How Fast Is Australia Growing?
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What's shaping population in Australia's growth areas?
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Key Highlights
- Australia's outer metropolitan regions are experiencing significant demographic shifts, with late-thirties adults and primary-school-aged children now constituting the largest age groups. Additionally, single-adult households are emerging as the fastest-growing household type, indicating a need for diverse housing options.
- espite a 25% increase in residential construction across growth areas, the predominance of detached dwellings (85%) fails to meet the evolving demand. Cities like Sydney, Brisbane, and Canberra are leading in higher-density housing developments, yet overall vacancy rates remain low or stable, underscoring the need for varied housing solutions.
- Record-high levels of overseas migration are contributing to increased housing demand in growth areas. This trend necessitates proactive planning to accommodate the influx and ensure adequate housing and services.
- The shifting demographics and housing demands highlight the importance of adaptable urban planning strategies. Tailored services, facilities, and dwelling types are essential to meet the needs of maturing families and single-adult households in these rapidly evolving communities.
What's shaping population in Australia's growth areas?
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.
Photo credit: ©Stock Dignity via Canva.com
Meet the team of experts
Our specialists have deep expertise in demographics and spatial analysis, urban economics, housing research, social research and population forecasting
Daniel Evans
Head of Customer and Commercial (Gov.)
Andrew Hedge
Senior Marketing Manager
Ben Saines
Demographic Consultant
Boris Wong
Client Engagement Manager (WA)
Crystal McDonald
Lead Housing Consultant
Daniel Corbett
Head of Product (Government)
Dieter Krusic-Golub
Sales & Account Management (VIC/SA/TAS)
Brigid Quinlan
Views Delivery
Chris Jones
Forecaster
Beth Reeve
Customer Success Manager
Georgia Allan
Customer Success Manager