Native vegetation clearing levy: Adds thousands to cost of new home

New home buyers in Melbourne’s outer growth corridors will be slugged environmental levies to offset the impact of clearing native vegetation.

New home buyers will have to pay far more to offset the cost of clearing the habitat of the growling grass frog (pictured), golden sun moth and the homes of other fauna and flora.

New home buyers in Melbourne’s outer growth corridors will be slugged up to 30 per cent more in environmental levies to offset the impact of clearing native vegetation to build their new house and land packages.

Developers have warned they have no choice but to pass on hikes in the levies, which for clearing a patch of native vegetation will jump 22 per cent, from the current $136,688 per hectare to $166,874/ha on July 1.

“A 22 per cent increase in this levy is another blow to housing affordability,” Urban Development Institute of Australia chief executive Matthew Kandelaars said.

“As the costs of developing land to provide new homes increases, so too does the price of a new home.”

The impact of the levy on new home buyers will vary, but given about 15 homes are built on a hectare, the native vegetation levy adds $11,124 to the cost of a new house block.

Developers clearing vegetation that is the home of the golden sun moths will have to pay 29 per cent more, as that rate jumps from $12,773/ha to $16,522/ha, while the cost of clearing southern brown bandicoot habitat rises from $4309/ha to $5261/ha.

In areas with scattered trees the levy rate will rise by 22 per cent, from $18,999/ha to $23,195/ha, while the growling grass frog habitat rates rise by a more moderate 6.6 per cent to $8805/ha.

The Victorian Government’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning quietly published the latest levy rates on page 1630 of last Thursday’s government gazette, without further publicity.

A DELWP spokesman said “this levy protects threatened species and ecosystems in Melbourne’s growth areas by offsetting the impacts of urban development through establishing protected areas and conservation reserves.

“The increased levy reflects the increased cost of delivering this vital rehabilitation work. The levy is still estimated to save each growth-areas homebuyer at least $2500, through its more efficient process for developers to comply with environmental regulation.”

“The levy saves money and time for developers and future home buyers by streamlining assessment and approval processes, including those under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).”

The new Melbourne Strategic Assessment (Environment Mitigation Levy) rates apply to all greenfield housing developments in the:

CARDINIA Road Employment Area

CLYDE NORTH (excluding the Western part now known as Pound Road)

CRAIGIEBURN (R2)

CRANBOURNE EAST

CRANBOURNE NORTH (Stage 2)

GREENVALE North (R1)

GREENVALE West (R3)

MELTON North

OFFICER

TAYLORS Hill West

TOOLERN

TRUGANINA South

The levy comes on top of the Andrews Government’s announcement that it would introduce a 50 per cent tax on the windfall gains a landholder makes from a rezoning decision.

In meantime rural landholders’ rights to build a home on 40ha or more without a planning permit will be extinguished once any proposal is made to build a quarry within 500m of the site.