Latest news with #landdevelopment
Wall Street Journal
15 hours ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
America's Big, Beautiful Land Sale
Uncle Sam owns nearly half of the land west of the Rockies, and GOP lawmakers want to give states and businesses a tiny piece of the action. Selling a small amount of federal land would raise revenue and spur development, so why are some Republicans trying to protect the government's hoard? The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee announced a plan last week to sell public land as part of the GOP's reconciliation bill. The proposal designates about 258 million acres of land—40% of federal holdings—as potentially available for sale. It directs the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to sell up to 3.3 million acres from these designated zones. The areas up for sale would exclude land with dedicated uses such as national parks and monuments, and land previously leased for mining, energy production and other activities. The plan directs federal agencies to prioritize selling land that is near existing roads or suitable for home-building. Agencies would consult governors before auctioning land in their states, and state and local governments would have the right to make an offer before private bidders. The selloffs would put unused resources in the hands of owners who commit to invest. The available land includes areas that are sometimes used for cattle grazing, but ranchers and other users would have ample time to comment before these parcels are sold. The sales would also raise money to offset tax cuts in the rest of the bill.
ABC News
3 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Builder says WA government's modular push neglects key ingredient for new housing
A country builder says the Cook government's decision to use so-called modular housing to address Western Australia's shortage of affordable housing fails to account for the lack of developed land. The government announced the low-deposit loans for modular housing, to be offered through state-owned lender Keystart, as part of a suite of housing measures ahead of tomorrow's state budget. But country business and community leaders say the homes will not be much use without land to put them on. The Shire of Waroona — a regional migration hotspot just south of metropolitan Perth — is a case in point. "We have had developers who've looked at developing land and they've been knocked back given there's no more capacity in our system," said shire president Mike Walmsley. Headworks refer to the initial water and power infrastructure required for residential lots and is carried out by the state-owned Water Corporation and Western Power. Housing and Works Minister John Carey said the government had launched "unprecedented" measures to unlock land for regional housing. "Claims to the contrary are simply false," he said. He said $40 million from the government's infrastructure development fund had been put towards reducing obstacles to land development, including costs associated with utility connections. "Recently, we announced the new $400 million Housing Enabling Infrastructure Fund to unlock land in both regional and metropolitan areas," Mr Carey said. "This fund will help deliver critical water and power infrastructure to support a pipeline of residential land supply across the state." Mr Carey pointed to the sale of more than 1,000 lots across 90 towns since 2020 under the Regional Land Booster program as evidence of the government's success. Mr Walmsley said Water Corporation had blocked potential housing developments due to pressure on the local wastewater facility, which had operated at capacity since 2016. The state government pushed back upgrades until 2028, according to the shire. Mr Walmsley said the government's responsibility to provide power and water to meet growing housing demand had seemingly been neglected. Local governments in the broader Peel region have been pushing for expansion of local sewage capacity to support new subdivisions and population growth. Regional builder Sam Karamfiles is based in Manjimup, 300 kilometres south of Perth, where land availability has also put the handbrake on housing supply. "There's definitely an undersupply of affordable land in regional areas," Mr Karamfiles said. "Even with major developments in Perth, they're all hinged on government decisions and red tape." In the farming community of Pingrup, 360km south-east of Perth, Carol Walsh began assembling a modular home to house staff on her farm in 2024. She claimed she applied to Western Power to connect power to the modular home more than two years ago. "If it had been a family home, it would've been an absolute nightmare," she said. Off-site construction has a lot of natural advantages in regional and remote areas with the tyranny of distance and acute shortage of skills making on-site builds more challenging. The government's pivot to off-site construction has been lauded by Master Builders WA chief executive Matthew Pollock. "This is very welcome as something that will particularly help in the regions and remote areas where traditional supply chains are stretched, which makes it difficult to build traditional housing on site," Mr Pollock said. Mr Karamfiles was not too concerned about losing business to off-site builders. He said existing regional builders were already stretched to the limit. Western Power and Water Corporation have been contacted for comment.
