However, Australian property company Boyuan Holdings is investing heavily in addressing that need by creating affordable housing in western Sydney, with emphasis on building communities, not just dwellings.
It also demonstrates the company’s faith in the region’s economy and future.
Boyuan Holdings, which aims to create quality residential and commercial communities in areas where people want to live and work, has made several recent business and real estate purchases, including Penrith’s Peachtree Hotel, as well as mixed residential/commercial sites in Bringelly and Marsden Park.
Chief financial officer Ian Clark said the company’s focus had been on Sydney’s western north-western and south-western growth corridor.
“We hold a very firm view that Sydney’s population will grow by one to one and a half million in the next 10 or 15 years and there’s really only one place that they’re going to be living, which is that western Sydney corridor,” he said.
“We’ve got sites in Austral, Marsden Park and the Bringelly/Cobbitty/Badgerys Creek corridor.
“We’ve identified Badgerys Creek is going to be a major driver of not only that business and piece of infrastructure [the airport] but everything that goes around it, including roads and services, as well as becoming a key centre for employment, so we are obviously looking to be heavily involved around that area.”
Mr Clark said while residential broadacre sub-division had been Boyuan’s main interest in the past, its focus had changed to creating communities in those precincts.
“We recently acquired some lifestyle living assets [and] our intention is to bring that service and that product into our developments here in the Sydney basin,” he said.
“Providing regional affordable housing is high on our radar. We’re looking to provide products the community will need both in a residential level in terms of affordability, standard product and retirement product.
“But it’s not just about housing, it’s about communities and everything that goes with them - retail, hospitality, hotels, commercial.
“We’re not just going to slap in some houses and apartments and walk away.
“We’ve looked at where the developments are and people are building a lot of houses but they’re not necessarily building the community infrastructure that goes in around houses.
“We actually want to make sure there’s something to do and build a community.
“Looking broadly, we’ve moved into retirement living and we’ve bought our first hospitality assets (the Peachtree Hotel in Penrith).
“On the retirement side, we’ve partnered with a long-term partner in the industry, with hotels likewise we’re partnering with a long-term operator.
“As an example, with the hotels, if you look at our Marsden Park estate we own the heritage building on site, and we’re in the process of going through the refurbishment and reconditioning of that site - but in our view that site is ideally located for a hospitality asset.
“The Peachtree Hotel is one stepping stone towards developing a hospitality asset in that Marsden Park estate.
“Now whether it’s a straight-out pub or whether it’s a reception centre with cafes and taverns, but that’s the way we’re thinking.
“How to tackle the need for affordable housing is paramount to our thinking. And not necessarily by just bringing on lots and lots of supply of traditional product.
“It’s how you can bring new product and new thinking to providing housing which is affordable in that area.”
Infrastructure leads the way
MR Clark said that the State Government’s focus on upgrading and creating new infrastructure had encouraged Boyuan Holdings’ decision to invest in western Sydney.
“If you look at what’s happened with infrastructure since the Olympics, there was a very quiet period there for a long period of time with little or no infrastructure committed to or undertaken,” he said.
“We’re now seeing a boom in infrastructure from the northern beaches to the south-west, so we’ve taken the view that understanding where government is going to be investing infrastructure not only in terms of roads but hospitals and the like is key to helping us decide where we’d like to be in the Sydney market.”
