Delays in approvals threaten to derail government's plans to boost urban housing supply
Most Sydney councils are not meeting deadlines for processing higher density housing applications, casting doubt on the New South Wales government’s efforts to address the housing shortage, according to new data analysis by the Property Council of Australia.
Government data shows that less than a quarter of the 33 councils across Greater Sydney approved high-density residential developments within the target timeframe during the seven months ending February 2025. The average assessment period now sits at 173 days, with some proposals experiencing delays exceeding 250 days.
While building approvals saw a temporary increase in January, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures for February dropped sharply to 3,390 approvals, according to the Property Council. NSW executive director Katie Stevenson (pictured above) said this drop reinforces the need for planning reforms to take hold before significant improvements are seen.
“The February numbers are a serious warning sign. We need to be approving over 6,250 homes a month to be on track – but in February, we only managed just over half that,” Stevenson said. “The NSW government sees higher density housing development as key to solving the housing crisis, yet barely half of DAs for higher density developments in Greater Sydney get processed on time.”
Stevenson noted that projects face multiple hurdles, with extended approval timelines compounding already lengthy construction durations. ABS data shows that apartments now take more than two and a half years to complete.
“With some approvals taking more than 250 days, and ABS data showing apartments now average over 2.5 years to build, the timelines are blowing out. When it takes a year or more just to get the green light, many projects become unviable before construction even begins,” she said.
Despite the NSW government’s renewed focus on housing delivery and recent planning initiatives, Stevenson emphasised that results depend on a more efficient system.
“The government has made housing its top priority, with promising new planning initiatives in place, but we need a system that delivers consistently. That means faster approvals and real consequences for delays.”
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has recently endorsed complying development pathways as a strategy to fast-track housing approvals and reduce costs. The association argued that these processes offer a quicker, more cost-effective alternative to standard council development applications.
Stevenson welcomed recent steps by the government to assist under-resourced councils and increase accountability across all levels of planning approval.
“The Property Council has made consistent calls for government to explore more resourcing for struggling councils and to keep all councils and government agencies accountable when it comes to processing DAs.”
However, she warned that without urgent action, efforts to drive infill development, particularly in areas earmarked for transport-oriented projects, may be undermined.
“But given the government’s focus on infill development, slow processing times in key areas – including many identified for transport oriented development (TOD) – could undermine well-intended efforts to ease the housing crisis,” Stevenson said.
The upcoming low and mid-rise housing reforms, along with new TOD strategies, may place additional demands on already stretched council planning departments.
“If many councils can’t meet their targets for processing higher density residential developments now, adding more DAs into an overloaded system risks even longer delays so it’s important for government to address this with some urgency,” she said.
“The success of planning reform depends on approvals being processed more efficiently, which is why government should maintain focus on council resourcing and on continuing to hold agencies and poor performing councils to account with these league tables.”
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