A ‘win-win’: New family apartment living trend

The family home just got a high-rise makeover as a growing number of Aussies are acting now to secure affordable properties, purchasing multiple apartments within the same development for the entire family.

Granger McGregor, 51, thought that he and wife Judy would downsize in about 10 years, they instead decided to fast track their journey.

They purchased two separate two-bedroom apartment’s off-the-plan within Ellipse Property’s Atrium building, the first stage of the developer’s Carrington Place masterplan in Castle Hill.

When the building is complete in mid-2026 Granger and Judy will live in one apartment while directly below them their daughter (now aged 16) and son Cooper (now aged 18) will eventually live independently in their own unit.

Judy and Granger (middle) will live in one apartment while directly below them their daughter (left) and son Cooper (right) will have their own unit. Image: Nathan Smith

“I never thought I’d end up back in an apartment because so many apartments are quite busy and on main roads and that sort of thing,” Mr McGregor said.

“I realised we weren’t going to get anything that was already built – you really have to do it off the plan to get two together.

“You get a sense of splitting a house in half but have it physically in the same building.”

“We saw it as a win-win, normally we would downsize at 60 or 65 like everyone else, but we thought the kids will spend their 20s and 30s maybe stressing about renting or maybe buying or whatever and we will be trying to downsize when we are quite old.

“As we started sorting through the house the last six months we realised there’s actually a lot of work in downsizing after 21 years and I wouldn’t want to be doing all of this work when I’m 70.”

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The McGregor family are downsizing from their five-bedroom family home in Cherrybrook. Image: Nathan Smith

Moving from their five-bedroom, two-storey family home in Cherrybrook, Mr McGregor said the apartments will be less maintenance.

“The house itself is now 30 years old and every weekend there is so much maintenance to be done – plus a big backyard that the children aren’t even interested in anymore,” he said.

“Housing affordability is so low that we know the kids would have been living with us well into their 20s, maybe even later.

“This way we can do that independently, yet with the comfort of having us so close by.”

Mr McGregor said Atrium offers the best of both worlds, where they are able to live independently, but still close to each other.

“We have the creek and bushland at our doorstep – but are just across the road from the Metro, retail and dining areas,” he said.

“I used to drive from Cherrybrook to Showground to the walking trail, but next year I will just walk out our front door and be there.”

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Granger and Judy McGregor said there were many benefits downsizing to the off-the-plan apartments. Image: Nathan Smith

Ms McGregor said the benefits outweighed risks of buying off-the-plan such as the upside of having two brand new apartments and not having a yard to maintain.

“My husband has hit 50 and I’ve got another year before I hit 50 but just thinking about our lifestyle and our kid’s lifestyle is going to evolve into it made a lot of sense to make the shift now so we can all enjoy apartment living but still stay together so to speak,” she said.

Cooper McGregor said it was not much different to double storey living.

“It’s a degree of separation intrinsically as a part of it but it’s still the same building and it’s only an elevator or staircase away,” he said.

“It will pretty much be acting as if it was just a second storey on a house rather than two entirely separate homes.”

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Carrington Place render

“This is definitely a new trend we are starting to see,” Ellipse Property associate director of design, marketing and sales Puja Khanna said.

“Instead of being the Bank of Mum and Dad down the track, parents are acting now to secure multiple properties.

“When the kids eventually do move out, the apartments can be kept as investments or sold.”

Colliers national director Blake Schulze said they are seeing more downsizers choosing such innovative solutions.

“It’s a smart way to maintain independence while staying connected and allow for flexibility in the future,” he said.

Carrington Place render kitchen and dining

Carrington Place living room render

“This trend is being driven by a combination of factors such as the high prices of freestanding homes, increasing construction and maintenance costs and the convenience of the new Metro, all of which make modern apartment living an attractive option.”

Luke Hayes director of Colliers said over the last year they have seen family purchases including securing homes for in-laws and/or parents.

“We’ve also seen quite a few amalgamations with a bit of a dual key aspect as well, where two apartments have been joined together to accommodate one super apartment” he said.

According to Mr Hayes, driving factors were both financial and caring for family members.

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