Wyndham Infrastructure Projects, VIC

Wyndham combines a large service economy with strong development activity and a substantial industrial and transport program

Economic base

Wyndham is a large and rapidly growing urban economy with 347,830 residents in 2025. Population increased by 12,510 people, or 3.7%, during the year. Natural increase contributed 4,780 people, net internal migration 2,379 and net overseas migration 5,351. The combination of births, movement from elsewhere in Australia and overseas arrivals gives the council several sources of expansion. It also broadens the operating requirements for housing, schools, health care, transport, retail and other everyday services. Population change is therefore central to understanding both the scale of local demand and the timing of supporting infrastructure.

The employment base is led by health care and social assistance at 12.1% of employed residents, transport, postal and warehousing at 9.9%, retail trade at 9.6%, construction at 8.3%, professional services at 8.2%, education and training at 6.8% and manufacturing at 6.3%. This is a service-led economy with important logistics, building and production components. Business registrations reinforce the breadth: 37,656 registered businesses and 8,716 employing businesses were recorded in June 2025. Construction, professional services, health care, retail and transport are substantial business groupings. Registered businesses describe business presence, while employment shares describe the work undertaken by residents.

Project program

The council’s project activity is concentrated in industrial, retail, school, health and transport work under way. Proposed work is directed towards energy and transport, while completed work spans industrial, school, transport, retail and health activity. Industrial, transport and retail work are the largest kinds of active or proposed work, with the largest priced work at a large scale. Transport work is shared with other councils, so its access and freight implications extend beyond the council boundary. The overall direction combines current urban and service activity with proposed energy and transport capacity.

This direction sits alongside substantial building activity. Non-residential building approvals were $4.7bn in the 12 months to June 2026, equivalent to 1.76× the council’s own three-year average. Residential building work approved was $1.7bn in the 12 months to July 2026. These approvals describe building work approved to proceed during their respective periods, while the project program describes activity by kind and direction. Read together, they show a council where development activity includes both private building work and broader industrial, transport, energy, education and health-related activity. The measures also cover different periods and should retain that distinction.

Economic connections

The mix of industrial and transport work aligns with Wyndham’s established logistics, warehousing and manufacturing base. Transport work could improve freight and access links for businesses that move goods, workers and materials through the council. Industrial activity may support space for production, storage and distribution, while retail activity connects population growth with local consumption and services. Because transport work is shared with other councils, access outcomes may depend on coordination across boundaries. These mechanisms connect the direction of work with the existing economic structure and with the movement of goods and people.

Proposed energy work may support industrial enablement through additional power capacity, while the proposed transport direction may support access as employment and residential areas expand. School and health work aligns with the needs created by population growth and may add education and health capacity. Building approvals also support construction activity in an economy where construction accounted for 8.3% of employed residents in 2021 and 4,750 construction businesses were registered in June 2025. Current services include 4 hospitals, 241 approved centre-based childcare services and 11 residential aged care homes. Together, these connections place utilities, access and community capacity alongside development activity.

Outlook

Housing delivery is running ahead of the yearly pace required by the state target over the period from July 2023 to July 2026. The target requires 3,536 homes a year, while approvals since July 2023 were 13,193 dwellings, equal to 121% of the required pace. In the 12 months to July 2026, 4,064 dwellings were approved, comprising 3,358 houses and 706 townhouses, apartments and other dwellings. This is a continuing residential development program with houses as the larger component. Its scale sits alongside the council’s population increase and the wider building activity recorded through non-residential approvals.

The principal indicators for the next period are the balance between population growth and service capacity, the level and composition of building approvals, labour-market conditions and the direction of project activity. The 2026-Q1 labour force was 194,820 people, with 10,126 unemployed and an unemployment rate of 5.2%. Current services include 4 hospitals, 241 approved centre-based childcare services and 11 residential aged care homes. Proposed energy and transport work adds a capacity dimension to this picture. Taken together, these measures describe a council managing continued urban development while maintaining access, utilities, education, health and care services.

For council and planning staff

The housing target is 3,536 homes a year, and approvals were at 121% of the required yearly pace from July 2023 to July 2026. Population was 347,830 in 2025 and rose by 12,510, or 3.7%; natural increase contributed 4,780, net internal migration 2,379 and net overseas migration 5,351. These measures describe both the pace and sources of change that shape service timing. Current capacity includes 4 hospitals, including 2 public hospitals, 241 approved centre-based childcare services and 23,739 approved childcare places. Residential aged care comprises 11 homes and 1,286 places, with the period recorded as 30 June 2025.

