Lowering the biggest cost facing households is the target of a billion-dollar fund developers say will help clear a “major hurdle” as a treasurer defends his “boring” budget.
Daniel Mookhey’s third NSW budget continues large-scale infrastructure builds, including dozens of metro stations and a harbour-crossing tunnel.
But the state treasurer defended his focus on “pipes and poles” after some commentators labelled the budget “boring”.
“We are going to need to make sure that we’re increasing our water capacity as our population goes up, but also as the economy becomes more water-intensive,” Mr Mookhey told an economic forum on Wednesday.
“We need to think about how we do it all.”
Critics have also questioned why the budget did not do more to address cost-of-living pressures.
A developer-focused pre-sale guarantee led some observers to suggest the Labor budget was tailored to the top end of town.
Mr Mookhey said household budgets were being supported in less direct ways.
“We want to rebuild household disposable income, which means we want interest rates to be stable and lower,” he said.
“We want people’s wages to go up and you get those two happening at the same time, you start to take pressure off families.”
The budget, which charted a cautious path to a surplus later in the decade, was compiled amid global uncertainty.
“Which makes it far more important that we get our fiscal house in order so we’re in a better position to cope with and respond to shock, come what may,” Mr Mookhey said.
Construction of new homes has come into sharp focus amid a yawning gap between NSW’s rate of new homes and a five-year national target for home-building.
The budget forecasts 240,000 housing completions by 2029, exceeding the previous government’s forecast but below the 377,000 new homes targeted under the national housing accord.
Mr Mookhey told reporters it was a point-in-time prediction and progress would be reflected in future forecasts.
“By the time we get to the next election (in March 2027), voters will see this government has spent four years doing everything it can to surge more building of the homes that people desperately want to buy and rent,” he said.
Approval processes had quickened and the focus had shifted to construction, Planning Minister Paul Scully said.
“You can’t live in an approval.”
Proposals need to start within six months and developers will be assessed before the government will help them reach a threshold of pre-sales to satisfy lenders through a $1 billion fund.
“This is for good projects that are suffering from a tiny bit of a feasibility question, to get them over the line to start construction,” Mr Scully said.
Builders say construction is often delayed by a lack of pre-sales, making it harder to get finance.
“Pre-sales represent a major hurdle for new housing developments, especially higher-density housing and apartments,” Housing Industry Association NSW executive director Brad Armitage said.
Others were less impressed with the government’s finances, with NSW Greens MP Abigail Boyd labelling it “a budget for big business”.
“It’s a betrayal to all those in our communities doing it toughest … while leaving billions in uncollected revenue on the table from big business,” she said.
A deficit of $3.4 billion is forecast for the 2025/26 financial year, falling to $1.1 billion in 2026/27.
Modest surpluses of $1.1 billion are projected in the following two years.
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