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What is your experience of high-rise living - the good and the bad points? And what effects do 'vertical villages' have on the city?

Please keep your responses brief and to the point.

This topic is now closed - this is what you said.

I agree with JJ. Leave the high rise in the Sydney CBD, not the surburbs


I like to live in a house in a suburb where there is plenty of space. Others like to live in high rise apartments. This is all fine, build plenty of apartments in the city and leave our suburbs alone. Your stupid Bob Carr and the state gov.

A resident from Ku-Ring-Gai

Different strokes for different folks

Variety Man

Canberra is lovely at this, and every other time of year. Dont have to live in a shoe box, no two hour traffic jams, high rise - yeah we have it, but its choice not necessity. Totally sane prices for houses in the suburbs too. Canberra, unlike Sydney has a soul as a result. Why? We havent sold it.

John L Taylor

"Vertical Village" - the new euphemism for ugly apartment blocks.

Not Happy Jan

I lived all my life in a suburban house, never further out than 10ks, now I live right on Hyde Park In a unit. Yippee. Don't drive, walk everywhere, virtually every person I know lives within a 5 minute taxi ride.I have the biggest back yard , 3 pools, you name it we got it. So keep your lawnmower. I got me ma freedom.

maia evans

I recently moved close to the city and I'll never go back to the suburbs. Frankly, I enjoy having an extra 2 hours (or more) PER DAY that I don't have to travel on the horrific Sydney public transport system. If you don't mind putting up with that, great for you. The stress and time enduring the commute in no way compensates for the peace and quiet once you get there!

No More Awful Trains

I hate Sydney - it has no infrastructure (if you have ever been to Melbourne you will understand - they have buses, they have trains, they have trams and you pay about $5.00 and you can use them all day and something comes along every 10 to 15 minutes) - we are paying huge prices for a piece of crap - and its polluted - did you see the brown haze over the city today - people rave on and on about how great it is but it stinks - and I can't wait to leave - as soon as I find work anywhere but Sydney - so enjoy your high rises and whatever else - I'm moving to somewhere with infrastructure and planning - Sydney will be the slum of the future

hate of Sydney

To all those who live in appartments - can you hear those living above you going to the toilet - I've been to a few appartments and yes you can hear the toilet sounds - not my idea joyful living - and you can also hear the doors of the neighbours slaming the fights and so on

Like the quiet

To Family Friendly: I could think of nothing worse than kids around in those tall buildings - when they get bored with the pool and spa frolics, they would be running around terrorising those of us who live there (away from the kids of suburbia)


No garden to play in
Black Soot all over your balcony,
If you a really high up the winds whoa, so much for an out door BBQ on the balcony.

give me a yard, and greenery, a variety birds, not pigeons, blue tonguelizards anyday as opposed to a tiny box with a view perhaps on New Years Eve.

Melissa lovin the burbs...Taylor

Melissa Taylor

Yes the Sydney CBD is more lively. I recall I was able to lie flat in the middle of George st on a Christmas day many years ago. It was like a ghost town. I guess there is still more room to grow. A lot of the shops in the city are still closed on a Sunday afternon.

Pros cons

I feel more isloated living in an apartment. No one ever talks in the lifts and where I am there is such a high turnover of residents that by the time you recognize their faces they are ready to move out. Although my place doesn't have the pool and tennis courts that others do so perhaps that makes a big difference.


Paking more people in is fine, many of the world's great ciites have densities far greater than Sydney but what those cities have and we don't is a companion rail option i.e. tube, metro etc. Our heavy rail system is fine for moving lots of people over longer distances but is is hopeless for short journeys. A rail option which fills in the gaps between major metro stations, such as the London Underground, is what is needed to make higher density living work. And forget buses they just don't work in the inner city.

Ross Corrigan

Hey, I was thinking of selling my house in Sydney. How do I get a free advertisement like this.

