Apartment living the way of the future?

No one is saying Brisbane or a Perth will overtak Melbourne in pop and house prices.
That does not mean urbanisation into cbd will not continue. There are a variety of factors why this will continue (already started). One is because of jobs (probably the main reason) will increasingly be concentrated in the cbd..for Brisbane at least..can't speak for the others (but I suspect similar)

 

I feel sorry for kids these days who don't get to experience life growing up on a 1/4 acre block or more. My life as a kid has so many of the best memories because of the outdoor life in the backyard and friendly street. We played sport for hours on our backyard or the neighbors or one of the others. We raided fruit trees in summer, we had war games in the local bush reserve or went fishing, hiking etc. We played mini Olympics in our backyards, football, we had chickens, animals, many cats and dogs. We were healthy kids and very active. Indoors was only for homework and eating. Kids these days have other great things especially in education that we did not have but they are definitely missing out when they have no backyard. Capitalism changes all that. I remember when homes had tennis courts and large swimming pools, heck we even made mini go-cart and motocross circuits on some of out backyards. There is no going back. Just move out of the city when you can.

 

You reckon its capitalism?

Pretty sure it's the communist countries full of apartment blocks and countries like the US which still maintain the larger allotments than Australia.

Consistent active intervention into land supply and development through planning laws is why we have apartments. The market isn't screaming out for it - it wants land but unfortunately the powers that be think they know better.

 

I'm not sure what you can do in a yard that you can't do in a park or similar space. Most people in Australia still live in houses and look how high the obesity rate is getting, among both adults and kids. They are clearly not spending hours playing sports or running around outside.

 

Re: obesity... I think a lot of it is the overeating of bad foods these days along with the lack of exercise.

 

Yeh, so were our hopes when we purchased our house with a backyard, that our son will be playing outside. Turned out he had no inerest except for a computer and a playstation. All fun was left to me only mowing the loan and pruning trees.
Btw I had experience growing in a comminist country as a kid. I can tell you there was much better city planning back then. Each block of units was surrounded by trees and a square garden with a playground next to each high rise (3, 5 or 9 levels). There was a min distance of at least 100m of green area between houses - no fences. We certainly enjoined playing with other kids from the neibourhood in a playground and adults playing domino or chess nearby in a gazebo. All flats were gov built, no mortgage, just a small fee for a communal services like rubbish collection.

 

I feel ripped off. I grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney. The inner west extended as far as Leichhardt back then (IMHO, still does well maybe as far as Burwood).

Very few houses had a true 1/4 acre, rather than the more common 700m2 with the odd tennis court.

 

Blocks of land are getting smaller but houses are getting bigger which is causing backyards to shrink. Do people really need all those rooms when they live on tiny blocks? I'm currently building a stupidly big house but it's on 10 acres so I figure there is still plenty of yard for the kids to run around in.

Good well designed apartments can house families if people can unattach themselves from what they are used to. I've spent the last 5 days pouring over a 3 bedroom apartment design doing endless tweaks to make it more liveable and highly functional. I'm fortunate that I can afford my time to do this - if I was paying an architect I don't think they would be living and breathing just one apartment for this long.

 

This! The devil is in the details! We live in a duplex/villa thing. Whoever built it orientated it the right way, put in cathedral ceilings (its cool inside) and made a galley kitchen that takes up just the right amount of space.

It's fantastic! However, the units facing us are horrible. Exactly the same design but no cathedral ceilings, a dinky corner kitchen and orientated poorly so it cops the afternoon sun....not good in Darwin when you build out of concrete...a hot box.

Both cost exactly the same to build, are in the same location and have the same land....Two completely different living experiences though....

If only more developers cared as much as @Westminster

 

Having travelled to Japan and Paris/London/Rome recently I'd say most people in these cities are quite use to apartment living. We stayed with family in Paris and they raised 3 x daughters in a 60sqm 3 bdr unit/apartment.

My mother lives with us (wife + 2 kids) in our PPOR (4bdr + rumpus, Western Sydney) but I think my family really spends the majority of our time in the space of a 2/3bdr equivalent apartment, lol. We either play in the courtyard or go to local parks for outdoor play.

We recently purchased a 2bdr apartment IP in Redfern that will eventually become a pad for ourselves/kids when they're school/uni aged just around the corner from our friends who currently live in a 2bdr apartment with their 2 year old. 4 min walk to train station, 20 mins to the beach, 10 mins into CBD, 40 min out west to our PPOR. Wouldn't be able to afford it if we wanted our own house/land.

With the growing population it's just not feasible for continuous urban sprawl and the expectation of having your own 500sqm land/house with convenient access to public transport and amenities.

 

I've personally told my partner that if we were to buy another PPOR for us to live in, I would consider a townhouse but not a unit.

 

+1. Choose the townhouse over the apartment if you have that option. Get both location and some land. Great middle alternative. Easy maintenance. Suitable for most demographics too - working couples, adults with 1 or 2 children (some complexes come with pools and games rooms), investors, fine for single folk or house sharers....
Long term I think townhouses will become more valuable and easier to sell than an equivalent apartment.

 

And hence why I wouldn't want to live in another apartment.

 

Thumbs up.... Redfern imo was a great choice. Excellent rail, near the city, near jobs, near unis.... will always be in demand.

 

Townhouses are really medium density though and not always appropriate choice. They are part of the diversity in housing choices but aren't an affordable choice in the less than 5km ring from the CBD.

The housing diversity items which I have seen missing are one bedroom townhouses and 3 bedroom apartments. I know people think that a 3 bedroom townhouse meets that 3 bedroom apartment need and a 1 bedroom apartment meets the needs of a 1 bedroom townhouse but they are actually very different from each other.

In Perth we have sooooo many 3 bedroom townhouses. So there are singles and couples rattling around these 3 bedders because they want that land component for a pet etc. They need these smaller townhouses.

For families who want to be closer to the action and go down to one car, send their kids to that inner city school then a 3 bedroom apartment is great for their needs.

 

I'm not so sold on the idea of 1 br townhouses, but there is a huge demand for 3br apartments. Whenever one comes up for sale near me they'll sell for a premium, or perhaps even sell off market. There's a waiting list of buyers for them.

 

That's what northerner's (Sydney) call a villa

My folks are looking to downsize into one but they're as rare as hens teeth where they're looking (Sydney Hills district)

 

Ah well a villa is a unit (single storey grouped dwelling). But I find a lot of people use unit for apartment which does get confusing.

 

Yes, Sydneysiders tend to use apartment and unit interchangeably. If there was a difference, in my mind, apartments are multilevel and newer. Just seems more modern. The term "unit" to me tends to conjure up a dwelling that is 1970's or earlier in something no larger than a 3 level walk up building.

In Sydney a "villa" is like a townhouse but single level. It has its own land content. So you get someone cutting up a piece of land and putting a 3 villa or townhouse complex on it.
By the way... Sydney we have schooners... no pots or anything else really!