Sydneysiders were facing a 50 per cent water bill hike. That's now been halved
However, furious developers say the move to limit hip-pocket pain over the next five years will only undermine housing supply.
'You can't have more homes without more water infrastructure,' Urban Development Institute of Australia chief executive Stuart Ayres said.
The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal's (IPART) draft report includes an average 4.6 per cent increase, about $61, for each of the next five years before inflation.
As a state-owned monopoly utility provider, Sydney Water's pricing is set on five-year terms by the regulator. A final report is due in September and stakeholders are expecting little change to IPART's draft determination.
The 23 per cent hike is less than half of what Sydney Water proposed in a controversial submission to IPART in late November 2024. Household water bills would have soared by 50 per cent in the five years to 2030, including an 18 per cent rise in the first year alone.
Under IPART's revised proposal, average bills would increase from $1220 in 2024-25 to $1527 in the last year of the determination, excluding inflation. Comparatively, Sydney Water's submission would have resulted in an increase in the typical household bill to $1928 by 2029-30.
The hike was justified by the agency's then-chief executive Roch Cheroux as being essential to 'manage Sydney's water future', predominantly to ensure infrastructure was upgraded and expanded in line with the state's target of 377,000 new homes under the National Housing Accord.
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West Australian
3 days ago
- West Australian
Experts cast doubt on Australia's ‘aspirational' new 1.2 million housing target
Housing Minister Clare O'Neil is now emphasising the 1.2 million homes target is a 'national aspiration' in a softening of the government's language since the election. The shift comes as experts and Treasury cast doubt on whether building that many homes is achievable in the timeframe. Across Australia, about 178,700 new homes were built in 2024-25, the first year of the five-year national housing accord that set the target. That falls 61,300 short of the average number needed to be built each year to hit the goal by mid-2029. Ms O'Neil said on Friday she was doing all she could as minister 'to make sure that we meet the target or get as close to it as we can', while repeatedly calling it a 'national aspiration'. She made similar comments in June, but not during the election campaign. It echoes language in the National Housing Accord signed by Premiers and the Prime Minister in 2022. They agreed to 'an initial, aspirational national target of delivering a total of one million new, well-located homes over five years from 2024'. It lifted to 1.2 million a year later. 'We've got a housing crisis that's been cooking in our country for 40 years, and whatever debates there may be about housing policy, one thing is for absolute certain, the real answer to the housing challenges facing our country is to build, build, build,' Ms O'Neil said. 'We've got to build more homes more quickly, because more housing means more affordable housing for Australians.' The federal view is that there needs to be a massive, collective push from all levels of government if Australia is to get close to meeting the 1.2 million home target, since it's more than has ever been built in any five-year period. The closest was in the five years to the end of 2019, when almost 1.05 million homes were built, analysis from property data firm Cotality found. However, its head of research Eliza Owen pointed out that in that period, interest rates were far lower, more units were being approved, and investors made up a bigger proportion of demand. Treasury advice has also cast doubt on whether the target will be met. Government data shows the number of homes built increased by 2 per cent in 2023-24 compared with the year prior. If that growth rate continues over the next five years, the nation will build just under 930,000 new homes — suggesting growth needs to speed up considerably to reach the 1.2 million stretch goal. The Commonwealth is directly funding the construction of 55,000 social and affordable homes (28,000 of which are currently in planning or construction) and 100,000 properties reserved for first-time buyers, to contribute to the 1.2 million target. Properties built by Defence Housing Australia, such as the hundreds under construction near Rockingham to accommodate an influx of families related to AUKUS, will also count towards it. '(The target) is bold, it's ambitious, but I can tell you that that's exactly what's needed,' Ms O'Neil told Radio National. 'We've got to get states, territories, local government and the private sector working together better on housing, and that's the reason why we've got this target in place. 