My children have it lucky by the beach. But it comes with a brutal downside

My children have had the good fortune – and misfortune – of growing up in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Settling in the east was not intentional but my British-born husband and I landed by the ocean after living overseas pre-kids, and we never left. Our kids are too young to truly appreciate how lucky they are or recognise the privileges that come with our neighbourhood – walking distance to the beach has to be No.1 – but in time, my three children will discover the brutal downside of the east.

They will never afford to buy a house in the area they have been born and bred. The stark reality is, if my children want to continue to live where they were raised, their best – probably only – hope is an apartment. (Note to them: no big inheritance coming your way).

However, there are simply not enough units in Sydney and beyond to meet the demand for the next generation. The harsh reality is the eastern suburbs must accept that increased density needs to come our way. Labor’s plans to redevelop Woollahra, which will include opening its ghost train station, is a good start. While the rest of Sydney has been growing, Woollahra has stood still.

In 1966, there were 62,653 people in the Woollahra council area, living in 24,674 dwellings, according to that year’s census. Fast-forward to the 2021 census, Woollahra (not to be confused with the tiny suburb of the same name), had a population of 53,496, but there were 26,552 dwellings.

So, there are now 14 per cent fewer people in the council area than the year Harold Holt became prime minister, but only a 7.6 per cent increase in homes. For context, in the past 50 years the population across greater Sydney has grown by 74 per cent. In Woollahra, numbers have gone backwards.

The Vaucluse MP Kellie Sloane has been hosting street stalls in Queen St, Woollahra to take the temperature of her community. Before the formal announcement of the government’s plans, Sloane says people, largely, were on board.

She surveyed 500 voters as chatter grew that the Labor government had the east in its sights for development. Almost one-third of those surveyed welcomed the idea of a train station in Woollahra (even though NIMBY locals were dead against it in the 1970s) but Sloane says many have changed their mind since the release of details. The idea of 10,000 new apartments has turned them off.

“People are saying that Minns is having a lend of us,” Sloane says, “and not just a lend of us but greater Sydney”. Sloane, and her jittery locals, are right to be sceptical about whether 10,000 apartments will eventuate in the suburb. So ambitious is that number, Sloane says, she has calculated that there would need to be to 95 21-storey unit blocks to reach that a lofty target of 10,000 extra units. The Premier Chris Minns’ response? Just build higher.

Sloane also takes umbrage with her electorate being labelled NIMBYs and says it is offensive to her community. Their main argument, she insists, is the apartments will be multi-million dollar properties which will do nothing to help housing affordability.

Tom Forrest from the developer lobby group, the Urban Taskforce, is unashamedly pro-density. But he is also keen to shoot down assertions that new housing in Woollahra or nearby Edgecliff “is not going to assist in housing affordability because all the new apartments are expensive”.

Anyone who claims that, Forrest says, “does not understand the economics of the property sector”.

“If there are 10,000 new apartments around Edgecliff and Woollahra,” Forrest says, “that is 10,000 rich people who are no longer bidding against you in other suburbs like Kings Cross, Surry Hills, Waterloo, Balmain or Burwood. That causes downward pressure on prices in each of those suburbs.”

Some within the Liberals are convinced that Minns is playing postcode politics, and is only targeting the well-heeled so he can justify housing in other areas of Sydney. Some conservatives even seized on the fact that Opposition Leader Mark Speakman owns a home in Woollahra (which could be razed to make way for apartments) as proof that politics is at play. Labor operatives were quick with a retort. “If anything, we just doubled Speakman’s property value,” one wag said.

Nonetheless, these conspiracies ignore a very real fact.

Sydney needs more housing, of all types and prices, if the city is to retain its young people. We are the second most expensive city in the world for housing after Hong Kong and more young people choose to leave Sydney than move here. This is not sustainable for a global city. Perhaps my kids will join the exodus, but if its housing that pushes out them, we will have totally failed the next generation.

Alexandra Smith is the state political editor.