CENSUS 2016 TOPIC PAPER Housing in Greater Western Sydney By Amy Lawton, Social Research and Information Officer, WESTIR Limited February 2019 © WESTIR Limited A.B.N 65 003 487 965 A.C.N. 003 487 965 This work is Copyright. Apart from use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part can be reproduced by any process without the written permission from the Executive Officer of WESTIR Ltd. All possible care has been taken in the preparation of the information contained in this publication. However, WESTIR Ltd expressly disclaims any liability for the accuracy and sufficiency of the information and under no circumstances shall be liable in negligence or otherwise in or arising out of the preparation or supply of any of the information WESTIR Ltd is partly funded by the NSW Department of Family and Community Services. Suite 7, Level 2 154 Marsden Street [email protected] (02) 9635 7764 Parramatta, NSW 2150 PO Box 136 Parramatta 2124 WESTIR LTD ABN: 65 003 487 965 | ACN: 003 487 965 Table of contents (Click on the heading below to be taken straight to the relevant section) Acronyms .............................................................................................................................. 3 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 4 Summary of key findings ....................................................................................................... 4 Regions and terms used in this report ................................................................................... 6 A note about Greater Western Sydney boundaries ............................................................... 6 Housing in Greater Western Sydney ..................................................................................... 8 1. Dwelling type ............................................................................................................... 8 2. Dwelling structure and density ................................................................................... 9 Dwelling structure – overview ......................................................................................... 9 Dwelling structure – in detail ........................................................................................ 11 Population density ........................................................................................................ 17 Residential stability ...................................................................................................... 18 3. Dwelling supply ......................................................................................................... 20 Dwelling approvals and completions ............................................................................ 20 Sydney Greenfield Monitor ........................................................................................... 23 Dwelling forecasts ........................................................................................................ 29 Vacancy rates .............................................................................................................. 32 4. Tenure type ................................................................................................................ 33 Dwellings owned outright and with a mortgage ............................................................ 34 Rented dwellings .......................................................................................................... 36 5. Social housing and rental assistance ...................................................................... 41 Social housing waiting times ........................................................................................ 41 Commonwealth Rent Assistance recipients ................................................................. 41 6. Dwelling occupants ................................................................................................... 44 Family type .................................................................................................................. 44 Average household size ............................................................................................... 46 Dwelling internet connection ........................................................................................ 46 7. Housing costs and prices ......................................................................................... 51 Median rent and mortgage payments ........................................................................... 51 Weekly rent payments – in detail ................................................................................. 55 Monthly mortgage repayments – in detail ..................................................................... 56 Median sales prices ..................................................................................................... 57 First home benefits ...................................................................................................... 59 8. Housing stress........................................................................................................... 60 Rental, mortgage and total housing stress ................................................................... 60 Dwelling price to income ratio ...................................................................................... 65 Appendices ......................................................................................................................... 67 2 Acronyms CRA Commonwealth Rent Assistance DPE Department of Planning and Environment (NSW) DSS Department of Social Services (Commonwealth) FACS Department of Family and Community Services (NSW) LGA Local Government Area LVR Loan to Value Ratio GWS Greater Western Sydney NSW New South Wales SA Statistical Area SWS South Western Sydney WS Western Sydney 3 Introduction Housing has become one of the biggest social and public policy issues in Australia. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of housing in Greater Western Sydney (GWS), one of the fastest growing regions in New South Wales (NSW). The paper explores 2016 Census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as well as other datasets where relevant. The topics explored include dwelling type and density, dwelling supply and forecasts, housing tenure, social housing and rental assistance, dwelling occupants, housing costs and stress. Summary of key findings The main findings of this topic paper are: • Dwelling type: In 2016, there were approximately 798,573 dwellings in Greater Western Sydney (GWS). 94.1% of dwellings were occupied private dwellings, 5.8% were unoccupied private dwellings and 0.1% were considered non-private dwellings. • Dwelling structure and density: In 2016, 70.3% of dwellings in GWS were low density, 13.5% were medium density and 15.3% were high density. 0.5% of dwellings were classified as ‘other dwellings’. GWS had a higher proportion of low density dwellings and a lower proportion of higher density dwellings than Greater Sydney and NSW. • Population density: In 2016, population density in GWS ranged from 20.0 persons per square kilometre in Wollondilly to 3,337.9 persons per square kilometre in Canterbury-Bankstown. The GWS LGAs with population densities more than 1,000 persons per square kilometre were Blacktown (1,489.2), Fairfield (2,053.7), Parramatta (2,902.0), Cumberland (3,234.7) and Canterbury-Bankstown (3,337.9). • Residential stability: In 2016, the residents of GWS had slightly higher levels of residential stability than Greater Sydney, Rest of Sydney and NSW. In 2016, 51.8% of the population had the same address five years previously compared to Greater Sydney (48.8%), Rest of Sydney (46.2%) and NSW (49.8%). • Dwelling supply: The number of total approved dwellings per financial year in GWS increased from 15,768 dwellings in 2012-13 to 32,210 dwellings in 2017-18, while the number of total completed dwellings per financial year in GWS increased from 11,695 dwellings in 2012-13 to 23,620 dwellings in 2017-18. Roughly half of the dwelling approvals and completions between 2012-13 and 2017-18 in Greater Sydney were in GWS. • Dwelling forecasts: Planning forecasts predict that GWS will gain 112,400 new dwellings in the next five years (2017/18 – 2021/22). This equates to 57.1% of Greater Sydney’s predicted housing growth. • Tenure type: In 2016, 26.2% of dwellings in GWS were owned outright, 35.3% were owned with a mortgage and 30.8% were rented. • Social housing: Most social housing allocation zones in GWS as at 30 June 2017 had waiting times for 3 bedroom properties of 10 years and over, while other 4 allocation zones such as Mount Druitt, Blue Mountains, Richmond/Windsor, Camden, Campbelltown and Wingecarribee reported waiting times of 5 to 10 years. The allocation zone in GWS with the lowest social housing waiting time was Wollondilly (2 to 5 years). • Rental assistance: There were an estimated 128,673 recipients of Commonwealth Rental Assistance (CRA) in GWS in June 2018. The LGAs with the highest number of CRA recipients in June 2018 were Canterbury-Bankstown (21,656 recipients), Fairfield (19,468), Blacktown (17,190) and Liverpool (13,010). • Family type: There were 751,751 households in GWS in 2016, with the dominant family type being couple families with children (41.6% of households), followed by couple families without children (23.0%). 12.8% of households were classified