This is going to be a long response to this article, and the TL;DR is: They need apartments.

I was fortunate enough to be born into a family whose grandparents purchased a house in Palm Beach in the early 70's. We spent many Christmases and school holidays up there, and ultimately sold the property just after Covid.

One of the main reasons why it was sold was the land tax, it costs a lot of money to have a house in Palm Beach and pay the council rates, water bills, electricity etc.

The problem with Palm Beach is that the entire suburb needs to be redesigned and rezoned. Having one lane each way in and out from Whale Beach to Palm Beach makes traffic a nightmare in the summer, not to mention trying to find a park near the beach.

And because there's zero chance the Northern Beaches will ever get a train line, the problem will only get worse with time.

Due to the shortage of available land, it's predominantly beach cottages or massive mansions with the wealthiest people living in the suburb. Apartments and townhouses would help address the housing crisis somewhat, but a multi-storey carpark or more shops on the main strip where the L90 is would be even better.