UDIA NSW

The development industry has welcomed John Brogden to the position of Landcom Chairman, saying he is in a prime position to foster the provision of more sustainable, innovative housing in NSW.

Urban Development Institute of Australia NSW President Michael Corcoran said Mr Brogden had the expertise to steer Landcom in an era of major industry change and an invigorated State Government approach to boosting housing supply. » More details

The State Government's decision to limit stamp duty exemptions for first home buyers to newly-built homes has stimulated the state's first home buyer market to levels unseen for more than two years. Analysis of new government figures by UDIA NSW reveals the true extent of the first home buyers' stampede in the lead-up to this year. December alone saw 5,290 first home buyers take up stamp duty exemptions worth $58 million - the highest since October 2009 (5,365 exemptions worth $54 million). Sydney's West featured heavily in the top 40 areas for exemption take-ups last month. Liverpool and Blacktown far and away topped the first home buyer's mini-boom, reaping a combined $2.7 million in exemptions in December, Office of State Revenue figures show. The figures also show the number of stamp duty exemptions/concessions granted to first homebuyers in the first half of 2011-12 is almost $234 million - more than 70 per cent of the total exemption amount for the previous financial year ($325 million). » More details

UDIA National will represent the development industry on the Federal Government's newly-announced Urban Policy Forum. The forum was established to advise government on implementing Australia's National Urban Policy for a more productive, sustainable and liveable future. It follows the release of the policy document Our Cities, Our Future in May last year. It set out the Australian Government's directions for the future of Australian cities and regional centres. The policy also recognised that state and local government, the private sector and individuals had a major role to play in planning and managing our cities, as well as investing in them. » More details

Homes in Western Sydney’s two growth centres will be delivered to market faster and at more affordable prices under a new growth plan, the development industry says.

Today’s announcement of the Sydney Growth Centres Strategic Assessment Program also means the community and developers can have more certainty about the future of sustainable housing supply and environmental protection in Sydney’s future suburbs, the Urban Development Institute of Australia NSW says. » More details

The developer of the first township for the Hunter region in 50 years has had a major court win which has ramifications across the industry for those who negotiate Voluntary Planning Agreements. The $1.5 billion Huntlee New Town proposed by LWP Property Group has been the subject of two previous court actions by protest group opposed to the proposal for the Hunter. On Thursday, the Court of Appeal overturned a decision of the NSW Land and Environment Court earlier this year that declared invalid the Major Development SEPP amendment that had effectively rezoned the Huntlee land. A key part of this week's Court of Appeal judgment is that Huntlee's developer was not required to provide an up-front bank guarantee for financial contributions, under Huntlee's Voluntary Planning Agreement. » More details

The authors of the NSW Planning Review Issues Paper have done a thorough job in their consultation process and are posing the right questions about the way forward for development in NSW, says UDIA NSW. The Issues Paper includes more than 240 questions the authors are asking for further submissions on, including the key question of how to create a framework that ensures more effective cooperation between councils, government agencies, the community and developers. The Issues Paper features questions about plan making, consultation during the plan-making stage, simplification of the development assessment process, the use of new technologies to aid efficiency and transparency, and the periodic review and evaluation of plans. » More details