Euro-style Metro to Open Up Sydney’s North-West and Boost Property Development
A major infrastructure project to streamline transport to the north-western suburbs of Sydney will create better links to new housing developments earmarked for the district.
NSW Premier Morris Iemma announced the A$12 bilion plan, which would see a high-speed metro built from the outlying suburb of Rouse Hill, channelling through the north-west and Hills district, and delivering commuters to Sydney’s CBD by 2017.
In a region that has historically had underdeveloped public transport options, the new metro-link promises to halve the current travel time on some trips, and fill an important gap in the Sydney’s infrastructure to one of the fastest growing regions.
New-build property to boom in growth corridor
The north-west district, which takes in the major centres of Baulkham Hills, Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury, Penrith, will be the fastest growing part of Sydney over the next 25 years.
Almost 100,000 new jobs are predicted for the region by 2031 and some 140,000 new homes are likely to be built according to the State Government’s metropolitan strategy.
20,000 of these homes are expected to occupy greenfield sites, 60,000 on vacant sites in already existing suburbs and the remainder as knock-down and rebuild projects in older suburbs.
Public transport options appeal to home owners
They are a group of commuters known as the “squinters” - drivers leaving their western suburb homes at dawn, travelling east towards the rising sun, and returning home at sunset. And until now, they have been forced into their cars because of slow trains and buses that fail to adequately link to some outer suburbs.
With rising petrol costs, currently nudging A$1.50 per litre, and the high cost of using private toll-roads such as the Hills M2 and Lane Cove Tunnel to travel from the suburbs to the city, family budgets are stretched by the lack of public transport options in the north-west region.
In some parts of the north-west, just 4% of regular commuters catch public transport to work, compared to upwards of 25% in other suburbs.
Presently it takes 90 minutes to travel by public transport from the farthest point of the proposed 17-station metro, Rouse Hill, to the Sydney CBD, a journey of 45km. On the metro, it would take 43 minutes.
Property investors to benefit from better connections
The proposed metro in Sydney will have access points at Rouse Hill, Kellyville, Norwest business park, the Hills Centre, Castle Hill, Cherrybrook, Epping, Denistone East, Top Ryde, Gladesville, Henley, Drummoyne, Rozelle, Pyrmont and three stops in the Sydney CBD.
LendLease is selling apartments and homes off the plan at The New Rouse Hill, a development with 1800 new homes and 34 hectares of parks and open space, at a location that is near the proposed metro line.
Mirvac has created the Chelsea Gardens community at Castle Hill, with 63 designer homes currently in the first stage of development.
Kellyville is the location for the world’s largest home display village, HomeWorld, with 35 builders displaying more than 120 home designs available for construction. As new designs are created, developers sell the existing display homes to create an extension to the suburb of Kellyville.
An Exceland Property Group development at Drummoyne, The Odeon, offers 37 apartments many with water views in a boutique development comprising executive offices and a retail plaza.
The benefits are abundant for the savvy investor to buy into this region ahead of a significant period of growth.
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