Suburb profile: Darlington

This exploration was performed in August 2022, relying on Census data. Several key metrics were not released until later in the year, leaving the data unavailable for analysis at time of writing. The text remains unchanged.

Darlington is a suburb within the City of Sydney Local Government Area, covering a very small geographical area: roughly half a square kilometre (Wikipedia 2022a). To explore its characteristics, this report uses Census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) for the collections from 2001 to 2021 (where available), generally comparing the Darlington “State Suburb” results to the Greater Sydney “Greater Capital City Statistical Area” values (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2002a, 2002b, 2007a, 2007b, 2012a, 2012b, 2017a, 2017b, 2022b, 2022c), using the resulting dataset to create a series of visualisations to guide discussion.

Darlington is ‘right next door’ to University of Sydney, and within walking distance of several other universities and tertiary education facilities; this means the area’s population is a little younger than Greater Sydney overall, with a significant over-representation of students and low rate of family groups. The area also appeals to workforce commuters (including educators) preferring to be close to the city, allowing them to walk to work.

1 Census Exploration and Highlights

1.1 The People

Figure 1.1 demonstrates the population change over time for both Darlington and Greater Sydney. While Greater Sydney has been growing steadily in population over the last twenty years, gaining two to four hundred thousand residents in each five-year cycle, Darlington’s growth has been more erratic. This area gained only around two hundred residents in the ten years between 2001 and 2011. There was then a sudden upward spike of around 850 new residents between 2011 and 2016 was followed by an over-correction, dropping 500 residents by the next Census.

Figure 1.1: Census night population 2001-2021, Darlington vs Greater Sydney

Darlington’s population skews young: Figure 1.2 shows that while the median age of Greater Sydney has been in the mid-to-late thirties over the last twenty years, Darlington’s population is younger, sitting in the range of twenty-five to thirty.

Figure 1.2: Median age of area population, Darlington vs Greater Sydney

This difference is likely due to its proximity to nearby universities and tertiary institutions. This is evidenced in Figure 1.3; while less than ten percent of Greater Sydney’s population attends tertiary education, the rate is much higher in Darlington, varying between 25% and 45% depending on the year. Meanwhile, Figure 4 shows that there is also a comparatively high rate of teachers living in the area: roughly seven percent of the population of Greater Sydney work in education and training, but in Darlington around fourteen percent work in the industry.

Figure 1.3: Proportion of population studying in university/tertiary education, Darlington vs Greater Sydney

Figure 1.4: Proportion of population working in education and training, Darlington vs Greater Sydney. Note: 2021 data is not yet available for this metric.

This young adult population has flow-on effects in local marriage rates and family units. Darlington has a much higher proportion of people who have never been married, and couples without children, than Greater Sydney (see Figure 1.5).

Figure 1.5: Childless couples and unmarried people, Darlington vs Greater Sydney (2021)

Interestingly, despite this disparity in ages and life stages, the workforce profile is remarkably similar between Darlington and Greater Sydney. As Figure 1.6 shows, there is a roughly comparable proportion of people involved in full-time work, part-time work, and unemployed in both cases, and the ratios have stayed approximately the same for the last fifteen years.

Figure 1.6: Proportion of population by employment status, Darlington vs Greater Sydney. Note: 2021 data is not yet available for this metric.

As might be expected for an area so close to the Sydney CBD, the ways that residents of Darlington get to work are very different to Greater Sydney; Figure 1.7 shows a much greater proportion of people from Darlinghurst walk to work or catch public transport, and a significantly lower rate of driving. ¹

Figure 1.7: Method of getting to work on Census day in 2016. Un-displayed responses include those that indicated that they either ‘didn’t go to work’, or ‘worked from home’.

Comparing key incoming and outgoing financial categories reveals some interesting insights. Consider the median income for individuals, households, and families² (see Figure 1.8). As might be expected in an area with a large young adult population and over-representation of students, Darlington’s median personal income is at best on par with Greater Sydney, and sometimes lower. However, Darlington’s inner-city location increases its desirability and leads to higher rents and mortgage payments (see Figure 1.9). Therefore, it is unsurprising that Figure 1.8 shows that Darlington’s household and family incomes are often higher than Greater Sydney; people need to earn more money to pay their bills, or share with larger groups to make the dollar go further.

Figure 1.8: Median weekly income, Darlington vs Greater Sydney

Figure 1.9: Median weekly shelter costs, Darlington vs Greater Sydney

1.2 The Homes

Next, we consider home ownership (see Figure 1.10), comparing the breakdown of homes by tenure type: fully owned, mortgaged, or rented. As might be expected from an area with a large proportion of students and a general bias towards young adults, Darlington has much lower rates of home ownership compared to General Sydney, and also a strong over-representation of renters.

