Developers Shun Sydney

According to the Australian, big residential developers are pinning their hopes of future profits on Melbourne, Perth, and Adelaide. While researchers tip Sydney due to an undersupply of housing and rising prices, but the city's costs are high including a new state tax, so the undersupply looks set to worsen.
Stockland annonces it has spent $250 million on five development sites in WA and Victoria since last June, with capacity for 4750 homes and an end value of $1.22 billion.
Stockland managing director Matthew Quin notes that many people are downsizing, asking themselves "do I need the big house, the five bedrooms, the formal dining room that only gets used once a year, or do I have less debt and a life?" He makes the very interesting point that "on a per-square-meter basis, Australia was relatively affordable compared with the rest of the world"! He sees reducing the product size as the way to provide affordable housing.