'Having a big, difficult target is exactly the kind of thinking that is going to need to snap us out of what is a 40-year-old problem confronting our country.' The Federal government is acutely aware it doesn't hold the planning levers and is reliant on state and local governments. It also sees the need for a cultural shift to counter the NIMBYism, where neighbours in established suburbs can hold up developments – including the one Ms O'Neil used for a media appearance on Friday morning – by pursuing objections through local councils and courts. The minister met local governments on Wednesday as part of the pre-roundtable discussions and will also speak with her state and territory counterparts. Cotality's Eliza Owen said policies aimed at pre-fabricated construction and labour mobility sounded like they would be heading in the right direction, although could come with added costs. She pointed to the increase in dwelling approvals in June, particularly for units, as a sign things were speeding up. 'A combination of the right policy action and lower interest rates will help increase dwelling completions,' she told The Nightly. Approvals were up 11.9 per cent in June, and 27.4 per cent on the year earlier. Building starts were also up 17 per cent in the March quarter compared to 12 months earlier. Ms Owen argued that speeding up approvals was not necessarily the main game in fixing the problem, because it appeared to be adding to an already packed pipeline of projects. But she cautioned that history showed 'you can't just look at the supply side' without controlling demand. 'We allowed a lot of that new demand (leading up to 2019) to be investment, off-the-plan apartment sales,' she said. 'And while that's not inherently a bad thing in itself, it did see a decline in the rate of home ownership, corners cut on dwelling construction, and pretty poor return for those investors over the long term.' Shadow housing minister Andrew Bragg accused Ms O'Neil of seeking to pre-emptively shift blame if the target wasn't met. 'The Labor Government promised to build 1.2 million homes by July 1, 2029. If they don't, they can't blame it on the States or the RBA. They will have lied to the Australian public,' he said.
The Advertiser
4 days ago
- The Advertiser
Red tape slashed to fast-track building new homes
Approvals for homes and second dwellings on smaller blocks are set to soar in an effort to reach a state's ambitious target of an extra 800,000 homes over the next decade. Victorian Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny has announced the 'Single Home Code', which she says will cut red tape and get homes built sooner. The scheme aims to streamline the approval process for new homes on blocks of land smaller than 300 square meters. This means that if a new house design meets specific standards, including requirements for set backs, tree canopy, solar access and street amenity, it can be approved without needing a full planning permit. Neighbours will still be notified and can provide feedback, but if the standards are met, there'll be no VCAT appeals or costly delays. Ms Kilkenny said the initiative is designed to increase housing density and affordability by making it easier to build on smaller lots. "This is another way we're making our planning system say 'yes' – yes to well-designed homes, yes to more homes, and yes to people making the most of the land they already have," Ms Kilkenny told reporters in Brighton on Sunday. "If your proposal meets the standards, you should be able to get on and build." The Single Home Code, which takes effect on September 8, will apply across the state and follows similar changes in approvals of low rise apartments and townhouses announced by the state government in April. A long-term housing blueprint, known as Plan for Victoria, was laid out by Premier Jacinta Allan and Ms Kilkenny in February. The statewide plan features 22 "concrete" actions, including carefully managing the outward sprawl of regional cities and towns to accommodate for more homes. More than seven million people live in Victoria but the Australian Bureau of Statistics forecasts a rise to 11.5 million by 2055. The government estimates another 2.24 million homes will be needed across Melbourne and the regions. In August 2023, all states and territories agreed to the National Housing Accord, a country-wide target to build one million new, well-located homes over five years from mid-2024. In January the Property Council said Australia was already 15,000 homes behind target. The State of the Housing System Report forecast that Victoria could be the only state that would come anywhere near meeting its goal, finding it could actually achieve 98 per cent of its National Housing Accord Target of 306,000 new homes by mid-2029. It forecast Queensland would only get to 79 per cent and NSW 65 per cent of their implied targets. In July, NSW launched a Housing Pattern Book in a bid to speed up planning approvals. The Pattern Book, which consists of eight low-rise pre-approved designs and a 10-day approval pathway, is available for anyone to use for $1 for a six-month period. Approvals for homes and second dwellings on smaller blocks are set to soar in an effort to reach a state's ambitious target of an extra 800,000 homes over the next decade. Victorian Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny has announced the 'Single Home Code', which she says will cut red tape and get homes built sooner. The scheme aims to streamline the approval process for new homes on blocks of land smaller than 300 square meters. This means that if a new house design meets specific standards, including requirements for set backs, tree canopy, solar access and street amenity, it can be approved without needing a full planning permit. Neighbours will