Port Macquarie-Hastings Infrastructure Projects, NSW

A health-led service economy with active civic, education and transport work

Economic base

Port Macquarie-Hastings has a broad service economy anchored by health care and social assistance, retail, education and construction. Health care and social assistance represented 20.7% of employed residents in 2021, followed by retail trade at 10.8%, construction at 10.3%, education and training at 10.1%, and accommodation and food services at 8.9%. This profile combines essential services, household-facing activity and a substantial construction workforce. Manufacturing accounted for 3.5% and transport, postal and warehousing for 3.2%, giving the economy additional production and movement functions. The industry mix therefore reaches beyond a single service segment, with care, education, consumption, building and logistics all contributing to local activity.

Business activity reinforces that structure. In June 2025, the council recorded 7,612 registered businesses and 3,144 employing businesses. Construction had 1,610 registered businesses and 718 employing businesses, while health care and social assistance had 927 registered businesses and 397 employing businesses. Professional, scientific and technical services recorded 736 registered businesses and 346 employing businesses. These figures describe a mix of small operators and employing enterprises supporting building activity, health services and business services. They also indicate that the local business base includes both firms closely tied to physical activity and firms providing specialised services to organisations and residents.

Project program

Council-linked work is concentrated across health, schools, transport, industrial activity and civic work. Health, school, transport, industrial and civic work is under way; proposed work is directed to health, schools and transport. Completed work spans health, transport, schools, industrial activity and retail. The direction therefore combines continuing service and access work with a forward program centred on health, education and movement, while completed work has also included industrial and retail activity. This gives the program a service-oriented character, with work addressing community functions, movement and the conditions for business activity.

The largest priced work is associated with health, civic and school activity at a mid-sized scale. Transport work is shared with other councils, so its role extends beyond the council boundary. The program aligns with the local employment base: health and education are major resident employment industries, while construction is a sizeable source of resident employment and registered business activity. This alignment supports a reading of project work as service-capacity and construction activity connected to the council’s established economic structure. It may also sustain demand for specialist trades and professional services as work moves through its active and proposed directions.

Economic connections

The clearest connection is between service infrastructure and the economy’s health, education and care base. Four hospitals were open, including two public hospitals; 51 approved centre-based childcare services provided 3,641 approved places; and 14 residential aged care homes provided 1,414 places. Active and proposed health and school work may add capacity around services that already employ a large share of residents, while childcare and aged care capacity are relevant to households and the care workforce. These facilities and services also form part of the everyday infrastructure needed by a population whose change is being driven mainly by migration.

Transport work provides an access mechanism for households, workers, visitors and freight, and shared transport work connects that function with neighbouring councils. Industrial work may support business activity where it improves premises or operating conditions for production and service firms; civic work may support public-facing functions. These are mechanisms rather than measured economic outcomes. The construction channel is more direct: building approvals represent work approved to proceed, and the council’s non-residential approvals reached $90.4m in the 12 months to June 2026, equal to 1.15× its own three-year average. This combination links access, business premises and service facilities with current construction activity without treating project scale as local output.

Outlook

Population growth is an important demand signal. Estimated resident population was 92,432 in 2025, up by 1,368 people or 1.5%. Net internal migration contributed 1,397 people and net overseas migration contributed 259, offsetting a natural decrease of 288 people. The pattern points to population change driven mainly by migration, with implications for service use, housing activity and the need to maintain access across a growing resident base. It also provides context for the emphasis on health, school and transport work, because these functions serve both established residents and people arriving from elsewhere.

Residential building activity was 504 dwellings approved in the 12 months to July 2026, comprising 346 new houses and 158 townhouses, apartments and other dwellings. The rate was 5.5 dwellings per 1,000 residents and approvals were 0.94× the council’s own three-year average. Homes in development applications lodged over the latest 12 months totalled 1,517. Together with non-residential approvals above the council’s own average and a program focused on health, schools and transport, these indicators make housing delivery, service capacity, construction activity and the mix of work important areas to monitor. The indicators connect population change with approved building activity and the direction of council-linked work.

