Expression of interest

Nominations for expressions of interest opened on 8 January 2025. They will be open throughout the National Housing Accord period, meaning they will close in June 2029.

You must submit your nominations through the web form.

The expression of interest process does not include the submission of plans or supporting documentation. Proposal detail will be submitted once the development application is lodged. Lodged applications will then follow the usual state significant development application process including public exhibition.

The Housing Delivery Authority will generally meet monthly to consider expressions of interest, so there will be ongoing opportunities each year to submit proposals for major residential developments.

The eligibility criteria for expressions of interest include location, yield and speed to market. The approval pathway will be available for new major residential developments above an estimated development cost of about $60 million in Greater Sydney and about $30 million elsewhere.

The Housing Delivery Authority has been created to give a consistent and equitable approach to accessing state assessment of major residential developments. Therefore, it will apply across all NSW local government areas.

Where a submission is not for high yield housing or where it does not meet multiple criteria, the Housing Delivery Authority is less likely to recommend a proposal as it will not meet the objectives of the pathway.

View the Housing Delivery Authority state-significant development expression of interest criteria (PDF, 121 KB).

The Department held briefing sessions with key stakeholders from mid-November to mid-December 2024 to ensure the settings for the expression of interest process are fit-for-purpose and achieve our objectives. The feedback we received through this process informed the final version of the criteria and the industry-specific Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements.

The Housing Delivery Authority will also consult industry on the expression of interest criteria 3 months after implementation.

The Housing Delivery Authority will meet monthly. It will have extra briefings in February and March 2025 to manage the initial volume of submissions received.

The Housing Delivery Authority will publish briefing records on its website within 14 days of each briefing. This will include high-level information on an expression of interest, and the Housing Delivery Authority’s recommendation, reasons and advice to the Minister for Planning.

Successful proposals that the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces declares to be state-significant development will be published in an Order. We will notify successful applicants by email.

To ensure your expression of interest is evaluated quickly, please ensure it clearly and completely answers the questions in the web form. If your application is accurate and of high quality, we should not need to investigate further or ask for more information.

Applications with a significant and complex site history are likely to take longer to assess, so they may not be suitable for this pathway.

Declared state-significant development applications that lodge in accordance with issued SEARs must pay a fee before the Department begins its assessment.

• State-significant development major residential proposals will be charged in line with the state-significant development fee schedule (PDF, 459 KB).
• The fee payable for a concurrent rezoning will be determined based on the complexity of the rezoning.

Applications proposing a state-significant development and concurrent rezoning must pay a state-significant development fee and a rezoning fee. To minimise delays, the Department will require payment before it considers applications to be lodged. We will issue an invoice to the applicant using the contact details in the application.

Application fees are non-refundable and cover the Department’s costs in assessing the application(s).

Decisions of the Housing Delivery Authority are final and are not subject to appeal.

If unsuccessful, proponents can revise their submission and submit a new expression of interest for consideration.

When a proposal is declared for the State Significant Development (SSD) pathway during the Expression of Interest (EOI) process, it is important to understand that this is not an automatic approval of the proposal. Instead, it indicates that the proposal is eligible for the SSD pathway and will be subject to a future merit assessment based on detailed application information. This means that the proposal will undergo a thorough evaluation, including exhibition for public comment, to ensure it has sufficient merit before any final approval is granted.

The new state-significant development pathway aims to encourage and identify major residential proposals. We will deliver more homes within the National Housing Accord period by assessing and determining high-yield housing proposals.

The new state-significant development pathway will speed up the planning process through:

• streamlined environmental assessment requirements
• greater ability to manage and coordinate agency inputs
• a single assessment and consent authority
• more consistency in assessment and determination outcome.

The Department aims to complete all applicable state-significant development assessments for housing within 275 days of receiving an environmental impact statement, which will save crucial time for applicants.

The new state-significant development pathway will also create time savings and efficiencies for councils, as it may reduce the number of development applications they must assess each year. Many councils are experiencing resourcing and skill shortages in development assessment because of the volume and complexity of applications. The state-significant development pathway will free up councils' planning resources to focus on other important local development matters.

