Australia’s most populous city could soon become a ‘city without grandchildren’ as young families and professionals leave in search of cheaper alternatives.
A report by NSW Productivity Commissioner Peter Achterstraat found that between 2016 and 2021, twice as many people aged 30 to 40 had left Sydney than had arrived.
Mr Achterstraat said the driving force behind the exodus is the cost of housing, as most can only afford to buy in the suburbs and face a long commute to work.
The Tucci family is among the many families who have fled Sydney left the inner western suburb of Leichhardt for Cairns, in the far north Queenslandin January.
The family of four couldn’t afford a multi-million dollar mortgage in Australia’s largest city, but were able to buy a three-unit block on the beach for $1 million in Cairns.
A new report shows twice as many people aged 30 to 40 are leaving Sydney (pictured) than arriving, prompting a warning it could become a ‘city without grandchildren’
The father of the family, Adrian Tucci, said he could not make enough money to support a huge mortgage, two children and his wife Nicole, a stay-at-home mother, despite running a successful painting business.
Mr Tucci employed as many as nine people when he worked in Sydney and said he had seen many move out of the city in recent years.
“They’re in the same boat… they’ve gone to the Gold Coast, Adelaide, Perth and places like that just so they can also afford a house (and) raise their kids,” he told the ABC.
Mr Tucci said his parents, who live in Sydney, understood and supported their departure but were disappointed they would not be with their grandchildren.
Mr Achterstraat warned that more grandparents will be living in the city without their children and grandchildren unless the state government intervenes.
According to his report, the Sydney breakout highlighted the need to build more apartment complexes in the city’s inner suburbs to drive down property prices.
“Sydney needs hundreds of thousands of new homes over the next twenty years,” Achterstraat said in the report.
‘Building more in the places where people want to live is an important part of solving the housing puzzle.’
A young family, the Tuccis (pictured, Adrian and Nicole Tucci), left Leichhardt, a western Sydney suburb, for Cairns, far north Queensland, so they could buy a house in comfort.
The exodus has prompted the NSW Productivity Commissioner to call on the state government to take action and promote housing projects ‘in the places where people want to live’ (stock image)
He said 45,000 more homes could have been built between 2017 and 2022 without taking up more land if taller buildings were allowed in Sydney.
“This could have lowered prices and rents by five and a half percent: $35 per week for the average apartment or a savings of $1,800 per year for tenants.”
Although the plan to ‘build’ is backed by the NSW government, which aims to develop six-storey apartment complexes within 400 meters of the city’s 30 train stations, locals are not so positive.
Locals on Sydney’s north shore have criticized the government for not caring about the area’s heritage or home values.
State Treasurer Daniel Mookhey hit back at locals, saying a balance can be struck between protecting the character of a neighborhood and allowing people to break into the housing market.
Mr Mookhey warns Sydney has five to 10 years to rebuild its housing sector and prevent it from being dominated by intergenerational wealth, similar to San Francisco.