Retailers such as discount supermarket giant Aldi are struggling to secure the warehousing and distribution facilities they need to serve a growing Sydney population, with new research revealing the amount of undeveloped industrial land in the city undershoots already low government estimates.

Aldi took more than two years to find a lease for industrial land near the upcoming Western Sydney airport that had the capability to service 200 stores due to the city’s chronic undersupply of industrial land, a company source said.