Housing demand

Few urban places across Australia surprise.

In most of our major cities, the demand for detached houses is double the demand for attached dwellings.  And typically, one in ten residential sales across a wide urban area is a vacant allotment.

This has been the norm for some time.

Yet there are a few areas that are starting to defy this pattern. 

These areas include Canberra, Sydney and the Gold Coast when it comes to limited land sales and a high market share of attached dwelling sales.

Other areas appear to have adequate urban land supplies.  These areas include Adelaide, Darwin, Perth and to some degree the Brisbane region, Hobart and the Sunshine Coast.

It looks like Canberra; Sydney and the Gold Coast are set to become vertical cities. 

This will restrict certain lifecycle housing segments – including first home buyers and  families – and in particular those households with two or more children. 

Residents that need several vehicles per household will also be affected.

It is easy to be tricked into thinking that there are apartments everywhere.  And that this is the big trend. 

You see the cranes on the skyline and the new tall buildings stand out far more than any new detached housing estate, infill urban development or backyard home solution.

However, the demand for attached housing, whilst on the rise, is much lower than many realise. 

And the shift from detached to attached is much slower than most think too.