Homes can do without car parks but only if there’s great public transport

EditorialEditorialAugust 27, 2026 — 5:27pmWith Sydney mired in a housing crisis, the push is on to prioritise housing people over housing cars.Research shows that parking requirements act as a handbrake on new housing and add about $70,000 to the cost of building a typical two-bedroom apartment.Parking requirements act as a handbrake on new housing developments.Wolter PeetersThe Inner West Council is the latest municipality to vote to overhaul parking laws for new developments in a bid to cut construction costs, ease traffic congestion and force a shift toward public transport.Some parts of the inner west require up to one parking space per apartment, but the new rules divide the municipality into three separate parking zones, with the most significant reductions applying around new transport hubs including Ashfield, Marrickville and Dulwich Hill. Studio and one-bedroom apartments will be permitted to have no parking spaces, while two-bedroom apartments will be capped at 0.4 spaces. In the other zones, parking will vary from 0.3 to 0.7 spaces per apartment.The inner west moves follow similar reforms by Woollahra, North Sydney and the City of Sydney councils, which earlier cut parking rates for new apartments to as few as 0.1 spaces in some areas. The NSW government’s low- and mid-rise housing reforms have also introduced lower parking requirements, with some developments requiring as little as half a parking space per apartment.The inner west reforms come after research by the Grattan Institute found more than 40 per cent of parking spaces in Sydney apartment buildings sat empty overnight. The think tank recommended abolishing laws obliging developers to build car parking spaces, not least because developers rarely built more car parks than they were legally obligated to build since it was seldom worth the additional expense.Linking the cost of providing parking space to cheaper housing has true potential, but people have to be brought along with the idea.The era when the car was king and shaped Sydney’s development regulations still lives. There are reportedly 2.3 million registered vehicles in the metropolitan area, with outer suburbs averaging two-plus cars per household, while inner-city households typically have one or none.While a significant number of people already live car-free or car-lite, the increasing use of commuter bikes and provision of bike lanes, the evolution of working from home and cheaper purchase prices could help make these planning changes even more widely acceptable.But there will be inevitable concerns over whether apartments with little or no parking availability remain attractive to subsequent generations of buyers. Similarly, the idea of raising children without ready access to a car could make trips to school and Saturday sports and other taxi parenting problematic.The innovative idea of removing parking requirements to help cut the cost of buying your own home, and the broader ambition of changing Sydney’s long-entrenched car culture, can only succeed if our city has an outstanding public transport system.Sydney, unlike Singapore, Paris, Berlin or Tokyo, has great transport in pockets – the metro has been a revelation – but not in others. This week’s turmoil on the T1 North Shore Line when a sagging wire broke the network’s back at peak hour suggests we have a long way to go.Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.The Herald's View – Since the Herald was first published in 1831, the editorial team has believed it important to express a considered view on the issues of the day for readers, always putting the public interest first.From our partners