Padding out Sydney’s ‘missing middle’

September 20, 2026 — 5:00am

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The state government has framed Sydney’s housing supply problems as a top priority, so the news that one of its signature policies is failing is deeply disappointing.

The pledge to bring an additional 112,000 homes to fill the city’s “missing middle” by 2029 is shaping up as a distant dream, writes state political reporter Max Maddison.

An analysis of the government’s low-and-mid-rise, or LMR, policy shows that four-fifths of the development applications received so far apply to single detached homes rather than the terraces and apartments required.

Most people are using the streamlined planning system to renovate existing homes rather than build more of them.

There were 13,308 dwellings in........

© The Sydney Morning Herald