Annabel (Anabel Pandiella) and her husband, Alex (Alex), and their two children, 8-year-old Olivia (Olivia) and 4-year-old Henry (Henry), rented a three-bedroom apartment in Neutral Bay, Sydney-"it`s more like two and a half beds," she said. Really.
"it`s very close to the city, a very good area near Sydney Port, close to a good school. Alex and I have been living in an apartment. I think the only time in my life I live in a separate house is when I was in my 20s. "
"sometimes we think about moving to a separate house, but I think sometimes it`s because we feel peer pressure, because our friends live in independent homes. But I really like living in an apartment, and we know where each other is-and of course we get in the way of each other-after all, the space is small, but I don`t have to spend hours cleaning. "
Annabel and Alex are among a growing number of young Australians who choose to raise children in apartments, but this has no negative impact on their lives. Annabel said the opposite was true.
"my husband and I, like everyone else, want to buy a house. We lack outdoor space, but we are satisfied with a balcony-we can enjoy the scenery, we are lucky-so we hope to buy a three-bedroom unit not far from the city in the next few years. " She said. "I think one of the main reasons for getting families out of apartment life is that it`s hard to find decent three-bedroom units. If there are more apartments available, I think more families will choose to live in the apartment. "
Families account for 1/4 of apartment dwellers
Australia`s population this week reached 25 million. Between 2011 and 2016, households with children accounted for 1/4 of Australian apartment dwellers, up 56 percent, according to (ABS), the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Meanwhile, according to, BIS Oxford Economics, it is Generation Y or millennials that will affect the residential real estate market over the next decade.
It`s still to be seen, but researcher Sophie-May Kerr says a clear trend is that young people tend to live in apartments, including those who take care of their families. Because high house prices limit people`s choice of place of residence and type of house.
Cole, from the Community College of Geography and Sustainable Development at Woolungong University, has begun studying the impact of more families living in apartments-including how parents respond to current and future needs. And their experience of raising children in an environment that doesn`t always welcome them.
"the Australian cultural norm is the idea of the Australian dream. After having children, you look forward to living in a house with a backyard and more space. The children are not considered to belong to the apartment. But because of the affordability of housing and the need to stay at a specific location, a lot of people are moving in this direction-they have to make sacrifices on the size of their homes. "
Cole said that as the number of people living close to each other increased, noise complaints increased and tensions between neighbors increased.
Unfortunately, Cole says, we "haven`t yet seen apartment design and cultural norms catch up with reality." We lack three-bedroom apartments in Australia, and we see trends in one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, but in general, three-bedroom apartments are part of the luxury market. "
"as a result, we have good design standards, but the challenge is to make them affordable and to facilitate more people."