David Johnson

Its inevitable that Sydney will continue to grow taller. All great cities eventually run out of space yet keep drawing in more people. The only way is up.

Steve Karatasas

I welcome all the attention to high rise living because anyone including myself who owns a real home ( free standing house, 1/4 acre, block, drive way, garage etc ) and are located within a 15 km radius of the Sydney CBD will see the value of their their real home dramitically increase. Examples are found all over the world like NY and London. People gripe about the so-called high maintenance cost of keeping a real home obviously are looking for excuses. I pay $900 per year on coucil rates and all the other utility bills would amount annually to $1,000.00 Petrol bill for the mower is about $120.00 at the worst. Compare this to the current average CBD Body corporate of 1200 per quarter before council rates and utility bills and it's obvious which type of home owner is ahead. I also don't have to worry about parking, slamming doors, or where to dry the clothes and all those little in things in life which I take for granted, living in a real house. I'm sure the novelty of living in these apartments will quickly run out in a few short years when they realise all the little things they've given up not to mention the higher financial costs. Owning and living in a real home will always be far superior to apartments and if the real home is located within walking distance to trains, buses, shopping centres, restaurants and major arterial roads, you will never loose. Al least I'll have my sanity and more cash in my pocket living in a real home...


Paul Newton and others,
I have lived on the Central Coast since my youth, and have commuted to Sydney all my working life. You never, ever get used to it. It will break you. I am so ready to live in a cube in Sydney it hurts, but I can't afford anything but the mortgage on my little townhouse in Gosford.
The jobs are there. So should the homes be there.

living far from work is bad



Greg you maynot have to do the lawn or any of the outside maintenance but who is going to pay the body corprate fees. and when it comes to security who is going to do a criminal check on the guy next door. Also one person idea of rights may not be the same as someone else's which will lead us all into the next trend of apartment block rage. there's no escape.

Howard the beach loving coastie.

Get cars out of the city! I fully agree with you. The problem is people who feel it is their duty to dive CARS when there is only one person on board. What makes you t**sers so important? Hail! to your conservationist, selfless attitude.

Dave Mckay

I love how the Greenies hate developers and high rises but the fact is that they are 100% better for the enviorment, they are buildt up into the sky, not out, so you do not have to cut down any trees can never keep a greenie happy.

Max California

I love the idea of Sydney becoming like New York, I currently live in Brisbane CBD and we have had 11 new residential towers built in the CBD in the last 2 years and 21 more are under contructions, one is 67 stories and the other is 91....City lving is the way to go.


The only thing i have against high-rise living
is the destruction of sydneys historical old
buildings.All the buildings which made sydney
look individual are now being made into
concrete mausoleums,all for to make the developers filthy rich.SAVE OUR HISTORY.

John Sydney Vine

Julia Ceasar - dont invent suburbs - there is no South Newtown. do you mean the southern part o Newtown, Enmore or St Peters

i hate pretension

My husband lived in the high rise of Buenos Aires for several years as a single, young person because like so many others, there simply was no other choice.

He assures me that no-one living in apartment high-rise in that city considers themselves lucky and would certainly choose an alternative if there was one.

I have also rented and co-owned (low-rise) units in Sydney before I COULDN'T AFFORD A HOUSE. I would never live in a unit or flat again unless I had no other option.

Personally, I don't think anyone chooses to live in a unit, or if they do, it's short-lived if their are other options. Who, living in a unit can tell me that if a truck-load of money was dumped on them, they wouldn't be buying the biggest HOUSE they could afford?

Units and high-rise living is not romantic unless you have penthouse privacy and loads of space, so those of you that like living in a box need to get real with yourselves.

Also, you can't have pets in units, so how sad it that?

