Once considered the Great Australian Dream, the family house on a quarter acre block is no longer everyone’s ultimate property choice. Even in Cairns, significant changes in our population profile and lifestyle priorities are feeding a strong trend in apartment living.

Today, our lifestyles are vastly different to those of our parents. We’re working longer, starting families much later in life and we’re increasingly time poor. Proximity to restaurants, cafes, shops and transport is becoming more important than owning a piece of land.

Although demand for houses continues strongly, particularly among families with more than one child, there is definitely a shift towards apartment living, which is being facilitated by a continuing improvement in the design and size of apartments.

While some people are still motivated to move to outer ring areas in order to buy a house, more and more people prefer to stay close to work and that means living in an apartment.

Apartments offer the highly appealing ‘lock-up-and-leave’ factor and they are usually close to established shopping and café districts. Australians also love the increasingly open-plan nature of apartments – a style of living we have grown fondly accustomed to.

The baby boomer factor is also significant in the rise of apartment living. We’re currently seeing a huge wave of empty-nesters selling their family homes and ‘downsizing’ to apartments. Low maintenance living is a priority for these buyers and new apartments are especially appealing, as they tend to offer that extra luxury factor.

Developers have really upped their game over the past 10 years. They’re building really high-quality and well-designed apartments that have strong appeal to discerning young professionals, baby boomers and small families.

Is apartment living more expensive? Large apartments can command thousands of dollars in strata levies, yet busy Australians are increasingly willing to pay for someone else to handle repairs and maintenance. While levies are an affordability consideration for buyers under $500,000, they are not a deterrent to apartment living overall.