Reforms designed to deliver houses on development sites up to 18 months faster have been released in a move to open up home ownership to more South Australians.

The changes, a key component of the government’s Housing Roadmap, include streamlining both the code amendment process and resulting land division.

The revised timeframe to turn an empty block of land into a housing development is now expected to be between 36 and 63 months, compared with 54 to 75 months under the current system.

This encompasses the code amendment process, plus development assessment, land division, engineering approval, civil works and dwelling construction.

A standardised template will be established for code amendments which will remove unnecessary details to initiate the rezoning of land.

Councils will be given strict timeframes to assess land division applications and if not achieved, the State Government will take control through a new Land Division Assessment Panel to be established.

The reforms came as the State Government announced that it will invest $1.5 billion in water and sewer infrastructure to remove critical barriers to the construction of new homes and unlock thousands of new allotments.

A total of $1.2 billion of that investment will be spent over the next four years to expand the water and sewer network to greenfield development sites in Adelaide’s northern growth front.

The additional investment will help unlock a potential 40,000 new allotments in SA over the next four years, and allow for future network growth.

The State Government will share the costs to expand the water and sewer network between its own balance sheet, industry and water customers to ensure bill increases are capped at 3.5 per cent above Consumer Price Index.

The other key tranches of the Housing Roadmap include;

• The largest-ever land release, which will see 40,000 new residential homes built across the state.
• Training more construction workers through schemes such as Vocational Education and Training courses aligned to construction and infrastructure, the introduction of the new TAFE Diploma of Local Government (Planning), which commenced in 2023, and a new Bachelor of Surveying at Flinders University, which started in 2024, is another critical development.
• More rights for renters, including a ban on rent bidding, changed criteria for Private Rental Assistance and more rights for tenants to own pets.
• More public housing through the fast-tracking construction and delivering major updates and upgrades to existing homes through a range of programs and projects.
• The abolition of stamp duty for first home buyers on all new homes, including houses, flats, townhouses and apartments.

For more information, visit More Homes for South Australians - Our Housing Roadmap.