Evan Jones is one of several residents in Glebe who received a letter from developer Wilroad seeking to purchase his home above market value.
“The government is incentivising developers to deliver new housing close to transport and town centres,” the letter said. “We believe that your property value will benefit from these changes.”
The letter from Wilroad director Benjamin Knowles said the company was “highly regarded for our expertise in all facets of the development lifecycle”.
Evan Jones was one of several Glebe residents who received a letter from a property developer seeking to purchase his property above market value.Dion Georgopoulos
The approach to the Glebe home owners mirrors the experience of north shore residents with developers after the Minns government announced it would change planning rules to allow higher-density housing near railway stations and town centres.
Jones and his neighbours live in homes built in the 19th-century in a part of Glebe that is a heritage conservation area. He said he was not tempted to take up Wilroad’s offer to buy the home he has lived in for almost 40 years.
Developer Wilroad has sent letters to residents in Glebe seeking to buy their homes.
“They’ll be carrying us out of here in a box,” he said. “The house,while needing attention,has myriad attractive features and the location is ideal.”
Jones said he was concerned about the housing crisis,but accused the Minns government of “stomping” on local councils and “catering to the worst ambitions of the industry”.
Knowles said the company,set up in December 2023,was at the “forefront” of the Minns government’s housing reforms.
“As with other developers,we are giving landowners the opportunity to realise the uplift in value from the potential planning changes to their properties,” he said in a statement. “Those who are not interested can happily ignore our letter without obligation.”
Local councils across Sydney have warned that the Minns government’s housing reforms will as well as applying in heritage conservation areas such as Jones’ neighbourhood in Glebe.
A NSW government analysis of the housing reform proposals found the entire. It also said there was little chance the government would achieve the ambitious 378,000 National Housing Accord targets agreed to by Premier Chris Minns last year.
City of Sydney Greens councillor Sylvie Ellsmore said it is “a massive concern” that proposed housing reforms had led to developers letterboxing residents with offers to buy their homes above market values.
“A big risk from the government’s rushed reforms is they make housing less affordable by spiking existing land and house values,and offering windfall gains to existing property investors,” she said.
Ellsmore wants councillors to vote on a motion on Monday calling on the state government to release any modelling on the potential impact on land values of its housing reforms.
City of Sydney councillor Sylvie Ellsmore said there was a risk the Minns government’s “rushed reforms” would make housing less affordable.Jessica Hromas
“The government may not have done its homework to model the impact on land and house prices from the planning changes,” she said. “But clearly developers have,and they know they are the biggest winners.”
Ellsmore’s motion also says residents have begun to receive inquiries from developers offering to buy their properties at or above market values,“demonstrating that the announcement of the proposed reforms has already increased the risk of further increasing property prices”.
Planning Minister Paul Scully said the government’s housing reforms were necessary because Sydney was one of the least affordable cities on the planet.
“The Greens/Sylvie Ellsmore need to get on board with addressing the housing crisis in our state,and stop standing in the way of people and a home,” he said in a statement.
Scully told a property developers’ lunch at Parliament House last week that the proposed reforms would not change heritage controls or heritage conservation areas.
Relevant heritage controls will apply to the extent they are not inconsistent with the new standards,he said.
“Demolitions not currently allowed remain off the table,” he said.
“It is expected that any new developments that might replace a building of little heritage value would improve or enhance the heritage items that surround it.”
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