Chinese developers and local property investors are swooping in on the suburb of Badgerys Creek amid speculation that property prices in the area could double by the time the Western Sydney Airport is completed in 2026, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Local agents told the newspaper they’ve been fielding calls from offshore investors and land bankers after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull confirmed this week that the federal government would be responsible for building the airport.
Two in three residents across Sydney’s west support the need for a second airport, and the same number agree it would create thousands of jobs in the area.
A December focus group study commissioned by the Infrastructure Department showed that 63% of respondents strongly agreed that the proposed airport was necessary to “maintain [Sydney’s] global competitiveness,” and would bring greater numbers of people and businesses to the area.
Additionally, there was a 6% drop in the number of Western Sydney residents who were worried that the new airport would make it harder to live and work in the area—just 28% of respondents in December 2016, compared with 34% in April 2016.
Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher said the new airport was “about jobs, economic growth and economic opportunity for Western Sydney”. He went on to say that the new airport would generate 9,000 jobs by the early 2030s.
In percentage terms, the growth rate in Chinese buyer inquiries in the Priority Growth Area around the airport was more than 1500% year-on-year in 2016. “That seems incredible but is due to the fact that our Chinese buyers made virtually no buying [inquiries] at all in the Priority Growth Area around the airport in 2015, while in 2016 they made a large number,” said Dave Platter, communications director for Chinese-language property website Juwai.com.
"To be clear, the area still receives a relatively small number of Chinese buyer inquiries compared to other Sydney locations—like already developed parts of Western Sydney, the North Shore and the inner city. One reason is there isn’t yet much product on the market. That will change in future years, as residential development gets under way in earnest,” said Platter.
The new airport has become a significant driver of Chinese interest in Western Sydney, according to Platter. “From China we see family investors, owner occupiers, land bankers, commercial property investors and residential developers all expressing an interest in the airport. Inquiries have increased at least twofold over the past year in that region of Sydney. We know of several Chinese investors seeking land in the vicinity of the airport, to develop or resell later when values have risen.”
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