still be notified and can provide feedback, but if the standards are met, there'll be no VCAT appeals or costly delays. Ms Kilkenny said the initiative is designed to increase housing density and affordability by making it easier to build on smaller lots. "This is another way we're making our planning system say 'yes' – yes to well-designed homes, yes to more homes, and yes to people making the most of the land they already have," Ms Kilkenny told reporters in Brighton on Sunday. "If your proposal meets the standards, you should be able to get on and build." The Single Home Code, which takes effect on September 8, will apply across the state and follows similar changes in approvals of low rise apartments and townhouses announced by the state government in April. A long-term housing blueprint, known as Plan for Victoria, was laid out by Premier Jacinta Allan and Ms Kilkenny in February. The statewide plan features 22 "concrete" actions, including carefully managing the outward sprawl of regional cities and towns to accommodate for more homes. More than seven million people live in Victoria but the Australian Bureau of Statistics forecasts a rise to 11.5 million by 2055. The government estimates another 2.24 million homes will be needed across Melbourne and the regions. In August 2023, all states and territories agreed to the National Housing Accord, a country-wide target to build one million new, well-located homes over five years from mid-2024. In January the Property Council said Australia was already 15,000 homes behind target. The State of the Housing System Report forecast that Victoria could be the only state that would come anywhere near meeting its goal, finding it could actually achieve 98 per cent of its National Housing Accord Target of 306,000 new homes by mid-2029. It forecast Queensland would only get to 79 per cent and NSW 65 per cent of their implied targets. In July, NSW launched a Housing Pattern Book in a bid to speed up planning approvals. The Pattern Book, which consists of eight low-rise pre-approved designs and a 10-day approval pathway, is available for anyone to use for $1 for a six-month period. Approvals for homes and second dwellings on smaller blocks are set to soar in an effort to reach a state's ambitious target of an extra 800,000 homes over the next decade. Victorian Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny has announced the 'Single Home Code', which she says will cut red tape and get homes built sooner. The scheme aims to streamline the approval process for new homes on blocks of land smaller than 300 square meters. This means that if a new house design meets specific standards, including requirements for set backs, tree canopy, solar access and street amenity, it can be approved without needing a full planning permit. Neighbours will still be notified and can provide feedback, but if the standards are met, there'll be no VCAT appeals or costly delays. Ms Kilkenny said the initiative is designed to increase housing density and affordability by making it easier to build on smaller lots. "This is another way we're making our planning system say 'yes' – yes to well-designed homes, yes to more homes, and yes to people making the most of the land they already have," Ms Kilkenny told reporters in Brighton on Sunday. "If your proposal meets the standards, you should be able to get on and build." The Single Home Code, which takes effect on September 8, will apply across the state and follows similar changes in approvals of low rise apartments and townhouses announced by the state government in April. A long-term housing blueprint, known as Plan for Victoria, was laid out by Premier Jacinta Allan and Ms Kilkenny in February. The statewide plan features 22 "concrete" actions, including carefully managing the outward sprawl of regional cities and towns to accommodate for more homes. More than seven million people live in Victoria but the Australian Bureau of Statistics forecasts a rise to 11.5 million by 2055. The government estimates another 2.24 million homes will be needed across Melbourne and the regions. In August 2023, all states and territories agreed to the National Housing Accord, a country-wide target to build one million new, well-located homes over five years from mid-2024. In January the Property Council said Australia was already 15,000 homes behind target. The State of the Housing System Report forecast that Victoria could be the only state that would come anywhere near meeting its goal, finding it could actually achieve 98 per cent of its National Housing Accord Target of 306,000 new homes by mid-2029. It forecast Queensland would only get to 79 per cent and NSW 65 per cent of their implied targets. In July, NSW launched a Housing Pattern Book in a bid to speed up planning approvals. The Pattern Book, which consists of eight low-rise pre-approved designs and a 10-day approval pathway, is available for anyone to use for $1 for a six-month period. Approvals for homes and second dwellings on smaller blocks are set to soar in an effort to reach a state's ambitious target of an extra 800,000 homes over the next decade. Victorian Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny has announced the 'Single Home Code', which she says will cut red tape and get homes built sooner. The scheme aims to streamline the approval process