As Australia’s new suburbs continue to accommodate much of the country’s population growth, it becomes crucial to adapt housing and services to meet the evolving demands of their growing share of maturing families and single breadwinner households.
Our population forecasting team recently delivered the Growth Areas Population Insights Workshop to over 160 participants from growth area councils from across the country.
The team shared key insights from the 2021 Census and how wider population and housing trends are affecting future population outcomes in our newest suburbs.
You can watch the webinar here and access the slides here.
What are the key insights?
- Families are maturing and demanding a different mix of services, facilities and dwellings. Late thirties and primary-school-aged children are now the largest age groups.
- Single-adult households are the fastest growing households in our outer metro areas, which will fuel even stronger demand for additional and different types of housing.
- New housing is slow to respond to these shifts in demand. 85% of new dwellings are detached, although Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra lead the way with higher density formats.
- Residential construction activity has increased by 25% across all growth areas combined, but it is still not enough to meet demand, with vacancy rates falling or staying stable in all growth area markets.
- Stronger demand for housing is on the way, with overseas migration at all time highs.
Would you like to discover more about the future population of your local area?
We are providing tailored Population Insights workshops for individual councils. Please reach out if you would like a session for your council.
