House collapses while family sleeps in Sydney’s south-west

The company which built a house that collapsed on Friday has described the incident as “deeply distressing” and vowed to co-operate with investigators while supporting the occupants.

The family narrowly escaped injury as their home collapsed in Sydney’s south-west during the early hours of the morning.

Emergency crews were called to a house on Norman Street in Condell Park about 4.30am after reports a house had suffered significant structural damage.

Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Adam Dewberry said crews arrived to find “massive damage” to the home, which suddenly collapsed. The family of three was able to escape and suffered no injuries, he said.

“It’s crazy,” he said. “[The family] is OK, thank goodness. It’s so lucky. We don’t know why it’s happened, but obviously, something’s gone pear-shaped.”

The five-bedroom, three-bathroom house was built last year and was listed for rent in November 2022 at $1150 per week. The family with a young child who were in the house at the time of the collapse are tenants.

The property was built by Hemisphere Construction, and a spokesperson for the company said the safety of staff, contractors, home owners and tenants were its first priority.

“We have maintained an excellent track record in construction and this incident is deeply distressing to our staff, contractors and family,” they said.

“We will work with the relevant authorities to undertake an investigation into what has occurred. We have been in contact with the home owner and family to understand how we can support them during this difficult time, including to offer temporary accommodation.”

The family told Today that the whole family was sleeping in the room above the garage when they woke up to the ceiling beginning to collapse. They said they felt the house rumbling before they whisked their child and three pets to safety.

A real estate agent has advertised the home as setting “a new benchmark for the most superior products available for rent in south-western Sydney”.

The property, aimed at “the elite that value luxury cars and brands”, boasts five bedrooms, including a walk-in wardrobe and en-suite in the master; double garage; three bathrooms; in-ground swimming pool with water fountains; and stone kitchen-tops with designer appliances.

NSW Building and Better Regulation Minister Anoulack Chanthivong said Fair Trading and emergency services would be investigating the cause of the house collapse.

“What a tragic set of circumstances. I am just glad no one is hurt and that the family has been able to find temporary accommodation,” he said.

Chanthivong said appropriate action would be taken once the investigation was completed.

“The report will look at the whole building site and what caused it [to collapse]. I don’t want to pre-empt the findings of the investigation,” he said.

Fire and Rescue NSW set up an exclusion zone, but were unable to do anything more.

“Normally we can do something, but there was nothing we could do to make it safe for the time being,” Dewberry said.

“There was still some movement happening when we left. They’ve just got to get the right people in now to strip it out. There wasn’t much we could do.”

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