Property Buzz

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Emerging information about a Sydney building with a serious defect, a South Australian MP comes under fire for claims about public housing, and how NSW promises to meet its housing targets

 

Welcome to Property Buzz! I’m Juliet Helmke. Today is Friday, 19 January.



– The NSW building commissioner has released a statement to reiterate that a defect in a 900-home Sydney apartment block poses no danger to residents. 

– A building work rectification order was issued by the acting Assistant Building Commissioner earlier this week to Greenland Australia, who developed the site located in Macquarie Park.

– The order identifies one “serious defect” that relates to the basement slab and joint locations on the ground floor, and various other levels in the building. It described serious damage and deterioration  of the concrete slab at these sites. Reports of the defect caused alarm given that language in the work order referred to such issues putting buildings at risk of collapse.

In an update released on 18 January, the Building Commission NSW stressed that the building work rectification order it had issued to the apartment block “poses no danger to the residents of that building.”

 

– And the South Australian government has requested an apology from opposition housing spokesperson Michelle Lensink for a media conference she held outside a public housing unit.

– Lensink claimed the unit was vacant, highlighting the government’s alleged failure to maintain public housing. However, it was revealed that the unit was occupied, as was a neighbouring home she also claimed was untenanted.

– The government reported it has a 98 per cent occupancy rate for government-supported homes in the area and has significantly reduced the number of properties sitting vacant since taking office two years ago.

 

-And the NSW government has shed more light into the planning shakeup it’s calling the “biggest in a generation”.

-The state outlined its slew of recently announced plans, which include increasing density around transit hubs and giving developers height and density bonuses for including more affordable housing, to affirm that it will meet its target for homebuilding.

-Having agreed to National Cabinet’s updated goal of building 1.2 million new homes Australia-wide in five years beginning in July 2024, New South Wales needs to see its annual level of dwelling completions rise to 75,000, up from 48,000 completions in 2022.

– The promise comes on the heels of the Housing Industry Association reporting that Australia commenced construction on just 23,000 new houses in the September quarter of 2023, the weakest quarter in over a decade and down by 21 per cent on the same quarter last year.

 

That’s Property Buzz for today. See you again tomorrow, 20 January, for your daily dose of Property Buzz.

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Emerging information about a Sydney building with a serious defect