  We explore the connection between the gravitational wave (GW) merger rates of
stellar-mass binary black holes (BBH) and galaxy properties. We do this by
generating populations of stars using the binary population synthesis code
COMPAS and evolving them in galaxies from the semi-analytic galaxy formation
model Shark, to determine the number of mergers occurring in each simulation
time-step. We find that metal-rich and massive galaxies with star formation
rate (SFR) greater than $1M_{\odot}/ \rm yr$ are 10 times more likely to have
GW events compared to younger, less massive and metal poor galaxies. Our
simulation with the default input parameters predicts a higher local merger
rate density compared to the third GW transient catalogue (GWTC-3) prediction
from LIGO, VIRGO and KAGRA, due to short coalescence times, low metallicities
and a high SFR at low redshift in the simulation, which produces more BBHs that
merge within the age of the Universe compared to observations. We identify
alternate remnant mass models that more accurately reproduce the volumetric
rate and provide updated fits to the merger rate as a function of redshift. We
then investigate the relative fraction of GW events in our simulation that are
in observable host galaxies from upcoming galaxy surveys, determining which of
those are ideal for tracing host galaxies with high merger rates. The
implications of this work can be utilised for constraining stellar evolution
models, better informing follow-up programs, and placing informative priors on
host galaxies when measuring cosmological parameters such as the Hubble
constant.
