Business activity is accelerating in Western Sydney a year from the Western Sydney International Airport and Aerotropolis opening, according to new Westpac data.
The data has revealed Western Sydney is “outpacing Sydney’s coastal suburbs for business lending growth, with a 15 per cent increase over the past year compared to 13 per cent for the Eastern Harbour City.”
Shane Howell, Westpac General Manager of Commercial Banking said:
“Western Sydney is Australia’s third largest urban economy and already an economic powerhouse, and yet the investment growth we’ve seen to date is just the beginning. Once the airport opens in late 2026 and transport links and large infrastructure projects are completed, we anticipate growth in Greater Western Sydney will accelerate even faster.”
Some of the hotspot suburbs where Westpac has “seen significant business lending growth over the past 12 months include Austral (up 166%), Cecil Hills (up 101%), Silverwater (up 62%), Cabramatta (up 52%), Penrith (up 51%) and Baulkham Hills (up 51%).”
Howell said:
“These are strategic, fast-growing areas and at Westpac we’re helping customers to capitalise on the growth in Western Sydney through two types of funding: Term lending to help businesses invest in increasing their footprint, either through commercial property or acquisitions; and working capital or cashflow lending, for example to enable them to increase stock or inventory,”
As noted in the update:
“The other thing we’re able to do thanks to Westpac DataX is help customers make informed decisions about where to invest based on data analytics. For retail businesses that could be about which locations are seeing the most transactional spending growth and where else their customers are spending money.”
In 2016, the Greater Sydney Commission introduced “the concept of the ‘metropolis of three cities’, with Sydney divided into three hubs – the Eastern Harbour City, Central River City and Western Parkland City.”
Howell also mentioned:
“Historically, emphasis for business investment and jobs was in the Eastern Harbour City and over the past decade we’ve seen that shift to the Central River City, with Parramatta at the core. Now, in the lead up to the airport opening that investment is moving further west. What we’re seeing is a historic shift from Western Sydney being the commuter belt, to the economic engine.”
The top growth industries for business lending “over the past 12 months in Greater Western Sydney are Services (up 61%), Wholesale Trade (up 40%), Finance and Insurance (up 24%), Accommodation (up 23%), Property Services (up 20%) and Retail Trade (up 19%).”
Howell further noted:
“In the Western Parkland City we’ve seen a marked increase in investment from businesses in Wholesale Trade, contributing to nearly a quarter of our business lending growth in that region over the past year. These are businesses that are quite dependent on air and road freight and are set to benefit significantly when the airport comes online.”
As stated in the update:
“It’s an exciting time to be working with businesses in the region and Westpac itself is part of this growing trend. Western Sydney is home to nearly half of our Greater Sydney workforce and 2,500 people work in our Parramatta Square office, including many of our Business bankers, our Operations teams, our Fraud and Scam specialists, Technology teams and more. By basing ourselves in Western Sydney we’re able to attract talented, highly educated people who can grow their careers while working close to home.”
Top suburbs for business “lending growth: Central River City & Central Parkland City.”
About the data
The data in this update is Westpac business lending data “comparing Total Committed Exposure (TCE) from April 2024 to April 2025.”
Top suburbs are highest growth suburbs “in the Central River City and Western Parkland City by percentage with minimum $100m in business lending as of April 2025.”