Development Applications in Gregory Hills, NSW

Development activity in Gregory Hills

I’ve been working the Gregory Hills beat for the better part of a decade now, and I can tell you straight up: this place isn’t your grandfather’s housing market. The residential building scene here is driven by six active development applications as I write this, and the mix tells you everything about who’s moving in and what they want. The most common projects aren’t your standard single-dwelling jobs. We’re seeing a solid run of new home construction, sure, but duplex and dual-occupancy builds are just as hot. That’s a direct response to the land values and the council’s appetite for higher density on the fringes. If you’re a builder looking to work here, get your head around that dual-occupancy game fast.

The local council isn’t the quickest off the mark, but they’re predictable. DA turnaround times sit around four to six months for a straightforward new home, but if you’re pushing a duplex or anything with a subdivision angle, bank on eight months minimum. Common conditions that catch blokes out include strict stormwater detention requirements and a hard line on tree retention – even on cleared lots they’ll ask for a landscape plan that ties into the street’s character. They’re also clamping down on driveway widths and crossover placements, especially on the newer estates where the kerb and gutter is still fresh. Know your SEPP 65 if you’re doing multi-dwelling, because the council’s design review panel has started knocking back anything that looks like a cheap box. Don’t expect any favours; just lodge a clean application with all the engineering done upfront.

As for the housing stock itself, Gregory Hills is a tale of two eras. The older pockets – think the original farm subdivisions from the 1990s – have a mix of brick veneer homes on quarter-acre blocks, some with decent backyards and established gardens. But the real action is in the newer estates that have exploded over the last five years. These are tightly packed, with narrow lots and zero side setbacks. You’ll see a lot of rendered facades, flat roofs, and double-storey builds that maximise floor space. There’s very little period charm here – no Federation or Victorian cottages. It’s all about modern, low-maintenance living. If you’re doing a knockdown-rebuild, you’re usually stripping a late-80s brick house off a decent block and putting up two townhouses. That’s the bread and butter.

The client base is a mixed bag, but you can split them into three distinct groups. First, the upsizers – families who bought in nearby suburbs like Camden or Narellan ten years ago and are trading up for a bigger home in a newer estate. They want four bedrooms, a study, and a butler’s pantry. They’re not price-sensitive, but they are time-sensitive; they want it finished before the school year starts. Second, the investors. They’re all over the duplex and dual-occupancy approvals. They’re chasing rental yield from the growing population of young couples and tradies who work in the Macarthur region. Third, you’ve got the knockdown-rebuild crew – usually older owners who bought in the early 2000s, paid off the mortgage, and now want to unlock the land value by splitting the block. They’re the toughest clients because they’ve got strong opinions about what their house should look like but no idea about council red tape.

The market itself is steady but not frothy. Prices for a standard new home build here sit around the $350,000 to $450,000 mark for a single-storey, and you can push that to $600,000 for a decent double-storey with all the trimmings. Land prices have flattened off after the COVID spike, but they’re still high enough that you need to be efficient with your design. The real money is in the duplex game – two dwellings on one title can net you a combined build cost of around $700,000 to $850,000, and the finished product will rent for $700 to $850 a week per side. That’s a solid return if you can get the DA through without a hitch. The council’s not hostile to development, but they’re not rolling out the red carpet either.