The latest Sydney housing monitor data from the NSW Government indicates a fall in housing completions of 9 Percent, says the Urban Taskforce.
“It is important to monitor trends in the area of housing supply for Sydney and it seems that completions have dropped between April and June this year by 9.3%,” says Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson. “While our housing completions are still strong, it is of concern that the April year to date completions of 37,575 have dropped to 34,091 in June this year. The government has called for the supply of 725,000 new homes in Sydney over the next 20 years which requires an average of 36,250 new homes to be completed each year. In boom times we should be well above this figure but it seems we are now dropping below the average needed.”
“The trend for housing approvals is also down but by a lesser amount. The June 2017 approvals of 54,770 year to date have dropped from the March 2017 approvals of 57,656 by around 5 per cent. Again this trend needs to be monitored to ensure that positive approval numbers are able to flow through to become real homes.”
“The housing Monitor data also gives a split between approval numbers of 4 storey and above apartments compared to medium density and then detached houses. The June 2017 year to date figures indicate that apartments over 3 storeys are 54% of approvals, medium density are 14% and detached houses are 32% of all housing approvals. Clearly it is the apartment market that is the main driver of housing supply in Sydney.”
“Parramatta LGA is the top performer in housing approvals with 4,253 apartment approvals year to date up to June followed by Bayside Council with 2,392 apartment approvals. Blacktown LGA leads the detached housing approvals with 2,359 approvals up to June followed by Camden Council with 1,996 detached house approvals.”
“The softening results for housing completions and approvals will need to be carefully monitored by the NSW government to ensure that strong housing supply continues for some time. A strong performance in housing supply for Sydney is important to make up for many previous years of substandard housing completions. The Urban Taskforce is concerned that recently announced government policies to remove the cap on infrastructure levies along with growing pressure from councils for developers to provide free apartments for affordable housing will increase the costs of development and may dampen the housing market.”
