Property Council NSW Executive Director Katie Stevenson said the reform reflected consistent advocacy the Property Council has pursued over many years through budget submissions, housing policy and research examining barriers to housing delivery.
“This commitment is a sensible reform that recognises the role government-controlled costs play in housing delivery, and we encourage the other major parties to match it,” Ms Stevenson said.
“The Property Council has consistently argued that the timing and structure of taxes, charges and infrastructure contributions can have a major impact on whether approved housing projects actually get built.
“We congratulate Premier Minns and Minister Scully for committing to a practical reform that would improve project feasibility while making sure infrastructure continues to be funded.”
Ms Stevenson said the industry understood the need to fund the roads, parks, community facilities and support infrastructure that growing communities require.
“The challenge has always been the timing of those payments and the impact they can have on project cash flow, financing costs and feasibility.
“Deferring contributions until later in the development process would reduce upfront financial pressure and help viable projects move from approval to construction and from construction to completion.”
Ms Stevenson said the requirement for councils to spend infrastructure contributions within defined timeframes and support to overcome impediments to doing so was also welcome.
“These changes can unlock more than $900 million in infrastructure contributions developers have already paid, accelerating committed investment in roads, parks and community facilities.
“The community rightly expects money collected for growth infrastructure to be invested in the infrastructure communities need, when they need it. Measures to improve transparency and get infrastructure contributions spent in a timely way will strengthen public confidence in the system.”
Ms Stevenson said the deferral commitment was an important step in the right direction and one that would make a meaningful contribution to supporting housing delivery across NSW.
“What today’s commitment demonstrates is that government policy settings matter. Reforming the timing, structure and administration of costs and charges imposed on development can have a direct impact on industry’s ability to deliver much-needed housing supply.
“We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with Government to identify further opportunities to overcome the remaining obstacles to housing delivery,” she said.
