In the last financial year, master planned developments across NSW providing for over 11,000 new homes were rejected by the NSW planning department. This includes over twenty multi-million dollar planning proposals with a project value in excess of $1.4 billion (according to planning portal determinations).  

Majority of the refused rezonings were submitted for a rezoning review after councils across the state failed to support them. Developers put forward arguments that their rezonings demonstrated both site-specific and strategic merit, but this didn’t cut it with the planning department.  

These statistics were released as Holdmark’s $250 million development plans in Caddens were recently rejected by the Sydney Western City Planning Panel. If approved, the project would have seen 17 multistorey towers built on the parking lot of the Caddens shopping centre, near Western Sydney University’s Kingswood campus, in a well-established residential estate.  

Other rezonings rejected include in Castle Hill, Kogarah, Crows Nest, Vineyard, Rouse Hill, Carlingford and Lane Cove.  

The Master Builders Association of NSW indicated an 18.2% drop in building approvals in the year to May, while only 43,022 new homes were approved. ABS data confirmed a massive 547,300 migrants moved to Australia last year, with 184,619 of them choosing NSW to call home. This demonstrates a major shortfall in the delivery of new homes.