Today’s release of the 2021 Census results revealed that the proportion of NSW residents living in flats or apartments has risen 9% since the last census to 21.7%.
“As NSW’s population has now passed 8 million, the swing to apartment living ramping up, means that there is a critical need for a sustainable supply of this type of dwelling, particularly as overseas migration numbers strengthen and international student numbers continue to increase,” said Steve Mann, CEO, UDIA NSW.
The NSW Productivity Commission White Paper 2021 identified a backlog of 40,000 dwellings at the start of 2021, and assuming all currently forecasted apartments are completed without delays, supply will still fall short of the estimated increases in demand between now and mid-2026, with cumulative unmet demand estimated to reach at least 60,000.
This is consistent with the UDIA Apartment Supply Pipeline Report (2021), which showed that as 75% of the apartment pipeline forecast to deliver supply through to 2026 is still to commence construction and facing constraints due to pre-sale requirements, financing difficulties, controls impacting feasibilities and lengthy VPA negotiations, there are significant risks that completions will be lower than expected.
“If we want to keep affordability where it is today, let alone improve affordability, we will need to significantly boost new project commencements and momentum in the apartment supply pipeline,” said Steve Mann..
For every 200 apartments which commence in NSW, the total economic impact is $255 million and each project of this size delivers 127 direct jobs and, with the multiplier into the broader economy, 318 total jobs.
UDIA calls on the NSW Government to deliver policies to drive commencements now, which will enable development of apartment dwellings and at the same time, support jobs and the economic recovery we all want to see in NSW.
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Media Enquiries:
Deanna Lane 0416 295 898 or dlane@udiansw.com.au.