Living Well

We have young chldren and live in a highrise. Everyday my children crave to be able to go outside "whenever" they like to play. What I would do to have a kitchen looking out onto a backyard watching my children run around playing before tea, rather than currently looking out over a lovely view of the city and watching my children sitting down infront of the TV the computer or the playstation. The spontaneous movement of children going from indoors to outdoors is lost. Mum or dad needs to be available at the same time as the children to take them out, and we all know how impatient children can get. While writing this my 6 year old is begging me to take her outside because she is bored. Kids need backyards all the time.

Ros Wong

I've lived in a shoe box in the heart of the city, and I must say, it is unbelievably un-Australian. Why do we feel we must conform to the way foreign cities are set out?
My choice of location is still, and always will be the beautiful Blue Mountains, just over an hour away from the Sydney CBD, with vast bushland out my back door (and with it, the threat of fires just adds to the excitement), a lawn, and room to park a Commodore, a Torana and a Super Sportsbike for the lonely country roads.

Dave McKay

In the past 10 years, my husband and myself have been living in a unit which is of older 60s/70s style in a middle ring suburb. Last year, when we decided to buy another property when planning to have children in few years' time, there is not one second in our mind that we want to buy a bigger unit. Instead, we bought a typical suburb house which is 26 km from CBD ie. 600sqm, 4 bedrooms, swimming pool and spa. Surprisingly, it will only take us about 25 to 30mins to the city due to improved transportation network.

High-rise apartments are only suitable for couples with no children. It's low maintenance, secure, close to restaurants, cafes, shops, banks, and office.

However, it is also very unfriendly to young families as children do not have room to move or to run.

I guess, it really depends on your needs. Personally, I like to live in suburbs as when one works in the CBD with a very hectic working life, one wants to go home to relax where it is quiet and with less actions or activities.

I would not prefer to live in the city even though I can afford to. I won't even buy one for investment as the apartments are overpriced. The property developers get all the profits while the buyers are slaves to them.


To Narcissistic -- I couldn't be bothered reading your note, but can't wait to see mine.

Eva Ho

Not really sucked in Howard Jones.

It's people like myself who buy up land on the sth Coast and use as an investment or holiday home. Wouldn't like to live there though. I'm not married to my sister.

Sooner or later city folk will own the entire sth coast and drive yocals like yourself out of the small towns. It's a lovely feeling ain't it?

Bring on Development

Living in downtown Sydney is great. Never before has my sex life been so great. I can go for a stroll and within minutes be back at my place 'going for gold'. Sex...ahem Living in the city definitely has its advantages.

Roger Ramjet

I am 42 with 4 kids. If my family situation were different, I would be happy to trade my house in the 'burbs and 1/4 acre block for an apartment in the city. And as I get older the appeal of not having the cost and effort of maintaining the house/gardens/cars is only going to increase. If my thinking is at all representative of the thinking of my so called "baby boomer" generation, then the trend towards inner city apartment living in Australia has only just begun. In 20 or 30 years the house in the 'burbs may be a fallen icon and a relic of 20th the century.


But the Article forgot something. Sydney council has taken over Glebe and closeby areas... there are more high rise planed for just-out-of-the-city Like carrilion apartments next to Sydney Uni, The development at the end of Glebe Point Road, and a huge building set for Broadway. That means even *more* people in the city.

I pose the question.

Where is the infrastructure?


There seems to be a perception in this forum that high-rise living is not family friendly. The 20 storey building where I live has many families who find the lifestyle very familiy friendly.

Pool, spa, and 2 shared tennis courts that the kids can use after school or on the weekends

A security buidling so that you know the kids can leave the apartment and use those amenities safely, as well as piece of mind knowing that your family is safe at night.

Centennial Park is only a 10 minute walk down the road where you and the kids can go have all the open air you want, kick the footy, ride the bikes...

Bondi Beach only a short bus ride (or twenty walk if you prefer) for short outings with the kids.

A ten minute commute from the office in the city in the evenings. More time spent with your family rather than sitting in a train or stressed behind the wheel of the car.

It is not as if kids in Sydney's suburbs these days are growing up on quarter acre blocks with the room to run around and play. Most Sydney backyards these days are only 10 x 20 metres (or 10x10 metres if you put in a swimming pool).

