Sydneysiders are a neighbourly bunch, who support green and well-designed development, according to the latest Trilogy Property Pulse report launched by the Property Council of Australia.
According to report author Nicole Smith of Trilogy Integrated Communication, the Property Pulse offers a telling snapshot into issues close to residents’ hearts.
“Its clear that Sydneysiders are a neighbourly bunch, we are not as self centred as popular perception would have you believe,” Smith said.
“Despite our busy lives, over 70% of people surveyed in Sydney actually know their neighbours,” she added.
Smith said the likelihood of knowing your neighbour was greatest in outer Sydney, and decreased the closer people lived to the city centre. Surprisingly, people living in high-rise buildings are just as likely to know who lives next door as people living in freestanding homes.
“Clearly we have succeeded in creating vertical villages, people living in high-rise buildings are just as neighbourly as those living in traditional suburban homes.” Smith said.
In addition to valuing a sense of community, Smith said the research revealed strong support for sustainable and well-designed property development.
Significantly, water shortage was identified by the majority of people as the main issue facing Sydney over the next 12 months.
Smith said the message for the property industry is clear; “Property developers need to build people friendly, environmentally friendly and user friendly communities.”
Property Council executive director Ken Morrison said the research results provided a welcome insight into consumer preferences and expectations.
“The property industry plays a key role in shaping and building our urban environment. It’s important that we take on board what the community is saying. Most people know we need development they just want it to be good quality and sustainable, and they want to be consulted. That’s not an unreasonable ask.
“Community support for environmentally friendly development is one of the strongest messages emerging from the research. As an industry, our challenge is to meet this demand in an affordable way,” he added.
Morrison said the research revealed a disappointingly low level of public awareness or understanding of Sydney’s Metro Strategy designed to manage and facilitate the city’s long term growth.
In contrast, Melbourne respondents reported higher awareness and confidence in the Victorian Government’s Melbourne 2030 plan.
“The NSW Government has a communication issue on its hands. Sydneysiders are expressing a lack of knowledge of Sydney’s long term planning strategy. Sydney has a 25-year strategy to guide growth and development but sadly not enough people know about it.
“Public engagement is important if we are to achieve the aims set out in the strategy – we need people to be on board and aware of where and how growth will occur,” he added.
Another major survey finding shows that Sydneysiders are substantially less confident than Melbournians in the ability of their city’s infrastructure to handle future growth. Sydneysiders are even more sceptical than they were last year.
“That’s a legacy of underinvestment by governments over some decades. If we’re going to have higher growth areas in Sydney – which we will have – we’ll need more infrastructure to support it and make those areas better places to live,” Morrison concluded.
By Kathryn O’Meara
