New housing supply is directly influenced by efforts across each pipeline stage by state and local governments, development industry, finance sector, community housing providers and communities. External market, economic and local environmental conditions also help or hinder progress.
As market and economic conditions constrain residential construction, the NSW Government and industry will need to further collaborate to prioritise planning, infrastructure and development activity towards areas of high need and impact.
Urban Development Programs
In 2023, NSW is expanding its place-based Urban Development Programs (UDP), to assist in monitoring and managing land supply and residential development activity for regions and sub-regions. The expansion is part of the NSW Government’s response to the recommendations of the Regional Housing Taskforce.
NSW already has established UDP dashboards in Greater Sydney and Illawarra-Shoalhaven regions. New UDP dashboards are being established for Greater Newcastle, Central Coast, and Upper Hunter and Mid Coast. Monitoring has also begun for the North Coast Region. A dashboard is under development for the Capital region (Queanbeyan-Palerang and Yass Valley).
Beyond the first stage of sharing data and reporting through a dashboard, the UDPs will also support early engagement between industry, utility providers, and state and local government stakeholders through regional committees.
Committees supporting UDPs are already established for the Illawarra-Shoalhaven and Greater Newcastle. Work is underway to strengthen the Greater Sydney UDP with establishment of a pilot committee and new governance for Western Sydney, and to commence forming new UDP committees for the Central Coast, Upper Hunter and Mid Coast and Capital regions. This approach aims to remove bottlenecks and provide greater certainty for infrastructure and investment decisions.
A new guide to regional Urban Development Programs released in December describes the standardised data, reporting and governance framework underpinning the expansion and evolution of regional UDPs in NSW.
Urban Development Program regions in NSW
Source: NSW Department of Planning and Environment 2022
Data from existing Urban Development Program dashboards shows variations in building approval and completion activity across parts of NSW. For example, the Upper Hunter and Mid Coast region has experienced growth in both building approvals and completions in 2021-22, albeit from a low base. Building approvals in the North Coast and Central Coast increased between 2020-21 and 2021-22.
Housing approvals and completions in UDP regions
| Region | Approvals | Completions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5-year average (FY 2017-18 to FY 2021-22) | FY2020-21 | FY2021-22 | 5-year average (FY 2017-18 to FY 2021-22) | FY2020-21 | FY2021-22 | |
| Australia | 203,358 | 222,298 | 200,688 | 194,708 | 180,134 | 172,788 |
| NSW | 58,894 | 60,387 | 54,618 | 59,270 | 51,377 | 45,379 |
| Central Coast | 1,600 | 1,416 | 1,496 | 1,462 | 1,314 | 1,169 |
| Greater Newcastle | 4,854 | 5,381 | 4,699 | 4,127 | 4,442 | 3,851 |
| Greater Sydney | 40,617 | 40,812 | 36,432 | 34,279 | 29,785 | 24,641 |
| Illawarra-Shoalhaven | 3,253 | 3,362 | 3,263 | 2,211 | 2,636 | 2,032 |
| North Coast | 2,922 | 2,965 | 3,076 | 2,620 | 2,486 | 2,165 |
| Upper Hunter and Mid Coast | 664 | 695 | 833 | 607 | 561 | 803 |
Sources: ABS 2022, Building Approvals, Australia; ABS 2022, Building Activity, Australia; DPE 2022; Completions for Greater Sydney and Illawarra-Shoalhaven are inferred from water connection information provided by Sydney Water.