These efforts aim to meet NSW's commitments under the National Housing Accord and ensure a steady supply of affordable housing for the community.

Once a proposal is declared as a state-significant development, applicants will have 9 months to lodge their application with the Department.

The Department aims to assess these proposals within 275 days of receiving them. This includes important steps in the assessment process such as public exhibition of the proposal.

Applicants will be able to apply for a state-significant development pathway or a concurrent state-significant development and rezoning proposal that the Department will assess.

The new state-significant development pathway will align with the streamlined process outlined in the State-Significant Rezoning Policy. Any state-significant development requesting a concurrent rezoning will need to show how it meets the criteria in the State-Significant Rezoning Policy. This approach will have the benefit of allowing new proposals to go through rezoning and development assessment at the same time.

Applicants will be able to apply for a state-significant development pathway or a concurrent state-significant development and rezoning proposal that the Department will assess.

The expression of interest criteria for state rezoning enables a concurrent state-significant development and state rezoning. We expect most expression of interest proposals to enable a state-significant development by addressing either permissibility or an increase in height/floor space ratio development standards.

The Housing Delivery Authority process does not support stand-alone rezonings as they are unlikely to deliver many homes in the National Housing Accord period. The State-Significant Rezoning Policy, which was launched in September 2024, is fit for purpose.

The Minister for Planning and Public Spaces (or a delegate) will be the consent authority for development applications under this state-significant development pathway and state-significant development pathway with concurrent rezoning.

The Record of Briefing details the Housing Delivery Authority’s recommendations and advice to the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces. This sets out whether a major residential proposal should be declared as a state-significant development based on an evaluation against the Housing Delivery Authority state-significant development expression of interest criteria (PDF, 121 KB).

The Ministerial Order is the instrument through which the Minister declares proposals as state significant after considering the advice of the Housing Delivery Authority. The Minister for Planning and Public Spaces is also the consent authority for state-significant development applications under the Housing Delivery Authority pathway.

Moves to streamline the assessment process for all major residential developments under the new pathway include the development of a single set of industry-specific Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs) for all major residential developments.

The Department has published new SEARs for housing ahead of the start of the expression of interest process. These SEARs will apply to various housing types, including those within the Housing Delivery Authority pathway.

The new SEARs will provide for a simplified, more certain and consistent approach and ready-made assessment requirements for all major residential developments including under the Housing Delivery Authority pathway.

Where a proposal is prohibited, designated development or for a concept approval then the Department will need to issue project-specific SEARs within 28 days.

The expression of interest process will apply to major residential development across NSW that meets the criteria. However, a proposal with a site rezoning or development application already lodged through another pathway will not be declared.

If a proposal is submitted to the Housing Delivery Authority, it must be withdrawn from any other approval pathway before it will be declared state significant.

The Housing Delivery Authority has been established to provide a consistent and equitable approach to access a state assessment of major residential developments. Because of this, no council will be exempted from the pathway.

The Minister for Planning has deferred determination of some projects that the Housing Delivery Authority has recommended be declared state significant. This is generally because these projects are already being assessed through an alternative planning pathway, such as a development application before a planning panel, a site-specific planning proposal or proceedings in the Land and Environment Court of NSW.

The Housing Delivery Authority pathway is for major new housing development proposals that have no alternative assessment pathway, or proposals that have stalled on another pathway.

If a proposal is currently under assessment under another pathway and a Housing Delivery Authority expression of interest is recommended, it must be withdrawn from any other approval pathway before it can be declared state significant.

No. Once a proposal is declared state significant, an applicant is required to request secretary environmental assessment requirements and one these have been issued, applicants have 9 months to lodge their application with the Department. This includes proposals that are also seeking a concurrent site rezoning.

The Department aims to assess these proposals within an average of 275 days after receiving them. This includes important steps in the assessment process such as public exhibition of the proposal.

Assessment times may be longer if the proposal is complex or if it takes the applicant a long time to answer information requests from the Department.
Approved proposals must start construction within 12 months. Applicants must show proof of their capability to do this as part of the expression of interest process.