SMH：悉尼西区是本次房地产热潮的大赢家
悉尼西区的房价最近猛涨。
有一些区域的房价过去5年静悄悄地涨了超过50%。
根据澳洲房地产监测公司的统计数学显示，这些悉尼西区的房价在过去五年都超过了50%
Auburn
Holroyd
Faifield
Parramatta
这些区域的房价比悉尼（City of Sydney）的增长率要高。
悉尼在过去五年，房价增加了42.9%。
今年头一季度，悉尼西区房子拍卖价的统计数据表明，这里的房价增长比悉尼其它区域要高。
悉尼西区房价今年第一季度增长了8.8%。
这一次上涨最好的区域是Parramatta区，而Parramatta区也刚刚被评为新州最适宜居住的中心区域。
新南威尔士大学城市发展研究所的主任Bill Randolph说，在10-15年前，没有什么人谈论Parramatta。
但是现在Parramatta区有剧院，有非常繁忙，人气非常活跃的餐厅。
在哪里也有很多活动举行， 市政府规划也不错，哪里的很多的工作职位都集中在一起。
目前由于内西区的房间也是快速增长，导致很多市民将他们的目光转移到Parramatta区和附近来找房子。
36岁的首次购房者Brendon Clark介绍说，购房承受能力是他们来这里买房子的最主要的原因。
他刚刚和他的女朋友Jade Grimwood在Guildford区买了一套公寓房。
Brendon Clark和女朋友在Erskineville已经租房了4年。
他们在Guildford区买了一间3睡房，两个浴室的公寓，价格是46.5万。
他说，我们都知道内城区，内西区是出奇的昂贵，所以我相当惊讶我们可以在这里买到这个价格的大房子。
他们每天都到市中心上班，然后到Parramatta购物和上菜馆。
Guildford在Holroyd和Parramatta区中间， 这两个区的房价过去五年增加了51.3%。
而去年Holroyd和Parramatta区的房价增加了15%。
澳洲房地产监测公司的高级经济学家Andrew Wilson博士说，Parramatta区的房价快速增长是令人印象深刻的。
这一地区目前正在逐渐高档化。
West a big winner in house price boom
By Toby Johnstone
Property prices are booming in Sydney's west, with some houses rising in value by more than 50 per cent over the past five years.
House price growth in Auburn, Holroyd, Fairfield and Parramatta outpaced most of NSW and was 10 percentage points higher than the 42.9 per cent rise in City of Sydney property values, figures from Australian Property Monitors show.
Quarterly auction data shows that the west has been the best performing region in Sydney this year, clocking 8.8 per cent price growth over the March quarter.
The linchpin for this explosion in western Sydney house values is Parramatta, which was recently crowned the most liveable centre in NSW. ''Parramatta 10 to 15 years ago didn't have a lot of sparkle to it,'' Bill Randolph, director of the city futures research centre at the University of NSW, said.
''But if you go there now it's got theatres, it's got a very active restaurant scene, it has a lot of activity, and that is generated by that concentration of jobs and deliberate planning action.''
Rapid price growth in the inner city has driven many buyers to Parramatta and nearby areas that offer more affordable housing. ''Affordability was the main thing,'' said first home buyer Brendon Clark, 36, who has just bought an apartment south of Parramatta in Guildford with his girlfriend, Jade Grimwood, 33.
The couple, who rented in Erskineville for six years, secured a modern three-bedroom apartment with two bathrooms, two balconies and a car spot for $465,000.
''We all know how insanely expensive it is in the inner city, so I was fairly surprised to get something this good at this price,'' Mr Clark said.
The couple commute to the city and to the inner west for work but for shopping and restaurants they have Parramatta.
Guildford is within both the Holroyd and Parramatta local government areas, which both have experienced 51.3 per cent house price growth over the past five years. Last year, both areas clocked just over 15 per cent house price growth.
APM senior economist Andrew Wilson said impressive price growth in Parramatta and nearby areas was a story of ''gradual gentrification''.
Population and price growth in inner Sydney has underpinned a ''hunt for residential amenity'', Dr Wilson said, with home buyers wanting to find affordable suburbs that have good infrastructure.
Parramatta lord mayor John Chedid said he was not surprised by the price growth.
''We've got all the right attributes for our city to be able to market itself and for people to come invest in the city, which creates jobs,'' he said.
''We are also very fortunate to have one of the best eat streets in Sydney [Church Street].''
But Mr Chedid said the most urgently needed development was light rail connecting people from Parramatta to the Hills as well as Macquarie Park.
The chief executive of Starr Partners, Douglas Driscoll, said, apart from Parramatta, families buying homes had been propping up demand in other hotspots such as Penrith, Pemulwuy, Rouse Hill and Narellan. But not all of the west is doing well.
''It's not black and white; it is a patchwork of leading and lagging areas,'' Professor Randolph said.
''The south-west is more of a problem because there is less access to the global arc and job opportunities as there is in the north-west. I think the south-west is going to lag for some time.''
Danish architect Jan Gehl said the key to ''saving the suburbs'' was to promote better transport.
''The suburbs were made on the condition that we had cheap gasoline for eternity,'' he said. ''We don't. We need to move in other ways than with a rubber wheel in all four corners.''
Professor Randolph said Parramatta was a success story, but it was critical for investment to be spread more evenly through the western suburbs.
''The game changer of all time would be a second airport,'' he said.