For buyers’ agents and investors

In 2021, 48.3% of occupied private dwellings were owned with a mortgage, 18% were owned outright and 30.8% were rented. Average household size was 3.1 people and the median age was 32. A relatively young, mobile population is reflected in the 60.5% who lived at a different address five years earlier. Median weekly household income was $2,023 and median personal income was $839 in 2021. Labour force participation was 66.9%; in 2026-Q1, the labour force was 194,820 and the unemployment rate was 5.2%. New dwelling approvals in the 12 months to July 2026 comprised 3,358 houses and 706 townhouses, apartments and other dwellings.

For builders and developers

In the 12 months to July 2026, 4,064 dwellings were approved, including 3,358 houses and 706 townhouses, apartments and other dwellings. The approval rate was 0.94× the council’s own three-year average, and the value of residential building work approved was $1.7bn. These figures describe approvals to proceed during that period and show a predominantly house-led mix. Construction had 4,750 registered businesses and 1,228 employing businesses in June 2025, while construction accounted for 8.3% of employed residents in 2021. Non-residential building approvals totalled $4.7bn in the 12 months to June 2026, or 1.76× the council’s own three-year average.

Key takeaways

• Wyndham’s economy combines strong population growth with substantial health, transport, retail, construction, manufacturing and professional-services activity.
• Non-residential building approvals reached $4.7bn in the 12 months to June 2026, or 1.76× the council’s own three-year average, while the project program is led by industrial and transport activity.
• Housing approvals were at 121% of the state target pace from July 2023 to July 2026, but the 12 months to July 2026 recorded 0.94× the council’s own three-year average.

Sources

• Estimated resident population — ABS Regional Population
• Health care and social assistance — ABS Census 2021
• Registered businesses — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Population change — ABS Regional Population
• Population change — ABS Regional Population
• Natural increase — ABS Regional Population
• Net internal migration — ABS Regional Population
• Net overseas migration — ABS Regional Population
• Transport, postal and warehousing — ABS Census 2021
• Retail trade — ABS Census 2021
• Construction — ABS Census 2021
• Professional, scientific and technical services — ABS Census 2021
• Education and training — ABS Census 2021
• Manufacturing — ABS Census 2021
• Employing businesses — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Construction — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Health Care and Social Assistance — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Retail Trade — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Registered businesses, Transport, Postal and Warehousing — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Non-residential building approvals, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Non-residential building approvals versus this council's own three-year average, weighted by the value of those approvals — ABS Building Approvals
• Value of residential building work approved (new homes, alterations and additions), latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Registered businesses, Manufacturing — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses
• Open public and private hospitals — AIHW MyHospitals
• Approved centre-based childcare services — ACECQA national register
• Residential aged care homes — AIHW GEN aged care
• Target: 99,000 net new dwellings from 2023 to 2051 (3,536 a year) — Plan for Victoria
• Dwellings approved since July 2023 against the yearly pace the housing target needs (100% is on pace) — Plan for Victoria
• Dwellings approved, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Unemployment rate — Small Area Labour Markets
• Dwellings approved since July 2023 — ABS Building Approvals
• New houses approved, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Townhouses, apartments and other dwellings approved, latest 12 months — ABS Building Approvals
• Labour force — Small Area Labour Markets
• Unemployed persons — Small Area Labour Markets
• Approved childcare places — ACECQA national register
• Residential aged care places — AIHW GEN aged care
• Public hospitals — AIHW MyHospitals
• Owned with a mortgage — ABS Census 2021
• Median age — ABS Census 2021
• Owned outright — ABS Census 2021
• Rented — ABS Census 2021
• Average household size — ABS Census 2021
• Lived at a different address 5 years ago — ABS Census 2021
• Median household income (weekly) — ABS Census 2021
• Median personal income (weekly) — ABS Census 2021
• Labour force participation rate — ABS Census 2021
• Dwellings approved versus this council's own three-year average — ABS Building Approvals
• Employing businesses, Construction — ABS Counts of Australian Businesses