Figure 1.10: Proportion of homes owned vs mortgaged vs rented, Darlington vs Greater Sydney

While Greater Sydney tends to favour free-standing homes, Figure 1.11 shows that Darlington’s dwellings are almost all semi-detached town houses, and most of the rest are units. For example, in 2001, Darlington had no free-standing homes reported at all³.

Figure 1.11: Proportion of homes by dwelling type

As might be expected from an inner-Sydney suburb, the median house and unit prices both tend to be higher than Greater Sydney (Figure 1.12). Notably, Darlington’s median house and unit prices were both reported as $415k in 2001, but from there the unit price briefly dropped where the house price just kept climbing.

Figure 1.12: Median house and unit prices over time, Darlington vs Greater Sydney

1.3 Recommendations for potential buyers

Darlington is a very small suburb in terms of both geography and population, limiting potential buyers’ opportunities for purchasing property in the area. As a comparison, neighbouring suburb Redfern has a little over double the geographic area, more than six times the number of dwellings, and five times the population (see Table 1.1). Additionally, owners in the area tend not to sell as often: while the median time to own a house across Sydney before selling is 9.4 years, in Darlington, the median time to sell property is twice that at 18.6 years (Kate Burke 2022).

Table 1.1: Key statistics, Darlington vs Redfern

Metric	Darlington	Redfern
Geographic area	0.5 km^2	1.2km^2
Dwellings (2021)	1088	7256
Population (2021)	2597	13072
Properties for sale 20th August 2022	5	42

(Data for Table 1.1 sourced from: (Wikipedia 2022a, 2022b; Australian Bureau of Statistics 2022b, 2022d; REA Group 2022a, 2022b))

Checking a website of real estate listings in August 2022, only five homes were for sale in Darlington (REA Group 2022a), most listed as auctions, while Redfern had forty-two (REA Group 2022b) – which is also low. Low property availability (in Darlington in particular), plus the area’s proximity to Sydney’s CBD, suggest a very competitive market that buyers may struggle to participate in. This, along with the over-representation of university students in its population, may go some way to explaining its high proportion of renters and low rate of owner-occupied homes.

2 Closing

Darlington is a suburb with demographics that seem heavily influenced by the surrounding area. Located in the inner city, neighbouring the University of Sydney, and in close proximity to multiple other tertiary education institutions, its population comprises a much larger population of renters and students than other parts of Greater Sydney. This, combined with its small geographic area, suggests that limited availability would be a major challenge for potential buyers looking to acquire property in the area.

3 Appendices

3.1 Limitations of this analysis

This analysis was performed using ABS Census data for the collections from 2001 to 2021. Over that twenty year period, the borders of the state suburb Darlington, as reported by the ABS, have been moved multiple times (as demonstrated by Figure 3.1, Figure 3.2, and Figure 3.3). Some of the shifts have been minor, some have been more dramatic. However, this process modifies not only the area covered but potentially also details such as demographics and real estate included in statistics.

It is difficult to quantify how much of the shifting trends identified in the body of the document are due to “real” changes as opposed to variations in approaches to counting. It’s conceivable that the effects are minimal: for example, if the changed boundaries largely cover areas that contain workplaces (rather than homes), it should not impact census data in a significant way. However, the fact that the borders moved at all means that some reported changes may be inaccurate.

It is also possible that the house prices documented by PriceFinder (Property Data Solutions 2022) may not perfectly align with some or all of these boundaries, particularly given their repeated shifts. This concern is illustrated by the 2001 census stating that there were no separate houses in Darlington (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2002a), yet PriceFinder identified a median price for house sales; though perhaps this value includes semi-detached town houses. If not, they may be using the price of units from that year, which would explain why the value was the same between houses and units – PriceFinder reported both house and unit prices with a median of $415k in 2001.

