SMH January 2, 2016
The state government is continuing to sell pieces of its property - but do the numbers behind the policy stack up?
The NSW government is cashing in on the property boom, sending more than $3 billion of taxpayer-owned property under the hammer, including some of Sydney's most iconic buildings.
The Baird government says it is determined to dispose of old, misused or surplus to requirement buildings to recycle the proceeds into new infrastructure and housing.
But critics say the property sales are ideologically driven, saddle taxpayers with higher rents to house public servants and question whether it would be cheaper to borrow to fund new infrastructure, rather than miss out on capital gains on the properties.
More than $1 billion of NSW government property has gone under the hammer since the Liberal state government was elected in 2011.
The government body responsible for selling property, Government Property NSW, expects to raise another $865 million this financial year, and $652 and $426 million in the following financial years.
The biggest sale to date has been the bundled sale of seven office buildings in 2013 for $405 million, including Bligh House, where GPNSW now leases the space. Property group Cromwell paid $53 million for Bligh House, and sold it this year for $68 million.
Other major sales include the Australian Technology Park for $263 million, two office buildings in the Parramatta Justice Precinct for $170 million, the Ausgrid building on George Street for $152 million, the $116 million raised so far from the sale of 47 out of the 250 Millers Point properties set to go under the hammer, $35 million for the Lands and Education sandstone buildings on Bridge Street and $33 million for the former Children's Court site "Bidura" in Glebe.
Glossy brochures will also be prepared for the White Bay Power Station in Balmain and the Shangri-La and Four Seasons hotels in the Rocks, the proceeds from the latter to be used to fund a Circular Quay revamp.
Smaller sales have included a former Station Masters home in Waverton for $2.6 million and a former Fisheries NSW waterfront building in Wollstonecraft for $5.5 million.
Meanwhile, across regional NSW, hundreds of properties are being offered for sale as the government divests surplus properties and rolls out a "one stop shop" approach to government services.
Read more:
The state government is continuing to sell pieces of its property - but do the numbers behind the policy stack up?
The NSW government is cashing in on the property boom, sending more than $3 billion of taxpayer-owned property under the hammer, including some of Sydney's most iconic buildings.
The Baird government says it is determined to dispose of old, misused or surplus to requirement buildings to recycle the proceeds into new infrastructure and housing.
But critics say the property sales are ideologically driven, saddle taxpayers with higher rents to house public servants and question whether it would be cheaper to borrow to fund new infrastructure, rather than miss out on capital gains on the properties.
More than $1 billion of NSW government property has gone under the hammer since the Liberal state government was elected in 2011.
The government body responsible for selling property, Government Property NSW, expects to raise another $865 million this financial year, and $652 and $426 million in the following financial years.
The biggest sale to date has been the bundled sale of seven office buildings in 2013 for $405 million, including Bligh House, where GPNSW now leases the space. Property group Cromwell paid $53 million for Bligh House, and sold it this year for $68 million.
Other major sales include the Australian Technology Park for $263 million, two office buildings in the Parramatta Justice Precinct for $170 million, the Ausgrid building on George Street for $152 million, the $116 million raised so far from the sale of 47 out of the 250 Millers Point properties set to go under the hammer, $35 million for the Lands and Education sandstone buildings on Bridge Street and $33 million for the former Children's Court site "Bidura" in Glebe.
Glossy brochures will also be prepared for the White Bay Power Station in Balmain and the Shangri-La and Four Seasons hotels in the Rocks, the proceeds from the latter to be used to fund a Circular Quay revamp.
Smaller sales have included a former Station Masters home in Waverton for $2.6 million and a former Fisheries NSW waterfront building in Wollstonecraft for $5.5 million.
Meanwhile, across regional NSW, hundreds of properties are being offered for sale as the government divests surplus properties and rolls out a "one stop shop" approach to government services.
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