- Impacted suburbs include Penrith, Prospect, and Bankstown.
- Sellers and landlords may find it challenging to sell or rent out properties.
- Those working at the airport may require properties near their workplace.
With the Western Sydney Airport flight paths finally announced on 27 June, homeowners are scrambling to understand if their property will be directly impacted.
The announcement brought surprise to residents in the suburbs of Mount Druitt, Penrith, Prospect, Orchard Hills, Bankstown, Windsor and Richmond who would be most impacted by the Western Sydney Airport flight path, as well as some parts of the Blue Mountains who would be mildly impacted.
On the other side of the card, investors are now seeking opportunities on how they can best utilise this information to invest in short-term rental accommodation nearby the airport for travellers, as well as invest in properties that would become rental properties for the Western Sydney Airport staff, airline staff, or commercial suppliers.
What does this mean for home owners?
It is expected that home values of properties lying directly under the flight paths would be significantly impacted, and homeowners may have difficulty selling their properties for a premium. If homeowners choose to leave and rent out their property, it could be difficult finding tenants or they may need to offer a cheaper rent to attract tenants.
The noise of living under a flight path is a turn-off for both tenants and prospective property buyers, so it is the homeowners under these flight paths who are significantly impacted.
For homeowners wanting to build their dream home under or near the flight paths, they may find their building costs have increased due to the more expensive cost of materials needed for noise insulation.
The biggest downside is that Western Sydney Airport will be open 24 hours, with flights running through the night, unlike Sydney airport where there are curfews in place.
What does this mean for investors?
For property investors, there may be an opportunity to buy a property that is undervalued because it is under a flight path, however, this location may still be desirable for people needing to be located close to the airport. Airport staff, airline pilots and stewards, and commercial businesses that service the airport would find living close to the airport desirable.
There is also a good opportunity for commercial property investment as some businesses that supply aircraft would look for commercial space close to the airport.
If you choose to invest close to the airport, you will also be buying into an area ripe for infrastructure investment meaning there would be more transport, greater access, and employment opportunities.
One of the biggest risks for investors is whether there will be long-term capital growth in the area.
However, as we have seen in Sydney’s inner west, if it is a desirable place to live then people soon forget and don’t care much for the flight paths as they just become a matter of fact of living in the area.
The main difference here though is the cosmopolitan lifestyle that the inner west offers with cafes, restaurants, clubs and easy access to the CBD and beaches.
Whether we will see a similar lifestyle developed in the West is yet to be seen. If you buy into the area whilst current owners are trying to flock away from the area you may score a good property at a discount, and once everyone has come to terms with the flight paths over the longer term your property could be worth a pretty dime.
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