Western Sydney could miss out on billions of dollars worth of employment opportunities and thousands of jobs to Melbourne as businesses battle it out over limited commercial space near the Western Sydney Aerotropolis.

Demand for small and medium business land continues to skyrocket while developers struggle to keep up with demand across western Sydney.All while Penrith Council aims for an ambitious 55,000 new jobs to be established across the region in the next 20 years.CBRE associate director John Micallef said western Sydney was “clearly under-supplied” when it comes to commercial opportunities, with an “urgent” need for it to be addressed before the cost of doing business in western Sydney forces more small companies to consider other locations.Mr Micallef said dozens of companies were currently looking to relocate from Sydney due to the lack of affordable sites for small to medium-sized businesses, but Penrith was struggling to keep up with demand.We have already seen some substantial businesses move to Melbourne due to the substantially lower cost and higher availability of industrial land,” Mr Micallef told the Penrith Press.Meanwhile, Macquarie Commercial real estate directors Luke Belotti and Matthew Neal said Penrith was experiencing “unprecedented” demand for industrial and employment land while a report by Colliers International found Sydney’s industrial market was experiencing a genuine lack of industrial zoned and serviced land.

Hill PDA Urban and Retail Economics Principal, Adrian Hack, said businesses are diversifying with increased demand for employment closer to home, while Urban Development Institute of Australia research revealed vacancy rates for small to medium business in Penrith was “below one per cent”.

Precinct Capital project director, Dylan Baudinet, is spearheading the $613 million Nepean Business Park project — earmarked to bring a further 18,000 jobs to the banks of the Nepean River.“Our firm recognised the huge demand for suitable sites by small to medium-sized businesses to house their operations to take advantage of the infrastructure and major commercial development boom in western Sydney,” he told the Penrith Press.

“Once operational the Park will generate $295 million in wages and contribute $500 million annually to the Penrith economy.”Mr Baudinet said despite the two years it will take for the project to be complete, countless businesses are already registering interest in the site — including The Green Group’s Doug Green.“We don’t want to move out of the area because we’re a local company, but we need more space in the Penrith Area to service our needs,” Mr Green said. “It’s difficult to find a suitable site to meet our needs so the Nepean Business Park would allow us to gain some additional space while continuing to operate in our current facility, but also obtain some more room nearby for future grow.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegraph.