LESS than 20 years ago almost anywhere in Perth was no more than 20 minutes away from anywhere else in a car-friendly city over-serviced with roads.
In the city, it seemed everyone knew everyone. The Perth business network was tight, connected by one-degree of separation.
If they wanted to catch-up they went to a select group of pubs and restaurants; choice was limited.
Students could easily find a house to rent close to wherever they chose. For a buyer, $100,000 was the price, not the down payment.
There were prawns in the Swan River and beach houses along the coast.
These and many aspects of Western Australia’s capital, for good or for bad, have disappeared. They provide a taste of the kind of things that change as populations rise, as Perth’s is expected to.
Much of the charm, and frustrations, of Perth as a big country town are being left behind as it turns into a real city, albeit one that is small by international standards.
That big city reality will have harder edges.
The state government is already feeling the heat from some of the negative change. Talkback stations are filled with umbrage over packed trains and traffic delays because peak ‘hour’ is no longer just 20 minutes.
“Congestion on the freeways has become a major issue, a major political issue, and we’re frustrated being stuck in traffic ... so that’s one of the serious issues that the government faces,” Premier Colin Barnett said at a recent WA Business News event.
More than 30 years ago, a conservative government shut the train line from Perth to Fremantle, believing that style of public transport was redundant.
This government is expanding the train network and considering the modern equivalent of trams to service other areas, partly under pressure from the business community.
“We are looking seriously at a light rail to go directly to northern Perth, which will service quite a densely populated area and take some of the pressure off the freeways,” Mr Barnett said.
“There’s about 40,000-50,000 people who actually move from the northern suburbs west to get onto the freeway system to come in, so the light rail system will provide an alternative for them.”
This government has also embraced ‘density’ in a bid to fit all the people who want to live here within a reasonable geographic area. The conservative state government’s Directions 2031 strategy has set a target of 47 per cent of growth being accommodated via infill – squeezing more people into the existing sprawling metropolitan area, a space that, at 1,200 people per square kilometre, is sparsely populated compared to almost any other city.
The big question is whether Perth’s existing population will accept such a change to its urban lifestyle.
There are many who question the public desire to change from a suburban city to one that has even just a moderate amount of high density. Many in the property world also question whether there is the political will required to change the planning and construction sectors, which have become fixated on expansion at the fringes, especially to the north and south.
Cedar Woods Properties managing director Paul Sadleir is one who believes there are few incentives and a lot of obstacles for developers that see the urban infill target and believe they can create products to suit it.
Cedar Woods estimates that it costs 80 per cent more to build an apartment or unit dwelling in Perth than Melbourne, whereas traditional detached and semi-detached housing is roughly on par.
Red tape is part of that.
Mr Sadleir said planning momentum remained focused on growth at the edge of existing corridors.
“Approvals for infill are difficult,” he said.
“Town planning (schemes) are not geared for the future, they are dating from the 1970s and 1980s; there is a lot of work to be done to get density.”
In addition to that is the consumer mindset that favours a stand-alone home. That preference is hardly going to change if it is also a cheaper option.
“There is still a fairly strong love of the backyard,” Mr Sadleir said.
“It is not the quarter acre block but it is a 450 square metre site.
“The building industry is incredibly efficient at producing homes that go on those types of blocks.
“Our conclusion is that infill, while highly desirable because it is sustainable, is hard to deliver on an economic basis.”
Satterley Property Group CEO Nigel Satterley also sees growth continuing to follow the current geographic trends, with fringe growth at the end of transport spokes reaching out from the CBD. The north coast to Yanchep, the south coast at Peel and the areas through the north-east and south-east will house most of the population growth for the next decade at least.
But Mr Satterley said high-rise apartments were yet to be viewed by the market as the answer to population growth, although there was a trend towards one-bedroom apartments in developments up to three storeys.
He agrees that many people still want their house and land, but sees growth in dramatically smaller block sizes as established families and new homebuyers seek to limit their exposure to debt.
“There are now seven builders doing 150sqm product,” Mr Satterley said.
“We have had to adapt to keep going.”
