Lulu Lilly Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 Hi everyone! I read you often and you are all a knowledgeable bunch so I'd like to borrow your brains please :wink: Hubby and I are new-ish in Sydney and thinking of buying a place. We sort of like the Hills District and its suburbs but you know that they are not cheap :no: well, nothing is cheap or reasonably priced. Anyway, there are lots of new properties coming up and being sold off plan, both houses and apartments. There are some nice apartments that we like the sound of but next to a small shopping centre ( a Woollies and a few small shops: pharmacy, surgery, estate agent,etc.) Husband says it could be very busy with all those people wanting to go there and I sort of see what he means being next to a busy area....he may be right. On the other hand, there are small houses for sale and by paying approx. $200K more we'd get a house with no much of a garden, almost all of the plot would be occupied by the house but it is a house rather than an apartment ( neither of us has ever lived in a block of flats so it'd take time getting used to that). What would be more likely to hold its value, a house, an apartment?? The other slightly worrying or maybe should be worrying :sad: thing is that I've read that the quality of the buildings are not good at all and not what we would expect back in the UK. I take buying a new house/apartment would come with a 10 year guarantee at least but I read that what they are building now is of poor quality and not built to last more than 50 years, and things like that. I would be most grateful for any comments and advice :cute: Thank you very much : ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srh82 Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 The land value is what appreciates. So, a house (more land you would think than an apartment) is more likely to gain value. To to answer your question, a house is much more likely to hold value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortlepuss Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 Best option IF you can afford it is House, but not a town house (you don't want to be saddled with body corporate). Apartments can be very noisy so there's always a trade off between a nice apartment close to facilities and a house a little further out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 The best option for investment purposes will always be a house, because it has land - so even if the house falls down, you still have the land. I also worry about the quality of new builds. I'm not an expert, but used to manage office fitouts and met several British tradesmen who were a bit shocked at the standards in Australia. Do you have a strong preference for brand new place? If not, then you can get a lot better value looking in an older suburb at an established house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lulu Lilly Posted December 15, 2015 Author Share Posted December 15, 2015 Thank you so much for your replies. Chortlepuss, would you happen to know the actual definition of 'town house' in Australia and NSW ( in case there is a difference between states) please? I have seen many ads for new developments but we are unsure, it all looks so 'suburbian'. Would those be town houses? The apartment we saw off plan sounded great, 110sqm with 87 sqm of terrace but the thought of the shops right next to the block bugs me. And I have never lived in an apartment either.... I would be happy to buy in the countryside but I still have to commute to work and I do not really fancy spending a lot of time doing that to and from. Well, the thought of a brand new place does appeal to us Marisa. But you are right, there would be a premium for that than for an older house. Where abouts in Sydney are you heading back to next year? We have been told to have a solicitor ready if we were to buy and we do not know anyone. Please feel free to PM if you are able to recommend a good and trustworthy solicitor. I will start a thread to ask for one as recommendations are always the way I prefer to go with. Thank you very much again! :cute: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grabri Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 Hi Lulu as Marisa and others point out a detached house is the best. I imagine one day you'll have kids and being with a garden and freedom from noise(apartment and terraced even can get very noisy) is totally worth the extra money. Also the freedom to modify house as you please in the future if needed. Concerning the timing we are also hoping to buy soon (waiting to start my teaching in January and hopefully will be ready by then) and it seems as the market has slowed down a bit in Sydney. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 Chortlepuss, would you happen to know the actual definition of 'town house' in Australia and NSW ( in case there is a difference between states) please? I have seen many ads for new developments but we are unsure, it all looks so 'suburbian'. Would those be town houses? A townhouse is a house on a strata development. It's usually a terraced house or a maisonette or a semi. It's exactly the same as a strata apartment - you don't own any land if you buy a strata townhouse, you own a share of the strata. Because of that it's cheaper than a proper house of the same size. New developments look suburban because they are! We are not coming back to Sydney, we can't afford it (it's part of the reason we left). We lived in the inner suburbs - the furthest out I've ever lived is Five Dock in the West, and Oatley in the South. We could afford to live in Sydney if we moved further out, but for me, that's not an option - too far from all the things that make Sydney attractive. I wouldn't live in the Hills District if you paid me. We're still debating where in Australia we will go. Whereabouts are you working? