Yesterday Domain was upset that Peter Dutton was a crooked property investor.
Today it trumpets that Sydney is fixed by the same!
A James Packer-backed development in Surry Hills and a 22-storey tower in Edgecliff are among 18 housing projects fast-tracked by the state government’s new planning authority to deliver more than 8600 dwellings.
The second tranche of proposals considered by the Housing Development Authority, a three-person panel composed of the state’s most senior bureaucrats, were spread across 13 local government areas, including North Sydney, Woollahra, Inner West and Willoughby.
There’s nothing like central planning by a triumvirate of Mandarins.
Divorced from local needs, business considerations, and the public good, what could possibly wrong?
The 8,600 dwellings represent about 20% of last year’s population growth.
In 2024, there were 28k dwellings approved in Sydney, about two-thirds of what was needed to match population growth.
We’re still falling behind despite Minns’ Beijing-inspired plan, which is not going to catch us up.
What is working is destroying living standards as people move in together and the vacancy rate rises ever so slowly.
Only slashing immigration to limit demand and cutting interest rates to boost investor appeal will fix it.