For council and planning staff

Population and service figures describe a council supporting a sizeable and changing resident base. The estimated resident population was 92,432 in 2025, with growth of 1,368 people or 1.5%; net internal migration contributed 1,397 people, net overseas migration 259, and natural increase was -288. Current service capacity included 4 hospitals, 51 approved centre-based childcare services and 14 residential aged care homes. The related capacity measures were 2 public hospitals, 3,641 approved childcare places and 1,414 residential aged care places. Read together, the figures connect the pace of population change with the scale of health, childcare and aged care services supporting daily life.

For buyers’ agents and investors

The 2021 household profile combines established ownership with a substantial rental sector: 42.5% of occupied private dwellings were owned outright, 26.3% were owned with a mortgage and 26% were rented. Average household size was 2.3 persons and median age was 49. In the same census, 48.3% had lived at a different address 5 years earlier. Median weekly household income was $1,263 and median weekly personal income was $647. The labour force participation rate was 51.3%, while the unemployment rate was 3.1% in 2026-Q1. Together, these measures describe tenure, household composition, mobility, income and labour-market conditions across the area.

For builders and developers

Residential approvals in the 12 months to July 2026 totalled 504 dwellings: 346 houses and 158 townhouses, apartments and other dwellings. Residential building work approved was valued at $285.1m, and approvals were 0.94× the council’s own three-year average. Homes in development applications lodged over the latest 12 months totalled 1,517. Construction employment represented 10.3% of employed residents in 2021; in June 2025 there were 1,610 registered construction businesses and 718 employing construction businesses. Non-residential building approvals totalled $90.4m in the 12 months to June 2026, or 1.15× the council’s own three-year average. These measures set approved residential work alongside lodged housing applications, construction business capacity and non-residential activity.

Key takeaways

• Health care and social assistance is the largest resident employment industry at 20.7%, supported by a project program that includes active and proposed health and school work.
• Population reached 92,432 in 2025 and rose by 1.5%, with net internal migration of 1,397 people the largest population component listed.
• Non-residential approvals were $90.4m and 1.15× the council’s own three-year average, while dwelling approvals were 0.94× that average in the 12 months to July 2026.

Sources

• Health care and social assistance — ABS Census 2021
• Registered businesses — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Retail trade — ABS Census 2021
• Construction — ABS Census 2021
• Education and training — ABS Census 2021
• Accommodation and food services — ABS Census 2021
• Manufacturing — ABS Census 2021
• Transport, postal and warehousing — ABS Census 2021
• Employing businesses — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Construction — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Employing businesses, Construction — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Health Care and Social Assistance — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Employing businesses, Health Care and Social Assistance — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Employing businesses, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Open public and private hospitals — AIHW MyHospitals
• Non-residential building approvals, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Public hospitals — AIHW MyHospitals
• Approved centre-based childcare services — ACECQA national register
• Approved childcare places — ACECQA national register
• Residential aged care homes — AIHW GEN aged care
• Residential aged care places — AIHW GEN aged care
• Non-residential building approvals versus this council's own three-year average, weighted by the value of those approvals — ABS Building Approvals
• Estimated resident population — ABS Regional Population
• Dwellings approved, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Homes in development applications lodged, latest 12 months — NSW Planning Portal
• Population change — ABS Regional Population
• Population change — ABS Regional Population
• Natural increase — ABS Regional Population
• Net internal migration — ABS Regional Population
• Net overseas migration — ABS Regional Population
• New houses approved, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Townhouses, apartments and other dwellings approved, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Dwellings approved per 1,000 residents, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Dwellings approved versus this council's own three-year average — ABS Building Approvals
• Owned outright — ABS Census 2021
• Average household size — ABS Census 2021
• Unemployment rate — Small Area Labour Markets
• Owned with a mortgage — ABS Census 2021
• Rented — ABS Census 2021
• Median age — ABS Census 2021
• Lived at a different address 5 years ago — ABS Census 2021
• Median household income (weekly) — ABS Census 2021
• Median personal income (weekly) — ABS Census 2021
• Labour force participation rate — ABS Census 2021
• Value of residential building work approved (new homes, alterations and additions), latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Labour force — Small Area Labour Markets
• Unemployed persons — Small Area Labour Markets