‘I don’t miss the north shore’: Next generation of Sydneysiders moving west

There was only one way Genevieve Giles could buy her first property: going west.

Attempting to enter the Sydney housing market on a single income, the former north shore resident’s options were severely limited. Her preference to leave her family’s home in Willoughby for a place in the inner west was immediately dashed.

“I had to rule out 90 per cent of Sydney based on my salary and what I could afford to borrow,” she said.

Willoughby-turned-Kingswood resident Genevieve Giles by the Nepean River.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

The 36-year-old was left looking at Liverpool, Penrith or Campbelltown.

“I accepted it; these were my realistic options if I didn’t want to rent forever, and wanted the security of my own home. It just wasn’t realistic to consider staying in Willoughby, or even to consider buying a house,” she said.

Giles has been in her apartment in Kingswood near Penrith, more than 50 kilometres away from where she grew up, since 2020. She is part of a growing generation of Sydneysiders who see moving west as their only option.

Her friends have made similar decisions, Giles said, living scattered all over the city, accepting longer commute times and new social lives for the sake of affordable housing.

“We’ve all moved all over Sydney, all for the same options. And it isn’t ideal having to drive everywhere, or to have a long commute in to work. But we all wanted to stay in Sydney and this is how you can afford it,” she said.

And Giles believes more young people should consider moving further west for more affordable housing.

“I love it here now. I love the Panthers and I love my community here. It was never worth staying in one place for too long. I have no regrets, and I don’t miss the north shore.”

In the 2023/24 financial year, the areas with the largest rates of population growth were all in western Sydney. The outer north-west led. Box Hill, Marsden Park and Schofields had the highest growth.

The area with the highest rate of internal migration was Box Hill, north-west of Rouse Hill, suggesting people are shifting westward as they seek housing that fits their needs and budgets.

Adam Rochester, 31, moved from Parramatta to Penrith alongside his pregnant partner, Sam.

The investment banker said he made the move because he wanted a bigger space to raise children.

He said he found it “suffocating” attempting to save while renting in a competitive market such as Parramatta.

“It was very restrictive; we found it difficult to stay afloat, despite both of us working, and we couldn’t really save as well,” he said. But here we have more space, can plan for the future, and we ultimately feel more relaxed about it all.”

Like Giles, Rochester shopped around and found he would need to move much further west than he had once considered.

“It was the repayments that convinced me. I just don’t think salaries in Australia are high enough to keep up with million-dollar mortgages. And I didn’t want to be in debt for the rest of my life, so we decided to look out here,” he said.

“In a perfect world, I would probably have preferred to move further east, somewhere closer to a beach, to family and to work in the city. But we were pushed out here, and while I do love it here, I find it frustrating just how little choice we had.”

Data from Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) shows a growing demand for properties in western Sydney markets including Blacktown, Camden and Penrith.

Cotality head of research Tim Lawless said the growth indicated a “deflection of the mainstream demand towards what was once fringe markets”.

“If you are on the median income in Sydney, chances are the only places you’re going to be able to obtain finance is in those more affordable markets that are probably more at the lower quartile, rather than the median,” he said.

He said a post-pandemic acceptance of longer commutes and flexible work hours had also contributed to the westward shift.

“More people are willing to base themselves further and further from the CBD because they can work remotely, opening up demand on these fringe markets,” he said.

But Lawless said the trend was not the product of a “healthy” housing market, and that it rather indicated “insufficient levels of supply and the fact that population growth has run counter to our ability to build enough homes”.

And it has left the next generation rethinking what life in Sydney looks like.

Giles said: “We had to adapt and change. But you make it work, especially if you want to stay in the city.”

The Sydney Morning Herald has opened its bureau in the heart of Parramatta. Email [e-mail] with news tips.