Development Applications in Hurstville, NSW

Development activity in Hurstville

Mate, I’ve been swinging a hammer and pulling permits around Hurstville for the better part of a decade, and I can tell you straight up: this suburb is a builder’s patchwork. You’ve got Federation-era bungalows sitting cheek by jowl with 1970s brick veneers and brand-new knockdown-rebuilds that look like they’ve been dropped in from a different planet. The housing stock here is a mixed bag — solid double-brick on the older streets near Forest Road, then those narrow battleship blocks further south where every second house is getting a first-floor extension. If you’re working in Hurstville, you learn to read the street quick. The real action is in the middle ring, where the block sizes still give you room to breathe, but the land value’s already pushing past a million for a tired three-bedder.

The clients here are a specific breed. You’ve got the upsizers — couples in their late forties who bought in the 2000s, paid off the mortgage, and now want a four-bedroom with a granny flat for the in-laws. Then there’s the knockdown-rebuild crew, mostly Chinese-Australian families who see a 1950s weatherboard on a 600-square-metre block and think “perfect spot for a double-storey rendered number with a marble island bench.” And don’t forget the investors — they’re snapping up the older units near the station, stripping them out for light commercial fitouts on the ground floor and converting the upstairs into two-bedders. That’s where the real volume is right now: light commercial fitouts and “other” projects like shopfront renovations and medical centre conversions. New home construction is steady, but it’s the fitout work that keeps the crews busy between bigger jobs.

Local council — and I mean the local council, Georges River Council — has a reputation that’s earned, not gifted. Turnaround on a standard development application for a single dwelling is sitting around four to six months if you’ve got your paperwork tight. They’re sticklers for stormwater detention and tree preservation. I’ve seen blokes lose two weeks just because they didn’t flag a mature eucalyptus on the boundary. Common conditions include a condition for a dilapidated shed demolition bond, a requirement to retain at least 30 percent soft landscaping, and a non-negotiable 1.5-metre setback from the rear boundary on blocks under 450 square metres. If you’re doing a knockdown-rebuild, budget for a pre-DA meeting. It’ll save you the headache of a refusal on floor space ratio — they’re clamping down hard on that in Hurstville.

Right now, there are eight development applications lodged in the suburb. That’s not a boom, but it’s not dead either. Most of those are for the “other” category — things like converting a single-storey shop into a cafe with a two-bedroom flat above, or putting a second storey on a 1960s fibro house near the golf course. The new home construction applications tend to come in bursts, usually after a few big land sales near the railway line. The builders who do well here are the ones who know how to work with a sloping block — Hurstville’s got plenty of that — and who don’t fight the council on conditions. Push back too hard and you’ll sit in the assessment queue for an extra three months.

The market itself is realistic, not flashy. You’re not seeing the crazy margins of the eastern suburbs or the volume of the Hills. A standard new-build, four-bedroom, two-bathroom home on a 500-square-metre block will cost you around $600,000 to $750,000 in construction, depending on finishes and whether you’re excavating for a basement garage. Clients are price-sensitive — they’ll shop around for a framer who can do the job for $35 a square metre less, but they’ll also pay a premium for a builder who’s done three jobs in the same street and knows the council planner by name. That’s the edge in Hurstville. It’s a small pond, and reputation travels fast.

If you’re thinking of picking up work here, don’t come in