Western Sydney story: Scott Timbrell on the region’s real estate potential

Timbrell began his career on Sydney’s laid-back Northern Beaches, a world away from the buzzing West, and also worked on the Lower North Shore. When he was appointed director in charge of Western Sydney for property giant Knight Frank in 2017, he brought with him an appreciation of Western Sydney’s uniqueness and its staggering potential compared to other parts of the city. Richard Horne, Knight Frank’s NSW managing director, said Timbrell’s appointment would help “to spearhead the continued expansion of our Western Sydney business, including Liverpool, and also to drive our metropolitan Capital Markets business in Western Sydney”.

 “From a real-estate perspective, Western Sydney is exploding, and it’s only going to get stronger. It’s the largest commercial real-estate market in the Greater Sydney region right now. There’s huge growth going on in terms of infrastructure – including roads, rail and the airport at Badgerys Creek – and that’s helping the various town centres across the West to grow, too. For Knight Frank, it’s simply good sense to have a full-service agency out here that looks after office and commercial leasing, industrial leasing and sales, and house-and-land sales.

“In Parramatta, you just have to look at the current slate of commercial DAs and the incoming government tenants to realise what a big deal the current boom is. There’s a buzz in Parramatta when you walk around – everyone can feel it. And, of course, as the commercial side grows, there will be a need for more housing. Further West, everything’s gearing up around the new Western Sydney Airport. Once that starts construction [in February] next year, it’s going to drive that area even more. The interest will only intensify.

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“The foreign investment into Western Sydney seems to be growing exponentially. There’s interest from across Asia: Chinese, Malaysian and some Vietnamese investors as well. Even some of the bigger established Chinese developers who previously focused on high-density development near the Sydney CBD are now looking at house-and-land packages in the West. They view this as a safer investment option in the current environment because growth has slowed in the city’s East.

“A great joy of taking on this new role for Knight Frank [Timbrell was appointed in early October 2017] has been learning about Western Sydney myself. I grew up on the Northern Beaches so I’m still discovering things about the West. A lot of the people here are second- or third-generation residents, and they’re very passionate about their home. They’ve seen the area grow over the years and their excitement for this new phase of growth is palpable. People in the Western Sydney community are very open and friendly towards people like me who have something to contribute to the growth story of the region. There’s a lot of passion out there.

“For me, nothing beats spending time in Parramatta. I think a lot of people from other parts of Sydney don’t realise just how big Parramatta has become, and how much further it has to grow. It’s just constantly evolving. I love walking around and seeing new developments spring up before my eyes. It’s really special to be in Western Sydney while it’s in this evolution stage.”

ADVICE

As someone who needs to build dedicated sales teams in Western Sydney, what would your key advice be for SME managers around training and retaining talent? Do you have strategies to deal with the competition from the CBD?

“The CBD is currently a highly competitive environment that has a strong and dominant presence from key agents across all sectors. With that in mind, businesses that are looking to attract and retain talent in Western Sydney should prioritise building a strong team culture that looks after its employees as a way to create value. Ambitious talent looking for career opportunities should be reminded that Western Sydney’s urban activation precincts have plenty of guaranteed growth in the pipeline to be taken advantage of.” – Scott Timbrell, Knight Frank

“Building and developing a sales culture is something we work hard at as well. While suitable background and certification are a must, successful businesses often invest in training and development, to create a culture which supports and nurtures a career path within the organisation. Then the key is to provide is a stable environment within which your team can realise their potential.” – Adrian Oldham, Michael Page

Looking to hire and retain the best possible talent for your business? Speak to one of our Western Sydney consultants today!