Welcome to the City of Wyndham Population Forecasts

The City of Wyndham is a residential and rural municipality on Melbourne's south-western fringe. The City is centred on the residential areas around Werribee. The former rural service centre of Werribee became the focus of significant residential growth from the 1960s. This growth was focused in areas to the north of the original township, principally in the Hoppers Crossing area. The rural areas to the south boast significant amounts of intensive horticulture, while a large area is occupied by Melbourne Water's Western Treatment Plant. The City also includes a substantial industrial presence, focused in the Laverton North area.

The City of Wyndham experienced a period of substantial residential expansion through the 1970s and 1980s. The primary housing market role that the City played over this period was to provide affordable home owning opportunities for families and prospective families from the western and south western suburbs of Melbourne. This period of expansion is set to be mirrored by a new phase of development focused in Point Cook, Tarneit, Truganina and Wyndham Vale. This is based predominantly on two factors. The first factor is the declining amount of easily developable 'greenfield' land in the City of Hobsons Bay and to a lesser extent the City of Brimbank to the east. The second factor is the significant demand for new housing from new young families and couples from within the City of Wyndham itself. This is based on the fact that many of the areas developed in the 1970s and 1980s, will provide strong demand from children who grew up in these areas who are now forming their own households.

It is assumed that a number of these patterns will continue into the future, most notably flows into the City of Wyndham from the east, while the maturing of families within the City, notably in Werribee and Hoppers Crossing, should provide additional demand, as children leave home to form households of their own within the City.

With the progressive residential development of the City over many decades, the large size of the municipality and the broad range of land uses across the City, areas have developed different roles within the housing market. Areas such as Riverdene, Bellbridge, Kingston and The Grange have experienced significant residential development in more recent years and have been attractive to couples and young and mature families seeking new housing opportunities. It is expected that Truganina will primarily appeal to a young couple and young family market, while Point Cook, and to a lesser extent Tarneit, will appeal to a broader range of markets including young and mature families and some empty nesters. More central areas such as Werribee Central and Manorvale attract a range of markets including young adults and older persons attracted to employment, education and health care facilities in these areas. This variety of function and role of the small areas in the City of Wyndham means that population outcomes differ significantly across the municipality.

There are also significant differences in the supply of residential property within the City which will also have a major influence in structuring different population and household futures over the next five to twenty years. Large new 'greenfield' opportunities have been identified in Point Cook, Tarneit, Truganina, Wyndham Vale and in the short term Riverdene. There are likely to be other residential development opportunities throughout the City, albeit at lower levels than the major growth areas identified above.