No Australian jurisdiction requires every new housing development to include affordable housing. The nearest to a general rule is South Australia’s: developments of 20 or more dwellings in the areas covered by its Affordable Housing Overlay are expected to include at least 15%. Elsewhere the requirement is local, voluntary or conditional: the City of Sydney levies 3% of residential floor area, New South Wales requires 2% near stations in 12 council areas and offers up to 30% more floor space for affordable housing elsewhere, Queensland can require it in its priority development areas, and Victoria asks for it from large projects seeking an assessment pathway exempt from third-party review. Victoria announced a 1.75% contribution on new developments in February 2022 and withdrew it eleven days later. No jurisdiction publishes a count of the affordable homes these requirements have delivered.
Node reading for Housing Policy (Affordable, Social) (21330): NIL RETURN. This article rests on the source data alone.
What an inclusionary requirement is
An inclusionary requirement asks a private development to include affordable housing, or to pay towards it, as a condition of approval or in return for a planning concession. It works through planning law rather than public spending: the affordable homes, or the money, come from the development itself. What counts as affordable housing differs between the states, as set out in What Affordable Housing Means, Jurisdiction by Jurisdiction; the requirements below apply each state’s own definition.
Requirements in planning law take four forms: a condition that applies wherever a planning overlay, chapter or scheme applies; a levy on floor area; a bonus offered in return for affordable housing; and a condition of access to a faster approval pathway. Governments also set targets on land they release themselves, and some councils negotiate affordable housing project by project.
| Jurisdiction | Mechanism | Kind | Terms | Instrument |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Australia | Affordable Housing Overlay | Performance criterion, applied where the overlay applies | Developments of 20 or more dwellings or allotments to include at least 15% affordable housing | Planning and Design Code |
| New South Wales | In-fill affordable housing bonus | Voluntary bonus | Extra floor space, or height, of twice the affordable share of floor area: from 20% for 10% up to 30% for 15%, held for 15 years | State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 |
| New South Wales | Transport oriented development areas | Condition, applied where the chapter applies | Buildings of 2,000 square metres or more to keep at least 2% of floor area as affordable housing, in perpetuity | State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021, s 156 |
| New South Wales | Council affordable housing contribution schemes | Levy, where a council scheme applies | City of Sydney: 3% of residential and 1% of non-residential floor area | Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, s 7.32; Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2012, cl 7.13 |
| Queensland | Priority development area schemes | Requirement, where a scheme provides for it | A scheme may require social or affordable housing, or a payment in lieu | Economic Development Act 2012, s 57(3)(aa) |
| Queensland | Inclusionary planning pilot | Pilot | Pilot projects to include 20% social or affordable housing | State planning program |
| Victoria | Development Facilitation Program | Condition of a fast-track assessment pathway | At least 10% of dwellings as affordable housing, or an alternative contribution | Victoria Planning Provisions, cl 53.23 |
| Victoria | Section 173 agreements | Voluntary | Negotiated project by project | Planning and Environment Act 1987, s 173 |
| Australian Capital Territory | Government land release | Policy target, not a planning rule | 15% of suitable residential land releases for public, community and affordable housing | ACT Government land release program |
| Western Australia | NIL RETURN | NIL RETURN | NIL RETURN | No statewide requirement located; redevelopment area policies not read |
| Tasmania | NIL RETURN | NIL RETURN | NIL RETURN | No inclusionary requirement located in planning law |
| Northern Territory | Crown land release | Policy target, not a planning rule | At least 5% social and community housing and 10% affordable housing in commercially viable greenfield releases of Crown land | Land for Social, Community and Affordable Housing Policy, 2023 |
In force as at 22 September 2026, except the Queensland pilot and the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory targets, which are programs rather than planning rules. NIL RETURN: no requirement located. Sources in the methodology note.
South Australia: an overlay with a 15% expectation
South Australia’s Planning and Design Code includes an Affordable Housing Overlay. Where it applies, development comprising 20 or more dwellings or residential allotments is to incorporate affordable housing, and the deemed-to-satisfy criterion is a minimum of 15% of the development, with any shortfall allowed to be made up in an earlier or later stage. The criterion is performance-based rather than an absolute rule, and the overlay applies to mapped areas, not to all residential land. Developments that include the affordable housing can use incentives written into the same overlay, including smaller allotments, higher density, additional building height and reduced car parking. Affordable homes delivered under the overlay are sold to eligible buyers at or below the state’s affordable sale price or let through eligible providers.
