A Sydney Skyscraper Reveals Election Battle Lines Over Housing

  • Housing affordability is shaping up as a key election issue
  • Labor wants more apartments, Coalition want standalone homes
A rendition of the 46-story tower of build-to-rent housing in Parramatta.Source: Urban Property Group

In Sydney’s outer suburban hub of Parramatta, an overgrown patch of land sandwiched between the train station and a Westfield mall is emblematic of the battle lines forming around the future of housing and who will run Australia.

Urban Property Group, a developer, is planning to build on the site a 46-story tower of build-to-rent housing, a previously uncommon type of accommodation in Australia where renters pay a company rather than an individual landlord.