COMMENT: If the trends revealed in a recent report citing Australian Bureau of Statistics and KPMG analysis, the population of the Eastern suburbs of Sydney is aging faster than it ought.

And since these are areas with some of the highest concentrations of apartment buildings – and older ones, at that – then that brings with it a whole raft of associated problems.

If the stats are true – and everything is open to interpretation – young families are heading West in droves and that could spell problems for the strata owners left behind.

Now, the older strata residents might, as a group, be more community minded and diligent in playing their part in the strata scheme of things. They bring the experience and wisdom that come with wrinkles and grey hair.

Or they might tend to be more conservative and frugal, not least because they are on fixed incomes.

Many will be retirees, with all the time in the world to spend on strata committees and the like. In short, in these areas whence the young ‘uns have fled, you could find your home is someone else’s hobby farm.

Factor that into the probability that these areas have more older apartment blocks than most other areas and you can forsee a crumbling unit block crisis emerging in the future.

So if young people are moving out, who is moving in? The simple answer is, people who can afford the rents and mortgages and that’s probably Yuppies and Dinks – young upwardly mobile singles and double-income, no kids couples – not that there’s anything wrong with that.

And let’s not forget the continuously and deliberately under-estimated effect of short-term holiday rental platforms such as Airbnb, Stayz, Booking.com and their ilk.

Now that is admittedly a bleak view, but the Nimbys of the Eastern Suburbs who are Hell bent on keeping new developments out, may regret it when their localities start dying a slow death.

The dempographics of these areas are clearly changing and you have to wonder what the quality of life will be like when the young people who provide the services that make their lives more than tolerable – from baristas to beauticians –  migrate to areas where housing is affordable.

A version of this editorial appeared first as part of the weekly Flat Chat newsletter.