If high-rise apartments and the local amenities can be designed with families in mind, then it can be a valid alternative to suburban family living.

Family Friendly?

Hey Joe the city is not life - it's death. No nature except that artificial stuff and dog turds. Just wondering where everyone's post Spept 11 fear of tall buildings went? Imagine a few planes into these buildings. How do you get out if there's a fire? Too horrible to contemplate.

What about September 11?

Why live in a tiny unit? Why put up with noise from the unit next door? After a hard day at work, you try to escape by going home but hang on, you live in the city? Doh!

Sad way to live

If an increase in city centre high rises stops the horrible suburban Sydney sprawl - good on it.

Sprawl Buster

Does anyone read anyone else's opinion? Or just get a kick out of reading their own and (imagining) someone else is reading it?


After 16 years of inner city apartment living I have just moved to the Central Coast to live in a house surrounded by trees and looking out over water, and I love it. It cost me less to buy than I sold my two bedroom warehouse conversion apartment in Surry Hills. My desire to live near or looking over water drove my descion to move to the Central Coast as I could not have afforded the same in Sydney on a single income. For most singles, apartments or houses on the city fringe are the only affordable options. BTW, I am still getting use to the commute to work.

Paul Newton

Have a read of "The World Inside" by Robert Silverberg. It's science fiction but describes a world where the land is covered in these enormous (WTC size) towers. Fully self-contained - no one goes outside. People are actively encouraged to have as many children as possible. Between the super cities the land is devoted to intensive agriculture to feed this burgeoning population. Both lives are hell but no one knows anything else. Are we headed that way?

Robert Silverberg - The World Inside

Moved On Loving The Family Life - I hear you loud and clear. No more cramming on trains or buses, no more sitting or standing next to smelly snort face try hard corporate look alikes.

ex GM

Sucked in. I live and work on the south coast, wouldnt swap it for the world. and it still only takes me 20min to get to work

howard jones

What is needed is more apartments in the CBD coupled with satellite towns with high speed train access on their own dedicated lines; i.e not shared with suburban trains. By the way, Sydney is NOT an international city. Get over it.

James Jones

I did the suburbs. Fun but hard work and three hours travelling time a day. Now I'm in a highrise at St Leonards, 15 minutes to work, gym, pool and restaurants at my doorstep. Life seems pretty good looking down from my vantage point


I'd love to live in one of those places, but will never be able to afford it.

What drives me crazy about living in flats is the neighbours who think that the noise they make on their balconies late at night is inaudible to the thirty or so people who are trying to sleep around them. Guys - there is no cone of silence around your balcony. High rise inner city places will have that problem multiplied by thirty or more storeys.

Flat girl

Life in an inner-city highrise means: not actually needing a car, and as a consequence, parking; walking to most of the best entertainment that we have; walking to work, usually; not having a garden to maintain; and much better security from burglars.

It also means: not knowing your neighbours; noise; hassles if your friends come to visit and need to park; high body corporate fees; and a sense of being anonymous.

Overall, I think it's a viable option, if it's what you want. I have friends for whom peace and quiet and trees and space are more important than being within a short stroll of an art-house cinema; so they moved to Canberra. I think it's great that I have options other than that. Frankly, I like it when I step outside my door into a buzzing space, full of light and people. To each their own!

The highrises in the CBD are also energising the area, and I think that's a good thing. Large numbers of people living in the CBD provides an economic basis for all kinds of additional businesses, like restaurants, bars, and bookshops. I can recall when the CBD pretty much died once 6 pm rolled by... now the place goes almost 24/7.


Well designed, well built apartment living is critical for Sydney's future - the greatest hybrid city of the world - not Eurpoean and not American in nature. But this is only possible with clean, fast regular public transport, and environmentally innovative building designs.