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northshorepom Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 I'm kind of ambivalent about this Whether an apartment, a townhouse/duplex, or standalone house is right for you, is only something you can decide Anything where you don't own the land has the downside that you have less freedom as to what to do with the land, and it *may* not be as good an investment.....but on the flipside it may mean you can live in the suburb you want (and location is very important), and it may mean you don't have quite the level of risk (like buying a house that's full of termites, or one that's perennially damp) as you would with buying an established house I'm not massively impressed with building standards here - and I work in the industry - but you can buy crap, damp houses anywhere. Some things that are the norm in the UK aren't the norm here - double glazing for example - and other things are the product of the different form of construction used. Most houses in most areas of the UK are what would be termed "double brick" in Oz, most houses in Sydney are timber framed with some form of cladding on the outside, be it weatherboard, brick veneer, some sort of modern cladding product, just marine play & render, or if you buy one from the 1950s/1960s, it might well be Fibro (that's asbestos cement to you and me) Older brick houses in Sydney, like inner west terraces, will probably be single skin. But then so will their brick/stone contemporaries in England from the late 19th century/early 20th century Ultimately it's where you want to live that is most important. I do feel that apartments are the most likely to get overbuilt (affecting value) in the next 10 years, but there's no point buying a better investment if your commute kills your life and you hate your environment. I think you will see a lot more townhouses/duplex developments and that sort of medium density development going on, the state government are amending planning rules to encourage it because Sydney is growing and it can't sprawl for ever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northshorepom Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 PS Whereabouts in the Hills? The Sydney Metro railway line is changing things rapidly in the NW, there will be huge developments off the back of it for a start but it will make the area much more desirable in terms of commuting to the city as well (which will help on house values) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joebloggs Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 PS Whereabouts in the Hills? The Sydney Metro railway line is changing things rapidly in the NW, there will be huge developments off the back of it for a start but it will make the area much more desirable in terms of commuting to the city as well (which will help on house values) Castle Hill is now the 3rd most valuable suburb in NSW. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/2trillion-thats-how-much-is-would-cost-to-buy-all-the-property-in-sydney/news-story/56e7cb91c0900d24f109afa95e4d40b3 I own property about 30m from Castle Towers in the Castle Hill North Precinct which I am selling in a neighbourhood syndicate for development. I can't talk about numbers except it's now probably worth 5 times what I paid for it 6 years ago. As you can imagine I'm laughing. I find the Hills fantastic, it's an awesome place to live and work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northshorepom Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Yes, some people near Castle Hill and Showground stations in particular have really lucked out. Good luck to you. The numbers that are being made mean most in your position will be set up for life :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MARYROSE02 Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 I've owned my unit since 1987, and I've not had too many problems with it. I rented it out for twelve years whilst I went back to England. It could be easier to rent out a unit than a house, although I don't know. Easier perhaps to leave it unoccupied if you want to go away with no garden to maintain. The Body Corporate and Managing Agents have mostly done a good job. As an owner, I should take more interest in their affairs. They look after all the outside maintenance and gardening. The management costs can go up if you have expensive facilities like lifts, swimming pools, gyms, although that might make the units more attractive for renters. I don't regard having a shopping centre close to where as I live as a disadvantage because you can walk to all the services you need. I have convenience shops, cafes and bus stop right outside my front door, and other services, medical, supermarket, railway station, no more than ten minutes walk. Try driving to a big shopping centre like Westfield, especially on a busy day, queues everywhere, and easy to lose your car in the multi-storey. I'm not anti-house, by the way. I never lived in appartments in England, and it's lovely having your own "castle". Here in Surry Hills, a house means a terrace but I can't afford one now. If you do buy a house out in the burbs then it probably means you will need two cars because walking is not always pleasant and public transport might be scarce. I asked a guy the other day "how far are the shops from your home?" "Not far, 15, maybe 20 minutes." (Drive that is!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lulu Lilly Posted February 1, 2016 Author Share Posted February 1, 2016 Thank you so much to everyone for replying :cute: I had not been online for almost six weeks (we had visitors over the Christmas period) and was so surprised to see that I had had more replies; how wonderful, you are all very helpful. We have decided to hold off buying for a little while but we have our minds clearer now thanks to your input. Thanks again. P.S. Isn't the rain wonderful here? I have only been here for a handful of months and I gather this is to do with summer but nearly every time it rains, it is a storm! I have never seen so much spectacular lightning in my life! :laugh: the telly goes but hey, not a lot we can do about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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