An aerial photograph of an Australian suburb showing thousands of densely packed detached houses has sparked debate about the future of housing.
Located about 40 km west of Sydney’s CBD, near Quakers Hill, The Ponds was established in 2007 and was previously farmland.
Today the suburb is home to 4,500 homes and an estimated population of around 12,000 residents.
However, Australians have criticized the suburb’s density after an aerial photograph circulated on social media, prompting thousands of people to weigh in.
“Each of them worth at least $1.2 million, 45 kilometers from Sydney’s CBD,” wrote one commenter.
‘How the hell is this approved? And he looks at those dark rooftops.
“Just wait until the kids are older and each house has three to four cars that need street parking.”
An image of The Ponds development has gone viral, with Australians claiming the design was “depressing” and raised concerns about privacy, security and the climate.
Some commenters shared concerns about a lack of privacy due to the proximity of the homes.
‘That looks horrible. Packed like sardines,” one wrote.
‘If you sneeze out a side window, your neighbor will catch a cold. This image makes me feel claustrophobic just looking at it.’
Another wrote: ‘No backyards. Treeless. Just grey. How fucking depressing.
“For me, living like this would be hell on earth.”
The design of the house also raised safety concerns, especially in the event of a fire.
‘How is that safe? If one catches fire, everyone is in danger. “I’d rather live in a tent in the woods than in one of these McBoxes,” one person commented.
‘A house catches fire and the whole row burns down. Good design.’
Another said: “In summer it will be very hot and you will depend on the air conditioning.” It’s very poorly designed.’
Others said high immigration to Sydney fueled the need for high-density housing.
‘The government is making it easier by opening the floodgates to mass immigration!’ wrote one commenter.
“This sad and depressing picture has no place in Australia, where greed has crippled potential homeowners by encouraging migration at unsustainable levels.”
A defiant family has rejected offers of up to $50 million to sell their five-acre property (pictured) in the heart of The Ponds.
Developers gradually raised the surrounding land, but the intensely private Zammit family refused to sell it.
Aerial timelapse footage shows how the house was once surrounded by farmland.
Prior to the development of The Ponds in 2007, the area was characterized by small red brick houses with huge sections and farmhouses.
One such house remains today: a five-acre property in the heart of the suburb owned by the defiant Zammit family, who refused to sell despite receiving lucrative offers.
The land is worth more than $40 million to local developers Bathla, who could build 40 new $1 million homes on the space.
It is believed that the promoters offered the family a multimillion-dollar sum in exchange for handing over the land so that construction work on the estate could finally be completed.
‘Each house was unique and there was plenty of space, but not anymore. It’s just not the same,” Diane Zammit previously told WhatsNew2Day Australia.
The median house price in The Ponds over the past 12 months is $1.5 million, according to data from realestate.com.au.