The Hunter's housing targets appear to be slipping out of reach, with data highlighting that building approvals are still falling short of peak levels.
Lower Hunter Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows there was a 24 per cent increase in house approvals and a 73 per cent increase in apartments in the 12 months to August. There was an 11 per cent fall in medium density building approvals for the same period.
Despite the year-on-year growth in house and apartment approvals, overall building approvals remain down from their peak levels.
House approvals fell 19 per cent, medium density approvals fell 34 per cent and apartments fell 36 per cent from their highest levels recorded between 2020 and 2022.
"The decline in approvals is a warning that the path to reach our state's housing targets is getting steeper by the month," NSW Urban Development Institute of Australia chief executive Stuart Ayres said.
The statistics cover the Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Port Stephens, Maitland, Dungog and Cessnock local government areas. Statistics for individual local government areas were not available.
Councils are encouraged to drive more development in order to receive more funding for schools, hospitals and roads.
The five-year target for Newcastle is 11,100 house completions by 2029, more than double the 5316 completed in the local government area in the five years between 2017 and 2022.
The target for Lake Macquarie is 8000, Maitland 5300, Cessnock 3900 and Port Stephens 2100.
The pressure felt in the Lower Hunter is also reflected across the state, and across all dwelling types.
A UDIA NSW analysis shows all categories reported an annual decline, with apartments again showing the most dramatic fall of 30 per cent over the past 12 months to just 10,300 approvals.
UDIA is advocating for more action to speed up the delivery of housing. This includes encouraging the government to adopt key recommendations of the Productivity and Equality Commission's Review of Housing Supply Challenges and Policy Options for New South Wales.
The report said the challenges of development feasibility, construction sector capacity, and a slow and inefficient planning system, were all constraining the delivery of new housing.
The Productivity Commissioner's report makes several recommendations to unlock more housing supply more quickly to deliver our housing targets.
The commissioner confirmed the findings of UDIA's recent Making Transport Oriented Developments Work research, which found that mid-rise apartments projects were largely unfeasible in most parts of Sydney.
It recommended a further increase in densities around the announced Transport Oriented Development sites, expanding them to 800 metres and adding more locations to the program.
"Doubling the permissible floor space ratio in the Transport Oriented Development sites and greatly increasing density in other areas which are already zoned for high density apartments will significantly increase the capacity of the industry to deliver housing," Mr Ayres said.
