First homes in government’s ‘record land release’ draw closer
Nearly two years on from the Malinauskas Government announcing the “single largest release of residential land in the state’s history”, the first homes are still not due for construction until 2026.
In February 2023, the Malinauskas Government revealed it would rezone thousands of hectares of greenfield land in the northern and southern suburbs to create space for 23,700 new homes.
The rezonings, touted as a “record land release in South Australia”, were spread across Hackham (2000 homes) and Sellicks Beach (1700) in the south and Concordia (10,000) and Dry Creek (10,000) in the north.
But no homes have been built on the four sites in the nearly two years since the announcement, with issues over infrastructure provision and land remediation – particularly in Dry Creek and Sellicks Beach – proving significant.
Infrastructure deeds have, however, been signed for the 235-hectare site in Hackham, the state government announced today.
The deeds – legal agreements between developers and the state government about payments for infrastructure – will allow infrastructure and civil works to commence this year.
Housing Minister Nick Champion’s office said it also “could enable construction on the new homes to begin as early as 2026”.
A map of the Hackham Code Amendment area. Image: PlanSA
“The next step will be civil works,” Champion told ABC Radio Adelaide.
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“The developers will start lodging their land divisions with council and the next step will be getting into it, building roads and sewers and carving up blocks and people buying those blocks.
“We anticipate work to commence now, there’s certainly no impediment from the state government’s point of view – we’ve done all the things we’re required to do in terms of rezoning and infrastructure requirements being signed off.”
The Hackham site is about 26km south of the CBD and runs along Main South Road and crosses over into Old Noarlunga.
The sloping land parcel has been renamed Onkaparinga Heights and will be redeveloped into a masterplanned community by YAS Property & Development, a firm founded by Adelaide businessman Tim Shahin in 2015.
Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) SA division chief executive Liam Golding said the UDIA welcomed the “important milestone” of the infrastructure deed signing.
“Onkaparinga Heights was always expected to be the first cab off the rank in terms of housing from the State Government’s 2023 land release,” he said.
“But it’s fair to say industry expected this milestone to be hit much sooner.
“We hope that achieving this milestone means we will see swift progress on other sites as we continue to need housing supply to counter the current crisis.”
The land at Hackham earmarked for rezoning. Photo: SA Govt/supplied
Water infrastructure has been one of the key impediments to housing growth, with the state government last year announcing a $1.5 billion plan to increase SA Water’s spending on new infrastructure. Premier Peter Malinauskas said last year that the government’s housing projects were “at risk” without this spending.
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Meanwhile, the Dry Creek saltpans, earmarked for 10,000 to 15,000 new homes in Adelaide’s inner northern suburbs, also face substantial issues related to land remediation amid projections the site will be inundated by climate change induced sea level rise by 2100.
The state government is also undertaking air quality investigations of the Sellicks Beach site, earmarked for 1700 homes, due to resident concerns about dust contamination from a nearby quarry.
The state government said today that a rezoning process has started for Dry Creek and community consultation is scheduled for 2025 in Concordia and Sellicks Beach.
Opposition planning spokesperson Michelle Lensink criticised progress on the 2023 “record land release” announcement, arguing master planning for the Hackham site should be “pretty straightforward”.
“It just goes to show that the grand announcement from two years ago hasn’t brought any housing to South Australians yet,” she said.
“It’s a bit of a hoax, particularly for first home buyers who might have been hoping that those announcements would have helped them get the foot in the door in housing, given how long it’s taken.”
But Champion defended the timeline today, noting the complexity of infrastructure requirements, particularly on a sloping site.
“We’ve got to get all the infrastructure right, and that’s a complex thing – it’s stormwater, it’s sewer, it’s water pipes and it’s roads,” he said.
“We have to make sure that developers know what the infrastructure costs are and what they have to do and when they have to pay them and what they have to do to do their bit to create not just homes but a good community.”
Champion also said there is a separate transport deed included in the infrastructure deed outlining developer contribution for things like linkage roads, traffic lights and roundabouts.
“Traffic is sort of an unfortunate byproduct of housing supply – we can’t get around that,” he said.
“The key thing is to make sure that when you’re developing these communities, that you make sure that in your transport deeds, the provision for roads – and the interventions to make traffic work – are all there.”
Champion also suggested that existing southern suburbs bus routes may need to be adjusted to accommodate the new development.
Previous investigations for Onkaparinga Heights have forecasted that the site can hold 4720 residents.
