How the metro will transform Sydney’s new development frontier
The long-awaited Southwest Metro is promising faster train services. But along its 30km corridor, the biggest transformation could take place above ground.
“Unlocking thousands of new homes along the Southwest Metro line is an example of the government matching a transport infrastructure investment with housing growth in communities young people, families and key workers want to live in,” he said.
The scale of the housing ambition far exceeds the former Baird government’s 2015 target of 36,000 dwellings along the rail line. Of the 59,500 homes now proposed, 50,500 fall within the Canterbury-Bankstown local government area – a surge that, if fully realised, would increase the total number of dwellings in the council area by 37.5 per cent from 133,317 to 183,817.
While the uplift in density offers many renters and first homebuyers a potential foothold in Sydney’s punishing property market, the scale of transformation is exposing familiar fault lines in Sydney’s housing debate: how to build more homes without overwhelming infrastructure and eroding the character of existing suburbs.
In Campsie, the NSW government this month approved a 33-storey residential tower on London Street that would exceed the suburb’s rezoned height limit by 13 storeys, while a separate planning proposal for 346 apartments on Ninth Avenue would stand even taller at 39 floors.
