Apartments could become a more common feature in many of Australia's major cities over the next few years, after a decade of price rises left millions of people unable to afford detached houses.
Recent figures released by Australian Property Investor have revealed that house prices in urban centres are well above state averages, and that buyers may have to look at suburbs as far as 20 kilometres away from city centres in order to find a property priced at the state average.
This has resulted in a decrease in the number of first-time buyers purchasing houses, with more emphasis set to be placed on the development of apartment complexes in state capitals.
John Kim, head of Australian property research at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, says that "when you look at the future of residential living in Australia, apartments will be a big component of it", according to Bloomberg News.
Indeed, apartments and townhouses made up 35 per cent of all new housing construction in the three months to September 30th 2012, compared with 29 per cent over the previous five years.