Daily Mail
03-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Higher costs and planning delays hit MJ Gleeson profits
Shares in MJ Gleeson fell sharply on Tuesday with the housebuilder warning higher build costs and weak home price growth would hurt profits this year. The group, which specialises in affordable homes and promoting land for residential development, also highlighted planning delays it expects to continue to weigh on the business into next year. Gleeson had reported solid first half trade with revenues up 4.2 per cent, while the group highlighted 'encouraging signs of a recovery in demand' with reservation rates up 45 per cent over the first four weeks of 2025. But Gleeson told investors the 'pace of the housing market recovery has not been sufficient' to offset 'a number of headwinds' faced through the year. 'These include increased build costs, flat selling prices, the continued use of incentives and several bulk sale transactions,' It said. Gleeson's full-year guidance had also been based on the expected sale of 'extensive land holdings in East Yorkshire'. But delays to this sale mean the group now anticipates that operating profits within its homes business will be 15 to 20 per cent below current expectations. Gleeson Homes' gross margin for the year to 30 June will likely come in 1 per cent below previous guidance, the group said. The unit's 2026's gross margin is expected to see a similar impact. The group's land business, meanwhile, has completed three transactions to date and working to complete a further seven disposals before the year end. Warning signs for the sector? MJ Gleeson shares were down 22 per cent to 402p in early trading, bringing one-year losses to around 28 per cent. The update also weighed on the shares of rivals like Persimmon and Vistry Group, which were down 1.4 and 1.9 per cent, respectively. Analysts at Peel Hunt said: 'There are obvious questions about the read-across to the wider sector. Our sense is that, despite increased affordability, some of the net margin pressure described above will likely be felt across the sector, as the new build market competes with a second-hand sector seeing high stock levels. 'Similarly, planning issues impact all players. We continue to believe the sector needs to see demand-side support to see a material uptick in housing supply.'
CTV News
28-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
‘Is it a fulsome proposal?' Oro-Medonte responds to Barrie's proposal after ongoing boundary talks
Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall made headlines earlier this month when it was announced that a shared principles agreement had been struck with Springwater over ongoing boundary talks. On Wednesday, a proposal was put forward to the other partner in the discussions, Oro-Medonte. Council chambers were packed with residents widely in opposition to any potential agreement that could have been found. Barrie's proposal, according to the letter, addressed to council reflected an agreement that was in line with the City of St. Thomas and Central Elgin, in which the city would pay about 1.27 million dollars to the township annually over the course of five years. In exchange for the money, Barrie is looking for roughly 850 acres of land to develop and would approve about 935 units of servicing capacity over 10 years. Nuttall saying, 'Our focus is to get jobs and housing in places that they aren't currently in, you know, my real push has been the focus on, on jobs to ensure that if you live in the City of Barrie, you don't have to work in Toronto' Randy Greenlaw, Oro-Medonte Mayor stated, 'Is it a fulsome proposal? Not to the fullest degree we want, the financials aren't there, a bunch of elements or key pillars within, what the proposal should have, were lacking but that's fine, the process will flush this stuff out over time.' These conversations are not rejecting negotiations outright. Instead, the township will be sending its own principles back to Barrie, a lot of which the mayor says will be done through the province's facilitator. But the idea here is that an agreement can be found in the long term without the Ford government's intervention.
CBC
28-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Greater Sudbury city council changes its mind on Azilda property that was earmarked for housing
Citing "significant opposition," Greater Sudbury city councillors have voted to hold onto some vacant property instead of opening it up for housing development. On Tuesday night, city council voted in 9-3 favour of a motion to reconsider putting a piece of vacant land into the city's Affordable Housing Land Bank. The piece of land in question is a city-owned vacant plot in Azilda, near the Lionel E. Lalonde Centre. Last year, councillors voted unanimously to mark the land for future affordable housing. "Nobody on this council has been more pro-housing and development than me and I'm sure the irony of my motion is not lost on anyone," councillor Pauline Fortin said at the meeting. "This situation is quite different than anything that this council or any council has considered before." Fortin said she's heard from many constituents who don't want to see the land developed. "This is city-owned land which makes it in my opinion, community-owned owned property. And the community is saying no to this development. Some of this is NIMBYism for sure, but I have been hearing from residents all over," she said. 'Opportunity to reconsider' Greater Sudbury city councillor Mark Signoretti said he agreed with having a second look. "I look at decisions that we have all made and sometimes, we look at those decisions and say, '?You know what? Maybe I didn't do my due diligence,'" he said. "Maybe whether there's public outcry or public concern, there's an opportunity to reconsider." However, Councillor Deb McIntosh said she wasn't in favour of reconsidering the status of the land. She pointed out to a past example in her ward, where the city gave a piece of land to a non-profit seniors housing corporation. "On this site now stands a five-storey apartment building with affordable rents," she said. "The non-profit started down this path so that Conistonians could sell their homes and continue to live in the community." She said the city needs to make tough decisions with it comes to housing. "We need more homes," McIntosh said.
