In Paris it’s normal to raise a family in a three-bedroom apartment. Why aren’t we building more in Australia?

Global cities with a longer history of apartment living tend to offer more diverse living options for families than Australia. Illustration: Bill Hope/The Guardian

When Sydney couple Matthew Henderson and Jacqui Nissim realised their family had outgrown their two-bedroom apartment, they got creative. Given the unaffordable prices of a standalone house in Randwick, a vibrant suburb in the city’s east, they opted to renovate a sunroom.

“We had to take a creative approach and create a flexible third bedroom,” Henderson says. “Otherwise we would need to move away from here, and we’d be moving further away from jobs, further away from work and schools.