Graham Jahn

Since we follow the USA like salivating puppies, why not emulate and promote thier inner-city lifestyles? We, as a society, seem to pigeon-hole everything, so why not people. Concrete boxes in a poluted metropolis, traffic gridlock (lets build another toll road to nowhere)and the ever present 'huuummmmm' of the city.No thank you. The only real winners here are the property developers who push this lifestyle and then set sail for the Bahamas.

You couldn't pay me to live this lifestyle

I've lived in an apartment/unit/flat (whatever you want to call it!) since I left the family home as a young adult, some 16 years ago. I absolutely LOVE it. The only time I've been responsible for a backyard (during a short stint in a townhouse with a small courtyard), I hated it! I never had time to mow the lawn etc. and I really resented things looking unkempt because I didn't have the time to devote to it.

I've never lived in a 'shoebox' unit, though. Because I would never, EVER buy or rent a newly built unit. Simple as that. Only the old 60's/70's style units are worth buying. With them, you get big rooms, high ceilings, solid construction etc. The unit I currently own and live in is 147sqm is only a 10 minute trip into the city, outside of peak hour. Try getting one that size in the city!

I guess it's 'each to their own', but I'm happy to be a unit dweller for the rest of my life!


If you like it, do it. Why don't we argue about all the new housing developments gobbling up the land in the west/south west? High volume of city dwellers are young people wanting to live where the action is for a while. When they tire of that, they move. I know, I've done it. I like my leafy Eastern suburbs, thanks. Close enough but far away too.

Saw my old residence in the Matrix:Reloaded

To "I prefer my view of the city from Longueville" I am sure most people would be happy to have one or the other and not gloat on about how they would want both. Get with the real world. As a wannabe first home buyer renting on the lower north shore (and saving frantically) I am well aware that it is people like you who are pushing up the prices of Sydney property, by buying more than you need!


It's good to see the CBD getting extra residents. What I disagree with is high-rise developments in areas like Hurstville, Parramatta, Chatswood, Maroubra, Rockdale, etc. (To me, a high-rise is over 5 stories). I prefer developers build terrace-style housing in the suburbs and ones close to railways. Those high-rises in the suburbs are UGLY and OVER priced! Our city is getting uglier with those developments. Leave the high-rises in the CBD.


I live 13.5k from the city, am surrounded by world class sporting facilities, 450 acres of parkland, cycle tracks, shops and a school. It's a new suburb, safe, clean with a professinol middle/upper class community. Where? Newington. And my family loves it!

Healthy living!

Pity that most of the old city pubs have closed just when all the people are coming back.

6 O'clock Swill

Slightly off the topic, but many people are complaining about the parking and congestion on public transport related to high-density inner city living. One word - motorcycles.
If the state govt. and councils made the city more bike, motorbike and scooter friendly this would not be an issue. Just a thought....

Get cars out of the city!

Ah great, the old "Sydney should be an international city" again. We are. International cities are DIFFERENT from one another. Nobody wants to come to New York in Australia, as it is put.

Why cant we limit this development, instead of Sydney City Council upping its constituent numbers for more funding?

Crock of Something stinky

High-rise apartment buildings should be limited to certain areas, rather than being allowed to crop up in every suburban centre throughout the city. Over the past few years, I have seen about 10 large blocks of units appear around the local shopping strip, which have slowly destroyed the once-friendly atmosphere. Above all, they should not be built on land that should really be public space - the units next to Luna Park and the Toaster at Circular Quay are probably the worst offenders here.

Enjoyer of Green Space

my in-laws lived in the world square block. complain that we don't visit enough. since my mummy's boy husband would not say this to the parents, someone has to.........

who will pay for the parking fees for us? it is hard enough to find street parking, and u still have to pay for street parking. when u have a baby, a toddler and pram plus bags of just stuff for kids, u want to park as close to the block as possible. or would you pay for $15/hr parking fees for me to park just underneath the block?

helen h.

