NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey handed down the NSW Budget earlier this afternoon.
This is the third Minns Government Budget since the 2023 NSW Election, and it contains a range of measures to aimed at easing the pressure on housing, upgrading the public transport network, investing in Western Sydney and upskilling the next generation employee through schools and TAFE.
Here’s a run-down about the overall Budget, and in particular, the key points which are relevant to the strata, housing and planning sectors.
NSW Big Picture
- NSW ran a budget deficit for 2024-25 of $5.7 billion
- The NSW Government expects to run two further years of deficits, with a modest return to surplus forecast for the 2027-28 and 2028-29 financial years.
- Inflation through CPI to the March quarter reduced to 2.3%.
- NSW Gross Debt is forecast to exceed $180 billion for the 2025-26 financial year but this is lower than the projection from the 2023 Pre-Election Budget Update.
- The NSW population is 8,479,314, with 5,203,094 living in Metropolitan areas and 3,276,220 residing in a regional location
- Across the state, there’s 226 public hospitals, 253 ambulance stations, 335 fire stations, 398 police stations, 2,216 public schools, 102 public preschools, 22,929 train services per week across 23 train and metro lines, 46,333 daily bus services across 10,089 routes and 5,302 ferry services per week across 11 routes.
- NSW is home to 89,049 Strata and Community Title Schemes. A significant 95 per cent of these schemes are comprised of residential lots. Altogether, the total number of Strata and Community Title lots in NSW stands at 1,043,690.
- Over 1.2 Million NSW residents live in a strata or community title scheme and by 2040, 50% of Greater Sydney’s population is expected to live in a strata or community title scheme.
NSW Budget Highlights
- Investment Delivery Authority – A new Investment Delivery Authority will be created to fast-track proposals valued over $1 billion through the planning system and regulators. More than 45 projects worth around $100 billion in total are currently seeking approval, including renewable energy, data centres and logistics precincts.
- Pre-Sale Finance Guarantee – The NSW Government will guarantee pre-sales for up to $1.0 billion of approved housing projects on a rolling basis, allowing developers to secure finance earlier and commence construction more quickly. The aim of this measure is to fast-track the creation of 5,000 new homes and 1,500 new jobs.
- Land Tax Discount – extending a permanent, 50% land tax discount for build-to-rent projects
- Health Infrastructure including works to upgrade Bankstown, Westmead, Wollongong Hospitals and commence construction of the new Rouse Hill Hospital.
- Schools – A new Better and Fairer Schools Agreement with the Australian Government injects $10.4 billion of funding into NSW Public Schools over the next decade – $5.6 billion contributed by the NSW Government and $4.8 billion contributed by the Federal Government.
- TAFE – $2.8 billion in this budget to increase investment in new apprentices and trainees, as well as asset renewal and critical capital maintenance such as the relocation of Bankstown TAFE. The aim is to get 23,000 new apprentices and 4,800 existing workers to enter the construction sector in the next two years by offering free TAFE courses.
- Public Transport – $522.2 million to improve public transport – including $369.9 million to maintain and uplift bus services and improve train and metro connections, $82.3 million for 75 new buses and $70 million to construct to a new ferry wharf and upgrade the Light rail stop at the new Sydney Fish Market.
- Metro – Further expenditure on the Sydney Metro West to connect Parramatta to the CBD and the final stage of the South West Metro line from Sydenham to Bankstown.
- Roads – $2.4 billion in this budget to deliver new and improved roads, in partnership with the Australian Government on projects such as the Fifteenth Avenue upgrade between Liverpool and the new Western Sydney Airport, Mona Vale Road West, Henry Lawson Drive Stage 1B Upgrade and Homebush Bay Drive upgrade.
- Toll Reform – The NSW Government will establish, operate and manage the NSW Motorways Entity to continue its toll reform program that has saved motorists over $139 million in cashback schemes since January 2024.
Housing and Planning Sector
Strata’s growing importance and role as central to the future of housing - nearly 50% of Greater Sydney’s population is expected to live in strata by 2040. The NSW Government has committed to delivering 377,000 new homes by 2029 as part of the national housing agreement.
SCA notes the following key points that will assist to deliver NSW Government housing and planning strategies.
- Pre-Sale Finance Guarantee – A pre-sales guarantee for up to $1.0 billion of approved housing projects on a rolling basis, allows developers to secure finance earlier and commence construction more quickly. The aim of this measure is to fast-track the creation of 5,000 new homes and 1,500 new jobs.
- Build to Rent – investment of $450.0 million for build-to-rent dwellings for essential workers.
- Housing Delivery – Providing $83.4 million to accelerate planning approvals, including for large-scale market, social and affordable housing projects. This includes $10.6 million for the newly established Housing Delivery Authority, which has sped up planning approval for 53,500 homes across 136 residential projects since January. This budget also invests $20.9 million to support regional councils to bring forward critical enabling infrastructure for new homes by funding interest on loans and $10.1 million to deal with water issues that affect housing and development.
- Enhancing Construction Capability – Investing $145.0 million to support building and construction industry reforms to give homeowners confidence in the quality of new construction.
- Better located homes – Ongoing audit of surplus government land to identify well-located sites that are suitable for housing with an additional $7.6 million. To date, the Government has released land with potential to deliver more than 8,200 new homes.
- Community Infrastructure offsets – Developers who build approved infrastructure to enable housing will be eligible for offsets on their Housing and Productivity Contribution.
- Assisting Renters – The Government’s rental reforms seek to reduce or eliminate unnecessary fees. This includes by providing fee-free ways to pay rent, banning fees before entering a tenancy and limiting rental increases to once per year. This is supported by the nation’s first Portable Rental Bonds Scheme.
- Land Tax Discount – The NSW Government is also extending its permanent, 50% land tax discount for new build-to-rent developments.
SCA (NSW) Advocacy
SCA has enhanced its advocacy and policy activities in 2025. We’ve engaged the NSW Government across a range of critical matters, including:
- Meeting with the Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading, the Hon. Anoulack Chanthivong on 12 June to discuss industry stats and professionalism, the next tranche of strata legislation, strata managing agents agreements, debt recovery payment plans and strata insurance commissions.
- Held numerous meetings with the Office of Fair Trading NSW and 10 NSW Members of NSW Parliament to clarify points within the Strata Schemes Legislative Amendment Regulations, discuss the consequences of a potential commissions prohibition, viable options in the event of prohibition and advocated for a minimum, three-year transition period.
- Commenced the Strata Insurance Commissions Research Project
- Participated in the Strata Stakeholders Roundtable and Debt Recovery Working Group
- Provided industry feedback on the Strata Schemes Legislation Amendment Draft regulations
Additional Information
For additional information, please follow the links to the resources below:
ABC News: The winners and losers in the 2025/26 NSW budget
News.com.au: NSW State Budget 2025 – All the winners and losers revealed
If you have any questions about the 2025-2026 Budget, or would like to contact SCA (NSW) about policy and advocacy activities, please contact Andrew Jefferies, Senior Policy and Advocacy Advisor at Andrew.Jefferies@strata.community
