Meeting demand for more housing

In October last year, the NSW Premier announced a new target of 40 days to determine the outcome of 90% of housing approvals. With the population of NSW expected to grow by 100,000 per year, an extra 2.1 million people will be needing homes in the State by 2036. In streamlining the approvals process for all new residential developments, the State Government is aiming to reduce the cost and time involved for these projects.

Recent performance in time to approval

During the 12 months to July 2015, the average time taken for the fastest 90% of building approvals was 44 days, 2 days longer than the 42 days recorded for the previous year. This increase in wait time coincides with the highest number of building approvals lodged in NSW in the last 41 years. 61,057 approvals were made in 2014-15, which is 64.5% above the decade average and 6% higher than in 2013-14.

What’s changing?

The State government is making a number of changes to improve the process and customer experience for Development Applications (DAs) and Complying Development Certificates (CDCs). The NSW Planning Portal is being expanded, so that both types of applications can be lodged from home; by using a single online portal to submit proposals, applicants should find the whole process much less time consuming and complex. Plus, the use of the central portal will also standardise and simplify planning requirements and processes across all councils.
Steps are also being taken to update State government development policy, to encourage more applicants to choose complying developments. By simplifying the housing code and introducing a new code for regional areas, owners should have more options for building the home they want, within the parameters of a CDC.

Sources: https://www.nsw.gov.au/improving-nsw/premiers-priorities/faster-housing- approvals/