Kay,
As someone who lives in the regions specified in the article you mention, I have witnessed prices in my area jump heavily around the time that the First Homebuyers Grant was in its prime.
If could be a co-incidence, but I put the spike down to the injection of funds (and increase in affordability) brought in by the grant. The areas this article mentions are lower priced areas in general than the rest of Sydney and price rises are in times of high activity because there are more buyers finding the market affordable. Because there are more people in this “affordable” end of the market, price rises at this end of the market are correlated with activity.
For these “mini-cities” to sustainably impact prices for the better would meant that there would need to be a reason to live there (apart from affordability). If this mini-city is filled with semi-industrial areas and patchwork infrastructure then there is a strong risk that this will remain a dormitory suburb (like much of the rest of Western Sydney).
For there to be a sustained positive impact on prices, there needs to be a reason for white collar people to live there beyond affordability. There are plenty of opportunities for “blue collar” and tradespeople already. But if this is the people it caters for then it will just homogenise the area from Camden to Penrith to Liverpool.
