Chris Johnson: Why Sydney families are taking up apartment living
THE common Sydney perception has been that apartments are not family friendly but OK for singles or couples. But the most recent figures show more and more families opting for apartment living writes Chris Johnson.
Opinion
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The common Sydney perception has been that apartments are not family friendly but OK for singles or couples. Families living in detached houses with front and back gardens has been the expectation.
The results of the 2016 Census, however, show that Sydney is in the middle of a boom in families moving into apartments. Recent research by demographers McCrindle for the Urban Taskforce using the Census data has shown that there are now 87,000 apartments in Sydney occupied by families. This is well up on the 65,000 in the previous census in 2011.
Earlier research by SGS Economics shows that Melbourne is way behind us with 7241 family apartments in 2011 rising to 11,499 in 2016. Brisbane is further behind with 2715 in 2011 rising to 4534 in 2016.
You might assume these family apartments are not near you but they are booming across much of Sydney.
Concord has 1403 families in apartments — up from 599 five years ago. Homebush Bay has 1283 (up from 346 in 2011) and Parramatta has 1455 (up from 997).
READ MORE: Why apartment living is the way of the future
Waterloo has 1585, Sydney and Haymarket 1233 and further west Liverpool has 931 and Blacktown 786. The numbers are impressive but it is the rate of growth that is more significant. Many suburbs have increased the number of families living in apartments by more than 50 per cent over the past five years with a Sydney average of 35 per cent. There are important lessons for Sydney’s planning in these trends, so the Urban Taskforce commissioned McCrindle to dig deeper into the Sydney family apartment phenomena.
They found that Sydney currently has 20 per cent of apartments occupied by families with a further 8 per cent occupied by single parents with children.
Two thirds of the parents are young, aged between 23 and 37 and 61 per cent of them are renting their apartment. By 2024 the research indicates that a third of all Sydney apartments will be occupied by families.
Population surge in sleepy North Sydney from new apartment developments
This could mean 150,000 apartments occupied by families.
So how is the industry that supplies apartments responding?
Location is an important issue for families, with access to public transport and to schools being crucial.
Many developers of larger apartment projects include childcare centres, playgrounds and parks.
Some mid-rise apartments have balconies overlooking a shared outdoor space children can play in with easy supervision.
A number of apartment buildings organise group events for Easter and Christmas. Parents often see the benefit of apartment living as low maintenance and of course affordability.
The size of an apartment is important for families with a preference for more space and more bedrooms as is the location in the building.
READ MORE: See all our Project Sydney coverage
Family apartments are better lower down in a building and this can offset the extra costs that come with the views from an apartment at higher levels. Some apartment buildings are incorporating common music and study rooms for children.
The McCrindle research projected the current 30 per cent of Sydney homes being apartments might increase within 40 years to 50 per cent of Sydney’s homes. By then, detached houses could be down to 25 per cent with townhouses also at 25 per cent. This mixture of housing types is similar to global cities such as London, Paris and New York. So Sydney as it moves from a population of five million people to eight million will inevitably develop a new urban form.
It is important that the evolving urban lifestyle accommodates a diversity of household types from singles to doubles to families and that the built environment ensures appropriate amenities for all, but particularly for families with children.
Chris Johnson is the CEO of Urban Taskforce