for new homes on blocks of land smaller than 300 square meters. This means that if a new house design meets specific standards, including requirements for set backs, tree canopy, solar access and street amenity, it can be approved without needing a full planning permit. Neighbours will still be notified and can provide feedback, but if the standards are met, there'll be no VCAT appeals or costly delays. Ms Kilkenny said the initiative is designed to increase housing density and affordability by making it easier to build on smaller lots. "This is another way we're making our planning system say 'yes' – yes to well-designed homes, yes to more homes, and yes to people making the most of the land they already have," Ms Kilkenny told reporters in Brighton on Sunday. "If your proposal meets the standards, you should be able to get on and build." The Single Home Code, which takes effect on September 8, will apply across the state and follows similar changes in approvals of low rise apartments and townhouses announced by the state government in April. A long-term housing blueprint, known as Plan for Victoria, was laid out by Premier Jacinta Allan and Ms Kilkenny in February. The statewide plan features 22 "concrete" actions, including carefully managing the outward sprawl of regional cities and towns to accommodate for more homes. More than seven million people live in Victoria but the Australian Bureau of Statistics forecasts a rise to 11.5 million by 2055. The government estimates another 2.24 million homes will be needed across Melbourne and the regions. In August 2023, all states and territories agreed to the National Housing Accord, a country-wide target to build one million new, well-located homes over five years from mid-2024. In January the Property Council said Australia was already 15,000 homes behind target. The State of the Housing System Report forecast that Victoria could be the only state that would come anywhere near meeting its goal, finding it could actually achieve 98 per cent of its National Housing Accord Target of 306,000 new homes by mid-2029. It forecast Queensland would only get to 79 per cent and NSW 65 per cent of their implied targets. In July, NSW launched a Housing Pattern Book in a bid to speed up planning approvals. The Pattern Book, which consists of eight low-rise pre-approved designs and a 10-day approval pathway, is available for anyone to use for $1 for a six-month period.
West Australian
4 days ago
- West Australian
Red tape slashed to fast-track building new homes
Approvals for homes and second dwellings on smaller blocks are set to soar in an effort to reach a state's ambitious target of an extra 800,000 homes over the next decade. Victorian Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny has announced the 'Single Home Code', which she says will cut red tape and get homes built sooner. The scheme aims to streamline the approval process for new homes on blocks of land smaller than 300 square meters. This means that if a new house design meets specific standards, including requirements for set backs, tree canopy, solar access and street amenity, it can be approved without needing a full planning permit. Neighbours will still be notified and can provide feedback, but if the standards are met, there'll be no VCAT appeals or costly delays. Ms Kilkenny said the initiative is designed to increase housing density and affordability by making it easier to build on smaller lots. "This is another way we're making our planning system say 'yes' – yes to well-designed homes, yes to more homes, and yes to people making the most of the land they already have," Ms Kilkenny told reporters in Brighton on Sunday. "If your proposal meets the standards, you should be able to get on and build." The Single Home Code, which takes effect on September 8, will apply across the state and follows similar changes in approvals of low rise apartments and townhouses announced by the state government in April. A long-term housing blueprint, known as Plan for Victoria, was laid out by Premier Jacinta Allan and Ms Kilkenny in February. The statewide plan features 22 "concrete" actions, including carefully managing the outward sprawl of regional cities and towns to accommodate for more homes. More than seven million people live in Victoria but the Australian Bureau of Statistics forecasts a rise to 11.5 million by 2055. The government estimates another 2.24 million homes will be needed across Melbourne and the regions. In August 2023, all states and territories agreed to the National Housing Accord, a country-wide target to build one million new, well-located homes over five years from mid-2024. In January the Property Council said Australia was already 15,000 homes behind target. The State of the Housing System Report forecast that Victoria could be the only state that would come anywhere near meeting its goal, finding it could actually achieve 98 per cent of its National Housing Accord Target of 306,000 new homes by mid-2029. It forecast Queensland would only get to 79 per cent and NSW 65 per cent of their implied targets. In July, NSW launched a Housing Pattern Book in a bid to speed up planning approvals. The Pattern Book, which consists of eight low-rise pre-approved designs and a 10-day approval pathway, is available for anyone to use for $1 for a six-month period.
