Infrastructure development the factor to watch in Sydney: Knight Frank
With infrastructure development a big topic for property investors, Knight Frank’s Asia Pacific Residential Review June 2014 has focused their commentary around transport developments.
Noting that housing markets have historically emerged around transport infrastructure, Asia Pacific Head of Research Nicholas Holt said that this could be dwellings “bordering key roads; towns that have grown up next to river crossings; or cities that have developed around sea ports”.
“As the modern day city continues to expand, both outwards and upwards, spreading beyond traditional boundaries and creating new skylines of densely populated towers – a more complex network of urban transport infrastructure continues to influence populations and housing markets,” Holt explained.
Across Australia, residential markets are expected to see price growth remain in positive territory due to unchanged interest rates, according to the report’s findings. As of the first quarter of 2014, prices across the country’s capitals had increased on average 10.9% year on year.
Looking at Sydney, Knight Frank residential research, Australia’s Michelle Ciesielski said that Sydney’s light rail network extensions had an impact on property.
“The recently completed extension to Sydney’s light rail network has added nine new stops between Lilyfield and Dulwich Hill; connecting train and bus routes in the Inner West as an alternate passage to the Sydney CBD,” she said.
“In the three months leading to the maiden journey in March 2014, apartment prices in the suburbs of Leichhardt, Haberfield, Summer Hill and Dulwich Hill averaged capital growth of 3.6%, trending above the 2.3% experienced across Sydney.”
Here are the future residential hotspots identified in the report as a result of infrastructure:
Source: Knight Frank Asia Pacific Residential Review June 2014
Areas of interest:
- Haberfield
- Leichhardt
- Summer Hill
- Dulwich Hill
“The level of infrastructure in a market is a useful indicator as to the level of development while also a guide to the potential for catch-up. We must distinguish between different levels of infrastructure; national, intra-regional, and local.
“While airports, national rail networks and interstate highways are all indispensable elements of transport infrastructure; urban mass transit systems, within a city’s boundaries, have a more obvious impact on a local, residential level,” she said.