Figure 3.1: State Suburb “Darlington”, reported in 2001. Image source: (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2002a)

Figure 3.2: State Suburb “Darlington (Sydney)”, reported in 2006. Image source: (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2007a)

Figure 3.3: State Suburb “Darlington (Sydney - NSW)”, reported in 2011 - 2021. Image source: (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2012a)

Another potential issue to keep in mind for the 2021 Census data is the effects of COVID-19 on many aspects of life. City of Sydney Council, of which Darlington composes part, was placed under lockdown from the 25th of June 2021 (Cassidy Knowlton 2022). By Census night, the 10th of August 2021 (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2022a), many other Sydneysiders who weren’t already under official lockdowns were behaving as though they were regardless; official “5km from home” travel restrictions would be re-implemented for Greater Sydney soon after, on the 19th of August. The fact that the entire city was under lockdown on this date possibly improves the 2021 data quality (easier to count how many people live in the place if they can’t go anywhere!), but this would not be reflected in earlier data, and in some cases, highlighted differences may be due to factors other than actual demographic change.

From the data collected here, it is hard to say how many of the sudden shifts initially implemented due to COVID-19 will be permanent, as opposed to temporary changes that have been reverted as soon as was practicable. For example, the proportion of people who worked from home on Census day 2016 is likely to be very different from the equivalent in 2021; will the results in 2026 more closely resemble 2016 or 2021? It remains to be seen.

Bibliography

Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2002a. “2001 Darlington, Census All persons QuickStats.” Web Page. https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2001/SSC11681.

———. 2002b. “2001 Sydney, Census All persons QuickStats.” Web Page. https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2001/105.

———. 2007a. “2006 Darlington (Sydney), Census All persons QuickStats.” Web Page. https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2006/SSC11283.

———. 2007b. “2006 Sydney, Census All persons QuickStats.” Web Page. https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2006/105.

———. 2012a. “2011 Darlington (Sydney - NSW), Census All persons QuickStats.” Web Page. https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2011/SSC10693.

———. 2012b. “2011 Greater Sydney, Census All persons QuickStats.” Web Page. https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2011/1GSYD.

———. 2017a. “2016 Darlington (Sydney - NSW), Census All persons QuickStats.” Web Page. https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2016/SSC11214.

———. 2017b. “2016 Greater Sydney, Census All persons QuickStats.” Web Page. https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2016/1GSYD.

———. 2018. “2900.0 - Census of Population and Housing: Understanding the Census and Census Data, Australia , 2016.” Web Page. https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/2900.0~2016~Main%20Features~Family%20Composition~10148#:~:text=In%20the%20ABS%2C%20a%20family,resident%20in%20the%20same%20household.

———. 2022a. “2021 Census Overview.” Web Page. https://www.abs.gov.au/census/about-census/2021-census-overview.

———. 2022b. “2021 Darlington (Sydney - NSW), Census All persons QuickStats.” Web Page. https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/SAL11215.

———. 2022c. “2021 Greater Sydney, Census All persons QuickStats.” Web Page. https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/1GSYD.

———. 2022d. “2021 Redfern, Census All persons QuickStats.” Web Page. https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/SAL13352.

Cassidy Knowlton. 2022. “A timeline of Covid-19 in Australia, two years on.” Web Page. https://www.timeout.com/melbourne/things-to-do/a-timeline-of-covid-19-in-australia-two-years-on.

Kate Burke. 2022. “The most tightly held suburbs in Sydney: good luck buying into these areas.” Web Page. https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/the-most-tightly-held-suburbs-in-sydney-good-luck-buying-into-these-areas-20220817-p5bapr.html.

Property Data Solutions. 2022. “PriceFinder: Quick Charts & Suburb Flyover.” Web Page. https://app.pricefinder.com.au/v4/app.

REA Group. 2022a. “Real Estate & Property for Sale in Darlington, NSW 2008.” Web Page. https://www.realestate.com.au/buy/in-darlington,+nsw+2008/list-1?includeSurrounding=false&source=refinement.

———. 2022b. “Real Estate & Property for Sale in Redfern, NSW 2016.” Web Page. https://www.realestate.com.au/buy/in-redfern,+nsw+2016/list-1?includeSurrounding=false.

Wikipedia. 2022a. “Darlington, New South Wales.” Web Page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darlington,_New_South_Wales.

———. 2022b. “Redfern, New South Wales.” Web Page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redfern,_New_South_Wales.

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1. Data for this metric is not yet available for 2021. However, results are likely to look significantly different in the latest Census, due to COVID-19 lockdowns restricting Sydneysiders’ movements. There is more discussion of this issue in the “Limitations of this analysis” appendix.↩︎

2. For Census purposes, the ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2018) defines a household as one or more people who live in the same home. It defines a family is a group of two or more people related to each other by blood, marriage (official or de facto), adoption, etc, who live together. Therefore, all families belong to households, but not all households are families.↩︎

3. Though this may be affected by a quirk of the data collection - see the ‘Limitations of this analysis’ appendix for discussion of this issue.↩︎