Gentrification in Australia’s largest cities: a bird’s-eye view

Abstract

This study measures where gentrification has been occurring in the past decade in Australia’s three major cities: Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Based on existing theory, an analytical framework is built to locate gentrification, which takes into account various demographic indicators and spatial markers. The findings are quite surprising, and contradict earlier urban geography theories that frame gentrification as an inner-city phenomenon. The highest levels of gentrification are not found in the immediate inner cities but rather in a band located 5–15 km from the CBDs. In contrast to outer suburbs, the inner suburbs in all three cities are relatively stable and affluent at this point, with median house prices surpassing one million dollars, and median incomes substantially higher than average. The ‘new middle class’ which has traditionally been associated with inner city gentrification is unable to access the housing market in these previously gentrified suburbs, and is therefore moving outwards.

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