You may have heard the experts predicting that the next growth sector in property will be attached dwellings- apartments and townhouses.
Several drivers are affecting supply and demand for a number of different types of attached dwellings.
A drop in freestanding home building approvals combined with steep rises in building materials and labour, have driven traditional house prices up.
At the same time migration has resumed. creating a large buyer pool for whom an apartment budget is more realistic.
These buyers weren’t raised with the Aussie dream of a backyard and a hills hoist. They are invariably accustomed to apartment living and seek to live in areas where they are connected with their community, and have all of life’s necessities on their doorstep.
The Greater Cities Commission has a mandate to increase dwelling density across all Sydney LGA’s and that is expressing itself in different ways. In middle ring suburbs we are seeing an uptick in duplex development. In affluent Eastern, lower North shore and inner West suburbs there is a repurposing of larger sites into mixed use developments- think apartments with boutique retail, services and public space.
There is also a trend to amalgamate land, replacing older homes with house-like attached homes. Think large apartments with private entrances, multiple outdoor spaces, level access and single level living, in small developments of four to twenty lots.
There’s plenty of demand for these dwellings from affluent buyers who dont want the maintenance hassle of a traditional home, as well as downsizers who are moving back from the middle ring suburbs to enjoy a more urban connected lifestyle.
This type of increasing density can drive up property prices by increasing the value of a square metre of land and create an urban renewal for the suburb.
When looking for a place to live or invest it is important to understand how density increase will affect your search areas. Density limits vary from street to suburb and not every council gets it right. Even a small pocket of poor quality or overly dense development can have a negative effect on property values and quality of life.
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