Melbourne set to overtake as biggest metropolis

[aussie1st]

A 10-YEAR fall in the percentage of migrants settling in NSW and the lowest rate of economic growth of all mainland states has Melbourne on track to overtake Sydney as Australia's biggest city, a report predicts.

The Going Nowhere report, produced by the economic forecasters BIS Shrapnel for a property developer lobby group, says lower developer levies on new housing land in Melbourne have allowed construction of homes at twice the rate of Sydney. This is fuelling a population and economic growth in the Victorian capital that means it will become the country's biggest city by 2037.

Melbourne To Overtake Sydney As Australia's Biggest City

Its still a long way away but that would be strange having Melbourne as the biggest city in Australia. A bit like Christchurch becoming the biggest city in NZ.

 

[drainpipe32]

Don't know if I'm particularly pleased about this....

 

[MattW]

Why can't we have Victoria beating NSW in population instead of just having a bigger Melbourne? Until Australians get over the notion of living in the capital cities, we're just going to make our housing and transport problems worse.

Growing the size of regional centres is the only way to accommodate the sorts of people we'd be talking about. Ballarat and Bendigo especially could get much larger without much problems, support greater business and are generally very liveable places (unlike Western NSW).

Making capital cities bigger is very short sighted.

 

[drainpipe32]

The day Melbourne becomes like London will be very sad indeed. We're going from having the most livable city in the world to a crowded and polluted commercial hub. Like MattW, the ideal situation would be to increase population inland rather than at the capital cities.

Gazza added 0 Minutes and 47 Seconds later...

I mean, don't people watch the 'Move to Provincial Victoria' Ads!

 

[angryangy]

The biggest problem for Melbourne right now is maintaining the balance between that growth and the reasons it exists. Sydney has higher population density combined with higher housing costs and more transportation issues. Yet, that could easily become Melbourne's problem if they start cramming citizens in without extensive foresight.