New South Wales: a requirement near stations, a bonus, and council levies
New South Wales uses three mechanisms. The first is a requirement. In Transport Oriented Development Areas — generally land within 400 metres of a railway or metro station — in 12 council areas, the State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 requires residential flat buildings, independent living units and shop top housing of 2,000 square metres or more to keep at least 2% of their floor area as affordable housing, managed by a registered community housing provider in perpetuity.
The second is a voluntary bonus in the same policy. On eligible land, a residential development may exceed the maximum floor space ratio if part of its floor area is kept as affordable housing, and the bonus is twice that share: a 10% affordable component, the minimum, earns 20% more floor space, and the maximum bonus of 30% needs 15%. Residential flat buildings and shop top housing receive the same percentage in additional height. Consent requires the affordable component to be kept for at least 15 years from the occupation certificate and managed by a registered community housing provider.
The third is a levy. Under section 7.32 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, a consent authority may impose an affordable housing contribution where a planning instrument sets out a scheme for one. In the City of Sydney, the Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2012 sets the contribution at 3% of the residential floor area of a development and 1% of its other floor area. In Central Sydney and on residual land, applications lodged before 1 July 2022 paid half those rates, 1.5% and 0.5%. The contribution may be made by dedicating dwellings of 35 to 90 square metres to the council, or in money. Other councils have their own schemes, set at their own rates; no statewide list of the schemes in force or their rates was located.
Queensland: priority development areas and a pilot
Queensland’s Economic Development Act 2012 allows the development scheme for a priority development area to set requirements for the supply of social housing or affordable housing, or for a payment in lieu, and allows development conditions to enforce them where the scheme provides for it. The requirement therefore exists only where a particular scheme includes it. Separately, the state’s inclusionary planning pilot states that its pilot projects will require 20% social or affordable housing. There is no statewide inclusionary requirement in Queensland planning law.
Victoria: a condition of a faster pathway
Victoria has no mandatory inclusionary requirement. Affordable housing is an objective of the Planning and Environment Act 1987, and councils secure it through voluntary agreements under section 173 of the Act, negotiated project by project. The Development Facilitation Program offers large projects, with a development cost of at least $50 million in metropolitan Melbourne and $15 million in regional Victoria, an assessment pathway exempt from third-party review, if at least 10% of the dwellings are provided as affordable housing, or an alternative contribution is made towards affordable housing.
A general requirement was proposed and withdrawn. On 18 February 2022 the Victorian Government announced a Social and Affordable Housing Contribution of 1.75% of the value of new developments of three or more dwellings or lots in metropolitan Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo, to begin in July 2024. On 1 March 2022 it announced that the contribution would not proceed.
The territories: targets on government land
In the Australian Capital Territory, the government’s land release program reserves 15% of suitable residential land releases for public, community and affordable housing. In the Northern Territory, a 2023 policy sets a minimum of 5% social and community housing and 10% affordable housing in commercially viable greenfield releases of Crown land, secured through development agreements. Both are policy targets applied through government land sales, not requirements in planning rules. No statewide inclusionary requirement was located in the planning law of Western Australia or Tasmania.
What the requirements have delivered
No published, periodic count attributes delivered affordable homes to any one of these mechanisms. The provisions can be read; their yield cannot.
| Mechanism | Published count of affordable homes delivered |
|---|---|
| South Australia, Affordable Housing Overlay | NIL RETURN |
| New South Wales, in-fill affordable housing bonus | NIL RETURN |
| New South Wales, transport oriented development areas | NIL RETURN |
| New South Wales, council contribution schemes | NIL RETURN (no statewide count; council reporting not collected) |
| Queensland, priority development areas and pilot | NIL RETURN |
| Victoria, Development Facilitation Program | NIL RETURN |
| Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory, land release | NIL RETURN (targets are published, not completions) |
As at 22 September 2026. NIL RETURN: no periodic published count located.
What this does not show
A requirement in planning law says what may be asked of a development, not what was delivered or whether a project went ahead. The terms differ in what they measure: dwellings in South Australia and Victoria, floor area in New South Wales, land in the two territories. They are set out side by side here but are not comparable, and no jurisdiction is ranked. Council schemes in New South Wales, the scheme-by-scheme terms of Queensland’s priority development areas, agreements negotiated under section 173 in Victoria, redevelopment area policies in Western Australia and site-specific orders for rezoned government land in Tasmania are not collected here.
Findings are presented on the basis of data and evidence alone.