Hi-rise living is great low maintainence living, and provided you have a strong owners corporation you can certainly influence how you live, the down side is of course you have to be in the majority thinking otherwise it can get stiffling with the standing orders and rules.
But, much better than being in a house next to the block.


I'm glad people like Aspro live on the Northern Beaches. We wouldn't want their type near the city anyway - have fun spending hundreds of dollars a year on public transport costs and spending up to 3hrs every day in traffic.
City living is the place to be!

Happy in the city

The city is life. The suburb death. Both cultural and environmental. The notion of the garden-city suburb is a respose to the conditions of the late 19th metropolis. The city of the 21st century must be compact,dense, pedestrian not car friendly, green, culturally/socially vibrant, 'mixed' not zoned, public park not private backyard, public transport not car dependant. Densitys the Sydney should be increased 3fold, suburban subdivisions and mindless and wastful expansion should be outlawed.


Next thing you know our cemeteries will be in high-rises!


With respect to anyone who wants to live in these units, it is really each to there own.
I personally can't stand any high rise building and completely object to this form of development. Sydney does not have the infrastructure to support this. Our rail, bus and not to mention roads have all been running well beyond capacity for some years now and yet the government and councils continue to push the barries of this beyond my comprehension. It makes it ever so appealing to move to another city to escape this choked city.

Hate them

I have the best of both worlds, I am a 20 min train ride from the centre of town, I have a unit in a small block (only 10 units / 2 storeys) which comes complete with great shared garden ( that I don't have to tend)!! There are alternatives out there that suit your needs! You just have to look for them !!

happy on the Nth Shore as a unit owner

It's like I have my very own human ant farm upon which I can down to the street to the commoners that walk past.

The extra security is also a bonus. Why live in the land of the great unwashed burbs when I can have clean secure living in the city?

The Word

Different people like different styles of living, Singles - apartment "New York" style living, families - "quarter acre block" living. We need sensible planning that makes both types available to everyone. Poor planning is leading to high property prices, small blocks and a long commute to work. We need several "Manhattens" providing jobs and "New York" style living across Sydney. In Parramatta, Sydney, Campletown, Penrith and Norwest for example. This would ease traffic, property prices, and the crush that is leading 1/8 acre blocks to be considered huge. We need to stop developing Sydney's CBD and start building new ones. Plan for the future, not the quick buck.

T. C.

Its about time Sydney started growing "Up" rather than "Out". Developing areas in Sydney's greater west eg: castle hill has been a disaster to our roads and infrustructure, by comparison to cities worldwide, Sydney has a severe lack of apartments in the CBD, and the reason they are so expensive to buy is because the majority of apartments have only been built in the last 10 years. Once these buildings become over 30 years old, they will be much more affordable, and the inefficient life in the suburbs with 3 cars will hopefully be a thing of the past.

15 years ago, the CBD was a virtual ghost town at night on weekdays. Now we see people out on the streets 24/7. The way an international city should be!


I live on the northern beaches, commute every day to North Sydney. I wouldn't want to live anywhere near the city.
I've got clean air, it's safe to bring up my 3 children, surf every day I can.
It's the best part of the best city of the best country in the world !
You can keep your high rise living.


How do young people afford to live in those city units? Some of them cost more then cost more than a house wiht land in the suburbs!!! Where do they get the money from?

Trying to pay off a mortgage

It's a great vantage point from which to view the lack of parking in the Sydney CBD. I'm all for it.

Ali Baba

I would be happier if the largest developer was put out of business. He is too big for councils or the government or anyone to control. He does what he likes, tells the councils what to do (Sydney city), tells government departments what to do and tells his customers to go jump when there is a problem. I was told not to buy from him but I didn't listen to friends that said don't touch him with a bargepole. Now I am facing large bills for repairs (to repairs to other units in the block) that the slack body corporate didn't chase with the developer for poor quality work. My advice is to pay a bit more and buy from a reputable developer.

ian wilson

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