Fresh concerns of apartment oversupply have hit Melbourne, but are now focused on inner-city suburbs where huge levels of new construction is planned.

In Footscray, 1371 units were approved last year, building data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows – a tenfold increase on the number approved in 2013.

Footscray’s approvals in 2015 came behind the suburbs of Melbourne, Docklands and Southbank, which together had a total of 9458 apartments approved.

Maribyrnong City Council director of planning services Nigel Higgins said planning approvals had been granted over the past few years for large-scale apartment buildings up to 30-storeys in Footscray’s Josephs Road precinct, right along the main train station and on the banks of the Maribyrnong River.

Some projects progressed to the building stage last year, and were a part of the first phase of Footscray’s transformation, he said.

Mr Higgins expects demand to keep up with supply if apartments are carefully released onto the market in a steady stream, as opposed to a flood.

Domain Group chief economist Andrew Wilson said demand for high-rise living was escalating in the inner and eastern suburbs.

But with unit prices falling 9.1 per cent over the year in Footscray to a median of $380,000, there may be early signs of an oversupply, he said.

Local agent George Alexander of Jas Stephens said demand for apartments and units was increasing because many first home buyers were being priced out of the inner north and overseas investors were buying up.

“Although buyer demand has increased, I think supply has increased even more,” he said.

“Resales and boutique projects … are the ones that sell really well, but the reality is there will be a lot of supply coming on.”

Angie Zigomanis of BIS Shrapnel said there was a risk of oversupply in pockets outside the CBD, but said many of these areas were coming from a low base.

“Given where the levels were, there is likely some pent-up demand,” Mr Zigomanis said.

In North Melbourne, approvals nearly tripled in two years to about 1350 units, while units in Brunswick East have more than quadrupled in the same period.

Jellis Craig director Craig Shearn said there was a lot of choice for buyers and renters along public transport corridors in the inner north, including High Street, St Georges Road, Nicholson Street and Lygon Street.

“It will take a couple of years for the current supply of properties to be absorbed in the market,” Mr Shearn said.

He said the apartment market in the inner north was very different to the housing market, where there was a clear undersupply.

Catherine Sandow is looking to rent in the competitive housing market in Brunswick East with her partner and said she wasn’t interested in the range of new apartments available.

“The large apartment buildings aren’t appealing to me because they tend to be smaller, crowded and impersonal, and lack outdoor space,” Ms Sandow said.

“I would only consider a smaller art deco apartment or a building with an environmental aspect.”

Box Hill is also set to become more crowded with 1207 units approved last year, a jump from 164 in 2013. Nearby Doncaster has experienced a similar boom.

Jeff Green, general manager of city development at the Whitehorse City Council, said Box Hill was identified as a metropolitan activity centre in Plan Melbourne, which encouraged significant development and city growth.

Developer interest had grown steadily since the adoption of the Box Hill Activity Centre Transit City Structure Plan in 2007, he said. Recent approvals include the 36 and 26-storey Whitehorse Towers.

Planning Institute Victorian president James Larmour-Reid said the government projected Melbourne’s population would grow to about 7.7 million by 2051, and estimated about 480,000 apartments were needed to accommodate that population.

He said strong investment in the public transport network was needed to ensure it doesn’t become overstrained.