NSW Government launches myHome Planner online tool - Confirms low + mid-rise housing reforms will commence later in 2024
The government states the new guides now provide support for infill housing (knocking down and rebuilding a home) or home and land packages – 'all types of homes that will help us confront the housing crisis'.
With checklist guides on the building process, as well as potential costs and approvals required for a build, homeowners now have a single online resource they can use, the government states
Current or prospective homeowners can enter the property address and gain access to relevant council information, zoning, ratings, easement information, developer guidelines such as building heights and minimum block size, and relevant planning controls such as bushfire and flood risk.
NSW has a target of 377,000 homes over the next five years to meet the National Housing Accord target and to meet this demand the Minns Labor Government has implemented extensive planning reforms to increase the supply and affordability of housing.
The expansion of the tool complements the NSW Government’s low and mid-rise housing reforms, which commenced on 1 July this year.
The changes allow development applications for dual occupancies and semi-detached dwellings to be submitted in more R2 residential zones, such as duplexes and semis.
Enabling dual occupancies in these locations allows homeowners with suitable blocks two replace one existing home with two dwellings, the government stated.
As part of the announcement, the government stated other low and mid-rise housing reforms will commence later in 2024. These will include townhouses, terraces and two storey apartment blocks near transport hubs and town centres in R2 low density residential zones across Greater Sydney, the Hunter, Central Coast and Illawarra regions and mid-rise apartment blocks near transport hubs and town centres in R3 medium density and R4 high density residential zones across these regions.
Mid-rise housing refers to apartment buildings (residential flat buildings) and shop-top housing that are generally between 3 and 6 storeys.
R4 High-Density Residential permits residential flat buildings, dual occupancies, multi-dwelling housing and apartments. Minimum lot size of 300 sqm. Building heights up to 15m permitted. R4 High Density Residential zones are predominantly located within, or in close proximity to, commercial centres and public transport nodes.
This update builds on the original myHome Planner, which only provided guidance to those building project homes, the government announced.
The myHome Planner was developed in collaboration with the Department of Customer Service and is available at the NSW Planning Portal at www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/myhome-planner.
Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said:
“Housing is the biggest cost of living pressure on household budgets. It makes sense to help people have information about what they’re spending their money on.
“With the NSW Planning Portal receiving more than 12 million page views each year, we know people are actively seeking information on building homes.
“By providing myHome Planner, the NSW Government can support people actively seeking information from the NSW Planning Portal by placing it under one single source of truth.”
Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government Jihad Dib said:
“While it can be exciting, building a new home can also be stressful, confusing and time-consuming, which is why these new features of the NSW Government’s myHome Planner tool are so helpful.
“This website takes a holistic approach, covering all the steps needed to build a home and is one example of how digital tools can support the delivery of housing targets.
“This is an easy-to-use digital platform that takes away some of the guess work when doing a new build, providing reliable information on things like key steps, obligations, and approvals, in a single place.
“It is important that more homes are built in NSW, and for those wanting to build their own home, this expanded resource makes it that little bit easier.”