Our cities are being taken over by apartment-dwelling families, research shows

THERE are more Aussie families living in apartments than ever before — but it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Sydney dad Huw Grenfell is raising his son William, one, in an apartment.

ONCE upon a time, raising kids in apartments was almost unheard of in Australia.

But today, it’s fast becoming a lifestyle choice as well as a necessity — especially in our crowded and expensive capital cities.

According to the 2017 Sydney Lifestyle Study, commissioned by Urban Taskforce Australia, one-fifth of Sydney apartments are currently occupied by families.

The number of apartment-dwelling families has soared from 65,000 in 2011 to more than 87,000 in 2016.

That’s an increase of 34 per cent in just five years, and industry experts expect the percentage to keep growing rapidly.

For Sydney parents Huw and Natalie Grenfell, apartment living ticks all the boxes for their young family.

The couple are raising their son William, one, in a new apartment complex in the city’s south, and while they’ve never lived in a house as a family, Mrs Grenfell said she believed apartment living actually made parenting easier.

“Living in apartments with kids is pretty common now — only one or two of the girls in my mothers’ group live in houses, the other 14 are in apartments,” she said.

“It works pretty well — living in apartments lets you stay close to work and parks.

“There isn’t huge amounts of space, but that forces you to get out of the house, which is beneficial. If you had a backyard you’d probably stay in a bit more.”

Sydney mum Natalie Grenfell says apartments with amenities like pools are perfect for young families. Picture: Supplied.

Ms Grenfell said while it might be a different story for older apartments, newer complexes came with family-friendly benefits including lifts and common space for kids.

“We’ve got access to a baby pool where Will can wander around, so it’s perfect — it saves money, because otherwise we’d have to go to a centre, and even if we had a house with our own pool, it wouldn’t be the same kind of experience,” she said.

“Sometimes we can hear our neighbours’ kids in the hall but other than that, we don’t hear our neighbours much at all, and no one has ever complained about Will crying.”

While we often hear about the downsides of raising kids in apartments — last year, for example, Sydney mum Janin Mayer was threatened with legal action after her apartment building’s strata company said her toddler made “excessive noise” — Strata Community Australia NSW president Chris Duggan said they were an attractive option for many parents.

He said he expected the number of children living in apartments to keep growing, as developers were now building complexes with the needs of families in mind.

Mr Duggan said the increase in families living in apartments also raised the “potential for conflict” among neighbours, with the most common complaints including increased noise in shared areas such as swimming pools, greater demand for visitor parking and the use of toys like scooters and bikes on common property.

But he urged residents to show “empathy and patience”.

“People have to be a lot more understanding and patient when there’s babies, kids and family members using facilities,” Mr Duggan said.

Will Grenfell, one, is growing up in an apartment. Picture: Supplied.

“Whenever there’s a change in the demographic mix you have challenges in making sure people understand the different types of users’ expectations. Patience and empathy go a long way rather than diligently applying the by-laws.

“The big message is that strata is a great way of living but it does require people to be considerate of their neighbours and show empathy. A lack of empathy doesn’t build community.”

According to the 2017 Sydney Lifestyle Study, the suburbs with the most families in apartments are Parramatta, Bankstown, Westmead, Liverpool and Campsie.

There has also been a 14 per cent increase in single-parent families in flats since 2011.