The 37,608 annual housing completions for metropolitan Sydney is mainly driven by the big swing in apartment living, according to the Urban Taskforce.
“With 72% of the years housing completions being apartments, it is clear that apartment living is critical for how we house Sydney’s growth,” said Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson.
“Four of the top six performing council areas have very high apartment completions. Bayside and the City of Sydney have 99% apartments, Parramatta has 97% and Canterbury Bankstown has 76%. Two of the top performing council areas however are mainly building detached houses with Blacktown having 77% detached houses and Camden with 92%,” said Johnson.
“The record performance in housing completions means we have now for the first time passed the average number of new dwellings required each year for 20 years. An average of 36,250 new dwellings is needed each year for 20 years according to NSW Government estimates.”
At the same time, Johnson noted that there are already signs that the supply chain of new apartments is slowing down particularly with some of the restrictions against housing in the Greater Sydney Commission’s Draft District Plans making it more difficult for large apartment projects to get approvals.
“While the 37,608 completions is above the 20-year average, this is based on mid-level predictions. If the boom in population growth for Sydney continues, then the high projection of 41,500 new dwellings a year could be required,” he said.
