SA’s efficient planning system approving more homes faster

Improvements to the state’s planning system are helping get houses to market quicker than ever.

Already rated the nation’s best planning system, PlanSA’s latest performance report (PDF, 1515 KB) reveals that the South Australian planning system is continually improving year on year.

The Performance Indicators Annual Report 2023-24 provides a multi-year comparison of the planning system, using 3 full years of data to track performance.

The report shows that recent changes to the regulations and the Planning and Design Code are helping get houses to market more quickly than ever.

One regulation change resulted in streamlined approvals in greenfield areas, resulting in more than 500 dwelling applications being approved with no planning consent required in 2023-24. This compares to just 18 streamlined approvals in the previous year.

Approvals for land division were up 19 per cent this year with 4,347 additional allotments issued a Land Division Certificate, meaning there is more land available for new houses.

Enhancements to the PlanSA e-planning system have increased productivity, with more on-time planning consents granted than ever before.

More restricted developments, which are complex applications that require extensive consultation, were assessed on-time, with 84 per cent compared to 78 per cent last financial year.

The report also shows that PlanSA has facilitated incredible levels of investment in South Australia, with more than $5 billion worth of residential and commercial development approvals granted in 2023-24 alone.

The data provided by this report, combined with recommendations from the Expert Panel for the Planning System Implementation, provides an essential building block for planning system design and improvement to help secure the best possible planning outcomes for the state.

The Department for Housing and Urban Development is working to make more performance data accessible via the PlanSA portal so that all users can access the insights generated by these system indicators.

And further PlanSA enhancements, announced as part of the Housing Roadmap, will make it easier to track code amendments with new tools including a dashboard, updated toolkit, and code amendment management system coming soon. This will make it simpler to monitor and report more data associated with the planning system.