Just a quarter of new dwellings in the ACT will be on new single-dwelling blocks over the next five years, with the ACT government set to prioritise medium- and high-density developments to meet the housing needs of a growing Canberra.
More than half of dwellings to be released over the five-year program will be on urban infill sites.
The ACT government will release 4171 single-dwelling blocks over the next half a decade, including 631 blocks in the current financial year.
The government will release land for 12,263 medium- and high-density dwellings across the ACT over the next five years, including more than 4000 before the end of June next year.
"Over the next five years, residential land supply will increase in the Molonglo Valley district and the supply of residential land from the northern suburbs of the Gungahlin district will taper off," the land release program, released as part of the ACT budget on Wednesday, said.
The land release program said urban renewal and intensification would remain focused on areas in the city centre and around town centres. Areas for densification would be investigated along the Woden light rail corridor, the program said.
Five-hundred dwellings would be built as part of urban intensification projects in Canberra's inner south, a map of the residential land release program shows.
"Building a compact and efficient city means growing within our existing urban footprint. Working towards delivering up to 70 per cent of new homes within the existing urban area is a planning direction for new housing across Canberra, delivered by ACT government land release and private sector developments," the plan said.
The 70 per cent urban infill target was first set in the ACT government's 2018 planning strategy.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the best way to address housing affordability issues in the ACT was to increase the supply of affordable homes in the market.
"That's what our land release program is about. That's what urban renewal and infill is about. That's obviously a debate this city has every single year, almost development by development in some parts," Mr Barr said.
The Chief Minister said the land release program, coupled with private-sector investment, would mean there were more dwellings released into the market than the expected population growth, which had stagnated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic which had virtually stopped overseas migration into the ACT.
Mr Barr said the ACT government did not have an endless supply of greenfield land to release new single-dwelling blocks, and it was impossible to "click your fingers and have serviced land available for sale".
"So the way to quickly get more dwelling sites in the market is infill. It's CBD, it's town centres, it's along the transport corridors. And to a certain extent, it's within the RZ2 planning zones that are around local shopping centres. The land release program has more than 15,000 new dwellings and then an expectation that the private sector will also bring thousands more," he said.
The plan said 15 per cent of the annual residential release program would be designated as public, community and affordable housing. There would be land for 307 dedicated community, public and affordable homes released this financial year.
The land release plan includes more than 165,000 square metres of commercial land to be released over the next five years, including a "prominent city centre site on London Circuit" in 2022-23 and additional commercial sites in the Gungahlin, Belconnen and Woden town centres.
