Housing affordability and supply within the Hunter will soon increase, with planning restrictions being lifted by the state government.
New reforms under the Low and Mid-Rise Housing policy are the next crucial step in reducing residential pressures across NSW.
With the changes, developers will be able to deliver more dual-occupancies, terraces, townhouses, and residential flat buildings within 800 metres of 171 town centres and stations.
Several areas within the Hunter and Central Coast are earmarked for increased housing density, including:
- Cessnock Town Centre
- Belmont Town Centre, Lake Macquarie
- Boolaroo town centre (Main Road), Lake Macquarie
- Cardiff station, Lake Macquarie
- Charlestown Shopping Centre, Lake Macquarie
- Jewellst Plaza shopping centre, Lake Macquarie
- Morisset Station and Town Centre, Lake Macquarie
- Green Hills Stockland Shopping Centre, Maitland
- Maitland town centre, Maitland
- Rutherford Marketplace shopping centre, Maitland
- Adamstown and Hamilton Stations, Newcastle
- Junction Fair Shopping Centre, Newcastle
- Kotara Station, Newcastle
- Mayfield and Wallsend Town Centres, Newcastle
- Waratah Village Shopping Centre, Newcastle
- Nelson Bay Town Centre, Port Stephens
- Raymond Terrace town centre, Port Stephens
The new reforms are set to be enacted from Friday 28 February.
Property Council NSW Hunter and Central Coast regional director Amy De Lore said the changes were absolutely required.
“These reforms are a much-needed step forward for our growing communities, providing greater certainty for the industry and helping to unlock a more diverse range of housing options for buyers and renters alike,” she explained.
“Councils in the Lower Hunter and Central Coast have identified medium-density and infill housing as essential to increasing supply, improving affordability, and offering more choice in housing types.
“This policy gives councils the flexibility to support higher-density housing in and around key town centres while giving developers more confidence to invest in these areas.”
With the new reforms, the state government plans on delivering 112,000 homes across NSW over the next five years.
Premier Chris Minns said low-cost accommodation was especially needed within these city centres.
“These types of homes have played a really important part in delivering homes over the last century but recently councils have effectively banned them, this reform changes that,” he added.
“Housing is the single largest cost of living pressure people are facing and these changes will deliver more homes for young people, families and workers.
“The homes built under these reforms will be close to transport, open spaces and services that people need, creating better connected and more liveable neighbourhoods by making the most of existing critical infrastructure.”
For more property stories:
- ‘Absurd amount for a box’, local rentals pose unliveable conditions
- Finnegans sold to local publicans
- Community concerns over yet another high-rise development
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