Families priced out of homes and into units push for bigger apartments
A GENERATION of Sydney children could be bunking down in shared bedrooms as families are forced to make apartments their homes while governments turn a blind eye to the need for units suited to households with more than one child.
NSW
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A GENERATION of Sydney children could be bunking down in shared bedrooms as families are forced to make apartments their homes while governments turn a blind eye to the need for units suited to households with more than one child.
Families desperately searching for three bedroom or larger apartments are also competing with boomer downsizers starting to demand units where they can host their visiting children and grandchildren.
Over the past decade the number of families living in high-rise blocks has more than doubled as median house prices have climbed past $1 million.
The State government is pushing its plans for record population growth in Sydney and to accommodate the increase has relaxed constraints against high density housing and developers building apartments.
But it appears to be ignoring the challenge of there being enough apartments suited to families, while developers are allowed to fit more of the more profitable one and two bedroom apartments into their blocks.
The Department of Planning admitted it does not monitor the number of bedrooms in apartments built in Sydney every year.
Planning Minister Anthony Roberts refused to comment on the issue.
Professor Bill Randolph, director of the UNSW’s City Futures Research Centre, said many Sydney kids may grow up never having their own room.
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“We are simply not building enough three bedroom apartment for families,” Prof Randolph said.
“If we keep building two bedroom apartments, many lower-income families will be forced to choose: Do I have only one kid or force two kids to share a bedroom?
“For some kids, having their own bedroom will never happen.
Prof Randolph called for more leadership on the issue, saying the state government should closely monitor how many units of different sizes are being built in NSW.
“It is remarkable that the government doesn’t seem to have that data at hand given how important it is,” he said.
“They really ought to be monitoring the supply output at a finer scale than what they appear to be.”
Professor Peter Phibbs, head of Urban and Regional Planning and Policy at the University of Sydney, said Sydney developers have always targeted the investor “sweet spot” of two bedroom apartments.
“Most developments tend to build one and two bedrooms because it turns out better for the developer’s returns,” he said.
The shortage has meant growing Sydney families are fighting to secure a shrinking share of affordable three bedroom apartments.
Mother of two Stephanie Tuck is paying $100 more than the original $700 in weekly rent to secure a three-bedroom apartment for her family in Lindfield on Sydney’s North Shore.
With a third child due in September, she said it was vital that they upgrade from the two bedroom unit they have been renting.
She said it took a solid three months of looking to secure the property.
“There were so many two bidders and every three bedroom we looked at had a lot of other families looking for the same thing,” the 30-year-old primary school teacher said.
“It would help if there were more three bedroom apartments out there, but for developers it is all about profit.”
A Parramatta Council spokeswoman said 28 per cent of households in its LGA were living in high density dwellings are couples with children.
“These trends suggest the need to ensure that an adequate supply of three-bedroom dwellings is maintained, as urban renewal takes place, to meet future population needs for larger dwellings,” she said.
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But Parramatta, like Inner West, Hornsby and many other councils, said they require only a minium of 10 per cent of new apartments to be three bedrooms.
All three councils indicated they do not have plans to increase the number of three bedroom apartments in their areas.
Development industry lobby group The Urban Taskforce forecasts that apartments will need to rise from about one-third to one-half of the city’s current housing mix to cater for increasing population.
A spokesman for the Department of Planning said that their “Apartment Design Guide requires new developments to provide a range of apartment types and sizes to cater for a diverse range of households”.
“As the housing needs of each council area are different, council(s) will assess the apartment mix of a proposed development based on their own local policies,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman said the department’s housing monitor only captures the number of apartments built and not the number of bedrooms in each apartment.
Between 2006 and 2016 the proportion of both three and four bedroom units in greater Sydney occupied by families (non-singles) dropped by one per cent, according to the ABS. This suggests availability has forced many families out at the expense of flat sharers. Meanwhile the number of families in one bedroom apartments has increased by 4 per cent.
Developer Aoyuan believes it is one of a few apartment builders catering to this market.
It has cut the number of apartments to include more three bedders in high rises in Turramurra and Burwood and plans to do the same in Gordon.
A Meriton spokesperson said: “Meriton has gradually adjusted its unit mix to accommodate more three bedrooms, as more families and downsizers continue to enter the apartment market,” she said.