Sydney, originally the gateway to a colonial, then State economy, is now Australia's inbound gateway to the national economy and our outbound gateway to the global economy.

Sydney is the financial and services centre for Australia. It represents approximately 30 per cent of Australia's GDP, equivalent to the size of Singapore's economy.

Sydney is a key financial hub for the Asia Pacific region and has a strategy to both grow and diversify its range of financial and service industries to support Australia and to maintain its key role in the Asia Pacific.

With this increased economic role has come the greater diversity in exchange of people, culture and ideas that has enriched, and now helps define the character of Sydney. Sydney has a unique position in terms of quality of life relative to its Asia Pacific competitors.

Sydney is a global leader in both recreational and business tourism through its outstanding attractions and convention and exhibition facilities, supported by an extensive portfolio of high quality hotels.

The city includes a major technology corridor which accommodates multinational ICT, research and development companies and academic institutions known as the "Sydney Global Arc". The Barangaroo site is located in the Sydney CBD, 20 minutes from Sydney International Airport and at the centre of the "global arc".

The broader metropolitan area has substantial economic/employment centres with specific foci on industry groupings such as health, transportation, distribution and manufacturing.

Sydney represents Australia's largest real estate market in terms of quantum and value and this is reflected in the concentration of the institutional investment market in the city.

There are approximately four million square metres of office space in the CBD, with a further one million square metres in North Sydney and vacancy rates are relatively low by standards of comparable cities.

CBD retail centres are also performing strongly reflecting the performance of the Australian economy and also the increased residential developments in Sydney's CBD.

Residential development continues to achieve strong demand and value adjacent to arguably the most attractive harbour in the world.