The Property Council has welcomed the NSW Government's announcement today that it will allocate surplus government land for new affordable housing across rail precincts.
Property Council's Acting NSW Executive Director Adina Cirson said the Property Council had been a long-standing advocate for the smarter use of government owned land to tackle our housing supply and affordability crisis head on.
"The NSW Government sits on vast swathes of land that could be released for development to keep key workers in their jobs and on the frontline," Ms Cirson said.
"We know that housing supply is not keeping pace with population growth, and each year we fail to meet our targets, the worse housing affordability gets in NSW.
"We are failing to match demand now and, based on current numbers, we will fail to provide our children with the homes they need to live secure lives.
"The first tranche of locations included in the pilot are well-considered and targeted, but it's critical the regions are included in future tranches.
"While we welcome this intervention, the NSW Government needs to go further to maximise overall density around transport hubs across the state."
Ms Cirson said high-density development around existing transport nodes has the potential to deliver network-wide efficiencies, improve agglomeration, transform accessibility and liveability, and ultimately provide better place-based outcomes for communities.
"The NSW Government should build on this pilot and set targets for higher density housing around key transport hubs to make better use of existing infrastructure and take pressure out of the market," she said.
"The NSW Government should also consider incorporating Build to Rent (BTR) projects across key transport nodes.
"BTR provides a diverse housing solution that can deliver more rental market homes to the community while also delivering on the government's ambition to increase the supply of affordable housing.
"In order to unlock the full potential of this asset-class, the NSW Government should consider inclusion of Build to Rent within the pilot sites and we look forward to further discussing how this can best be done.
"Ultimately, the only way to ensure the affordability crisis doesn't become an economic crisis is to increase housing supply."
