iscover
iscover 
As reported by Westpac, the long-awaited and highly anticipated opening of the Western Sydney Airport has business growth accelerating, with a 15 per cent increase over the past year compared to 13 per cent for the east of the city.
Westpac’s general manager of commercial banking, Shane Howell, said the region is an “economic powerhouse” and the third-largest urban economy in the country.
“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,” said Howell.
The top-performing suburbs for business lending growth in the Greater Western Sydney area were:
- Austral (166 per cent)
- Cecil Hills (101 per cent)
- Silverwater (62 per cent)
- Cabramatta (52 per cent)
- Penrith (51 per cent)
- Baulkham Hills (51 per cent)
- Kellyville (43 per cent)
- Rydalmere (36 per cent)
- Merrylands (25 per cent)
- North Parramatta (24 per cent)
“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,” Howell said.
“What we’re seeing is a historic shift from Western Sydney being the commuter belt, to the economic engine.”
Meanwhile, the industries with the most business lending growth in this region were:
- Services (61 per cent)
- Wholesale trade (40 per cent)
- Finance and insurance (24 per cent)
- Accommodation (23 per cent)
- Property services (20 per cent)
- Retail trade (19 per cent)
- Property (16 per cent)
- Construction (16 per cent)
- Education, health, and government (11 per cent)
- Transport and storage (11 per cent)
“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,” Howell explained.
“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.”
[Related: The Australian suburbs driving business growth]
