For unqualified workers, the boost is estimated to be worth an extra $11,793 a year, or $56,000 over a lifetime, in today’s dollars. Workers with higher degrees stand to earn an extra $41,170 a year, or $425,000 over a lifetime, according to the modelling. Workers, like Emmanuel Vinoya, 24, would also feel the benefits through reduced commute times. Mr Vinoya currently commutes three hours a day from Camden, where he lives with his parents, to his job in acute care administration at St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst. "I get up at about 5am and I probably leave home around quarter to 6am. There's no train station where I live in Camden, so I have to drive to the station at Campbelltown and the commuter car park is full there by about 7am," he said. From there, it's a train, then a bus, then a short walk to the hospital: "It takes me about a hour and a half to get from home to work, so it's about three hours of my day that's spent commuting. If the trains are having delays, it takes much longer."

Mr Vinoya would like to live closer to the city and is saving for a home: "I'd like to save up for a home. That's my five-year goal." But for now: "It's hard to afford the rent at the moment. I have got a car loan and bills to pay, so it just makes it very hard to live further in. Plus all my support networks are back out where I live." Under the scenario modelled by the researchers, workers on average would enjoy an estimated travel time saving of $2554 per year. That’s the average value of each worker’s time spent not commuting under the better planning scenario, representing $2.3 billion of time a year. This time could be enjoyed as leisure, or earning more income. The lead researcher on the project, Professor Duncan Maclennan, said it was clear that the benefits of investing in affordable housing exceeded the cost to government. “It is clear that Sydney cannot keep taking its business-as-usual approach to pushing development out to the fringes of the city where there isn’t the jobs or infrastructure to support it,” he said. “Supporting affordable housing in the right places for Sydney households below median incomes has a large, lasting and plausible growth and productivity impact at least on par with transport infrastructure and far outweighing the cost to government.”

The report was commissioned by a group of non-profit, government and industry groups, including the Community Housing Industry Association, the Property Council of Australia and Shelter NSW. Loading It notes that falling Sydney property prices are helping affordability, but argues that “instability and down swings are no excuse to lose focus on housing market outcomes and productivity”. “There seems little likelihood that markets will unwind much of the accumulated real house price rises of the last seven years. Policy concerns about productivity require a long-term view.” Sydney’s total annual economic output is worth $443 billion, according to a recent estimate from SGS Economics.