Hundreds of homes sitting empty in some of Sydney’s most expensive suburbs have been classified as inactive dwellings while thousands more are being used as secondary residences, sparking calls for a vacancy tax as a solution to the state’s housing supply and affordability crisis.
NSW crossbench MPs say a tax on unused homes, as has been rolled out in Victoria, could fund further housing for essential workers in addition to putting more properties onto the private rental market.
More than 300 dwellings in the suburbs of Neutral Bay and Kirribilli are considered inactive, according to analysis of electricity usage data for thousands of dwellings by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Bondi Beach, Potts Point and Cremorne each have about 200 places where the lights were not turned on for months.
Separate statistics show within the City of Sydney, there are 116,000 residential dwellings and about 23,000 – or one in five – is classified as a “non-primary” residence. Non-primary residences are those used as secondary homes, short-term rentals or that are empty because they are currently being sold. The data is based on 2021 figures compiled using health, education, government payments, income and taxation, employment and population demographics statistics.
Sydney MP Alex Greenwich said many homes, particularly in Millers Point, had been underutilised.Credit: Damian Shaw
Chris Minns last year ruled out a tax on second homes, but Sydney MP Alex Greenwich said a levy on vacant homes could be used to fund further housing for essential workers around the inner city.
“I would support some sort of vacancy tax in the inner city, particularly when we look at areas in parts of Millers Point, where former worker housing has been converted into short-term letting,” he said.
He said any tax would address properties that had stood empty for a long time and would discourage land banking, the practice of buying land as an investment, holding it for future use and making no specific plans for its development.