assessing DAs in 115 days, which is why I sent councils letters asking them to lift their game, and in that time, we have seen an improvement across the board,” Scully said.

The planning minister said establishing the Housing Delivery Authority has alleviated 64 proposals from council lists since it started in January. These developments were classed as “state significant developments”, containing more than 100 dwellings in metropolitan Sydney or 40 dwellings in regional NSW.

Georges River Council takes an average of 278 days to process development applications for medium-density and residential flat-top dwellings, with only one application having met the target of 115 days.

Of the same kinds of dwellings, Willoughby Council has not met the target time for a single application over the past year.

A spokesperson for Willoughby Council said it had made a “significant investment” in improving processing times, including $1.2 million for an additional eight support staff to approve development applications.

Some councils, including Strathfield, had higher wait times for higher-density dwellings due to a single outlier application. A spokesperson for Hornsby Shire Council cited one development application that did not comply with height restrictions, causing a delay of 237 days.

The state government has also tracked councils with the most improved average assessment times across all types of dwellings.

Liverpool, Hunters Hill and Campbelltown councils have all reduced their average processing times by 100 days or more since 2023.

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