Residential land and property industry members continue to call on Wagga City Council to improve its land-approval process to meet demand and future population growth.
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It comes after the Housing Industry Association’s 2017–18 Land Monitor Report Wagga showing that demand for residential lots is outstripping land supply and approval across the city.
At the end of the 2018 financial year, there were 255 new residential lots in Wagga, a decrease of 25 per cent from the previous year.
It was also the fewest since 2013–14, which had 265.
Further, 377 lots were built on, representing an 8 per cent increase on the previous year.
Peter Hurst, director of Hurst Homes and member of HIA Wagga, said the report was “nothing too surprising for us, being in the industry”.
“It just highlights the take-up rates outstripping supply, which means we’ve just got to react a lot quicker with our land supply and rezoning,” he said.
However, he said the industry was willing to collaborate with council for mutual benefits.
“We’re just trying to work with them to ensure we get good delivery on time and what feeds the market,” he said.
Greg Weller, HIA’s regional director for Southern NSW and ACT, said that based on the latest projected data for population growth, 550 new lots would be needed in 2018–19.
“One of the great aspects about Wagga is that housing is affordable compared with other major cities in NSW and the ACT,” Mr Weller said.
“The only things that change in affordability are the costs of government charges and costs of delays inherent in the planning system.
“So work needs to be done with planning to ensure we have the land available so we can build and ensure housing is available for the population.”
Mr Weller said that with the council adopting a target of 100,000 residents by 2038, a growth rate of around 2 per cent year on year was needed and that it was more pertinent to improve planning processes.
“We endorse and support that target, but Wagga hasn’t been achieving that growth rate so there’s certainly a lot to be done to achieve that rate,” he said.
“We need to ensure that Wagga is promoted even more as a destination – certainly the costs of housing in Wagga are a great attraction.
“As well, local through to federal governments have to invest in public infrastructure to support the region and businesses will come.”
Wagga Mayor Greg Conkey said the council was “fully aware of the situation”.
“There’s more demand than what we can supply at the moment,” Cr Conkey said.
“We have had discussions with HIA in recent weeks and other developers and we’re working to address that problem as a matter of urgency.
“There are some short-term issues to overcome and hopefully we can overcome them.
“It’s growing pains for this city, but at the same time, we should’ve addressed this earlier.”
Independent property valuer Chris Egan said an equilibrium between supply and demand was needed.
“At the moment we’ve got an under supply and it can be just as detrimental to house prices with an oversupply,” Mr Egan said.
“To improve that, we need lower development costs and easier approval processes – there has to be a better middle ground.”
However, he said the council has been working hard to reduce the development application timeframe but rezoning land for residential needed improvement.
Land Monitor Report 2017–18: Wagga
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