RECENTLY RELEASED AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS DATA HAS CONFIRMED JUST HOW QUICKLY WE ARE GROWING; IN THE DECADE TO 2014, PERTH GREW BY 463,068 PEOPLE – 35,000 MORE THAN BRISBANE.
Infill is part of that growth. The City of Vincent became the first local government area to break through the 3000 persons per square kilometre mark. Combined, the top 10 densest suburbs grew by nearly 94,000 people over the decade to 2014. The City of Stirling contributing over half of that total.
Overall, the top 10 Local Authorities absorbed 83 per cent of Perth’s population growth, however only three of those authorities are in the middle or inner ring being Stirling, Canning and Bayswater.
The biggest slice of population growth went to the City of Wanneroo, which contains some of Perth’s best masterplanned communities. That area grew by 86,000 people, with more than 7,000 arriving there last year. Ellenbrook alone grew by 25,000 people over the decade, so the role of masterplanned communities should not be underestimated in housing Perth’s expanding population.
To house WA’s population growth over the past decade approval was given for 266,776 dwellings, the majority of which were detached houses (79.5 per cent). Of the “non-housing” dwellings, 10.6 per cent were semi-detached row or terrace housing where each dwelling has a neighbour on the side, not above or below. Apartments, where you could have a neighbour above, below or on the side, comprised nearly one in ten dwellings (9.9 per cent) in WA. Nearly 6.5 per cent of all building approvals over the past decade were for apartments in a block more than four storeys high.
What we build is changing, with data over the past two years showing that the dominance of detached housing is diminishing, now 77.3 per cent of approvals, with the proportion of semi-detached dwellings of one or two storeys also falling. The big mover was apartments, including low rise (two storeys) where people are choosing to live on a single level and have neighbours above, though more people still opted for a semi-attached dwelling of one or two storeys. Apartments over four storeys now comprise 8.5 per cent of all dwelling approvals, up 23 per cent on the proportion achieved over the last decade.
While the steps towards a denser city are notable, we are still a long way from achieving the 36 per cent share of “non-housing” residential dwellings approved in 1981. However but our performance in dwelling diversity is substantially better than the 12 per cent “non-housing” figure of 1997.