PRESTON MARKET UPDATE – this is a rough summary of where the parties stand at the moment (or any independent candidates aligned with the Save the Preston Market Action Group position). See notes below. Happy to adjust if any corrections. LABOR – this is the current planning amendment with an assumption of 350 apartments west of the railway and 850 east. See our other posts for more details on the 2023 amendment. LIBERAL – Liberal MPs agreed with heritage protection but criticised the apartment height restrictions. So this assumes a Liberal/One Nation govt approves the Medich proposal and also potentially increases yield and heights to those in the old VPA plan. An extra 50+ apartments would generate more council rates and stamp duty but the calcs assume the extra revenue just covers the extra services for extra residents. GREENS – Greens councillors unanimously endorsed the 2023 SAC recommendations (as did all councillors), which included max 14 storeys and 1,200 apartments. As per above, the assumption is 350/850 west/east. Public acquisition is costed roughly at $200 m. It is not clear if they are proposing public housing west of the tracks but assuming only east, that is 850 new units at a total NPV cost of ~$369 million ($16 k annually taken from RoGS annual Vic net recurrent plus depreciation, at a 4% discount rate, plus $34 k per apartment in foregone stamp duty). Presumably the housing would be owned by DFFH and the market by Darebin Council. SPMAG – their Community Vision Masterplan has two 12-storey buildings west of the tracks, with roughly 360 apartments, and eight buildings to the east with roughly 411 apartments total. It proposes a mix of public/community/private. The calcs assume an equal three-way split. So the assumed cost of 514 public/community apartments is ~$223 m using the same method as above. Public acquisition cost is reduced assuming they sell land worth ~$40 m to private developers for the remaining apartments. VICTORIAN SOCIALISTS – the same as the SPMAG proposal, as per their position, but with all housing as public housing including buying 30A Cramer (estimated at ~$40 m) for public housing west of the tracks.
