Will success breed success in the west?
Melbourne's outer west continues to warm to apartment living with news that 90% of dwellings on offer at Newton Apartments within Williams Landing have sold in rapid succession. The success of the suburb's first apartment development also points towards further higher density projects both in the suburb and the region in general.
A triumph for developer Cedar Woods Properties, the breakdown of apartment buyers within Newton Apartments hints toward the pent-up demand for apartment living in a region that has traditionally been the stronghold of detached housing estates.
31 purchasers for the project live in Williams Landing or adjoining suburbs, with a breakdown of their locations as follows:
- 13 from Williams Landing
- 5 from Point Cook
- 4 from Truganina
- 3 from Derrimut
- 2 from Tarneit
- 1 from Laverton
- 1 from Wyndham Vale
- 1 from Werribee
- 1 from Deer Park
With Newton Apartments - the suburb's first apartment development - the project has managed to gain traction with investors, downsizers and first home buyers according to the development team. The project includes 57 one and two bedroom apartments over four storeys.
It’s great feedback for us when existing customers are investing in, and living in our developments, because it means they can see the value that we’re adding to the area.
Newton Apartments supports the suburb’s growth sustainably by offering higher density dwellings that meet market demand.
Nathan Blackburne, Victoria and Queensland State Manager of Cedar
Urban.com.au has maintained a keen eye on the masterplanned 275 hectare Williams Landing development located between the Melbourne CBD and Geelong. As the first apartment development within Williams Landing and one of only a handful currently in development in Melbourne's west, the success of Newton Apartments points toward further apartment projects being rolled out in the region.
Williams Landing itself is a Priority Development Zone with the expectation that the majority of development within the suburb into the future will involve higher density, mixed use projects. This will be a departure from Williams Landing's early development which focused on detached housing.
According to Cedar Woods Newton Apartments in part responds to consumer, state government and local government demand for higher density in Melbourne’s south western sub-region to cater for population growth. According to a September 2015 Urbis report on Williams Landing, the south western sub-region is expected to accommodate some 1.1 million people by 2031, an increase of approximately 400,000 from today’s population of 700,000.
Other apartment projects currently in development in Melbourne's west include The Lighthouse in Werribee South and 116 Watton Street, Werribee.
Whilst these projects are in isolation successful developments, combined they also show that apartment living in Melbourne's west is slowly gaining traction; traction that may be accelerated rapidly should the East Werribee Employment Precinct be awarded to the likes of the AEC consortium, with the development set to act as a catalyst for the region.