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Housing Affordability

Published on: October 2025

Record: HANSARD-1323879322-158301

Housing Affordability

Ms FELICITY WILSON (North Shore) (15:22:44):

I move:

That this House:

(1)Notes that since the election of the Government, rents, home prices and homelessness have all increased, while housing approvals and completions have gone backwards.

(2)Acknowledges that Labor's key housing policies have delivered less than 4 per cent of new dwelling approvals in the last financial year.

(3)Condemns the Government's record State taxes for driving up the cost of new homes and killing project feasibility across the State.

(4)Expresses concern that it is now harder than ever to afford a home in New South Wales, with housing failures crushing the hopes of first home buyers and families.

The Government was elected on a promise of delivering on housing, housing affordability and support for vulnerable people, yet 30 months into its term the housing crisis has deepened rather than improved. Since the election of the Labor Government, rents are up, house prices have surged, homelessness is rising and housing approvals and completions have gone backwards. Just this week we marked a telling anniversary. It is one year since the start of the National Housing Accord, and what has Labor delivered? It has delivered failure. New Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released yesterday show that New South Wales has fallen 43.5 per cent short of its year‑one target. Just 42,581 homes were delivered over the past 12 months, which is well below the 75,400 needed each year to stay on track with the five-year goal of 377,000 homes.

Labor is not only behind; it is off the map. Even its own budget papers confess the truth: New South Wales is set to fall short by 137,000 homes over five years. That is not a gap. That is a housing disaster in slow motion. It is one year down, and the Minns Labor Government has no credible plan to catch up. The Government promised to fix the housing crisis, but all it has done is make it worse. These are not abstract statistics; they represent real families, individuals and communities across my electorate of North Shore and the rest of New South Wales. Many of those people now feel further away than ever from the dream of home ownership. Young professionals, teachers, nurses, public servants; people working in our hospitals, schools and local services; and people who grew up in suburbs like North Sydney, Neutral Bay, Crows Nest and Mosman can no longer afford to live in the communities they love and, in many cases, serve.

New recruits from the North Shore Police Area Command told me they live on the Central Coast and in the Hills district. They commute long distances to get to work each day, where they keep residents of my community safe. Those people are our essential workers. They are committed to serving our community, but they are priced out of it. They deserve better. A recent Domain report from October 2025 showed the cost of renting in Sydney has continued to spiral out of reach. Over the past year, median rents for houses rose 1.3 per cent to $780 a week, while units surged 4.9 per cent to $750 per week. Those are not affordable prices, particularly for a young couple starting out if either of them is a nurse, teacher or public servant.

At the same time, home values across Sydney have consistently hit new records in 2025. As of September, the median home value was $1.213 million. By early October, the median home value for all dwellings exceeded $1.24 million. On the lower North Shore, in my community, median house prices average around $3.5 million. For many families, the hope of owning a home in my area or the area they grew up in has turned into a fantasy. While the Premier and the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces talk about targets and pipelines, the numbers show they are failing to deliver homes—homes that people can afford to buy, homes that people can afford to rent and homes that vulnerable people can access when they have nowhere else to go.

The Government's signature housing policies, like the Transport Oriented Development Program, have so far delivered less than 4 per cent of all new dwelling approvals in the past financial year. I repeat, less than 4 per cent. The Government promised to build more homes, yet the tools it put forward have barely scratched the surface. What is worse is that in its rush to be seen to be doing something, the Government has dumped policies on communities without any consultation. It has stripped planning powers from local councils and overridden local voices, particularly in places like my own community, without any regard for infrastructure, open space or local services. The Opposition supports good planning and housing growth, but it also supports community involvement, evidence-based design, and infrastructure that supports liveability.

Meanwhile the Labor Government is more interested in blaming councils than fixing its own broken planning system. It is not just policy failure; it is also a failure of tax reform. Labor's addiction to record State taxes, from stamp duty and land tax to surging developer contributions, has made it harder and more expensive to build new homes across the State. Developers are walking away from projects because the numbers do not stack up. Project feasibility is being killed by ever-increasing taxes and levies, pushing up the cost of new housing and reducing supply. We cannot tax our way out of a housing shortage, yet that is exactly the Government's plan. While the Government claims to support first home buyers, its actions say otherwise.

The former Liberal-Nationals Government introduced the First Home Buyer Choice policy that gave first home buyers the choice to avoid paying stamp duty up-front, which can be $60,000 or more, by offering a smaller annual property tax. That nation-leading policy was designed to remove one of the biggest barriers to home ownership—the tens of thousands of dollars required just to pay tax at the point of purchase—and Labor scrapped it. The Government took away that choice, that opportunity, and put the dream of home ownership further out of reach for many thousands of young people across New South Wales. In 2023 I said that Labor had no view about how to ensure that young people can access the property market, despite knowing how crucial property ownership is to their long-term financial security. That is what the Labor Government is saying to people in communities like mine and across New South Wales.

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