House Choice
When you are looking at building your new home, the choice of whether to build a single or double storey home is a big issue.
People get a bit excited about going double storey, but that is not always the best fit. Then on the other hand, it’s a great way to maximise your land.
This issue of housing affordability is becoming more and more sensitive. When we are looking at investing in a house, you have got to look at whether it is a first home buyer, or someone that is downsizing for retirement. As land is becoming so expensive, the extra money that would be spent going from one size block of land to a large size block of land. Should we have been spending that on the land, or should we be spending that on the house? Maybe changing from a single storey house, to a double storey house.
Some people assume double storey houses are a lot more expensive to build. If it’s a complicated double storey house, of course there is more value attached to it. It might be open staircases, beautiful voids, designer kitchens with butlers pantries.
But the reality is that, we are looking at a house that is going to last a specific amount of time. So when someone lives in a house, are they living in it for five years, or living in it for ten years? Another little trick is, what is that suburb going to look like in another five years time. Particularly when we look at areas around Melbourne, we have seen suburbs change. Using Point Cook as an example, the average price for a block of land in Point Cook is around half a million dollars. You would never put a three bedroom house on a half a million dollar block of land. But we know particular suburbs are capital appreciating over time. That is also happening with Geelong now. People are starting to wake up and really understand around the Melbourne suburbs, how amazing it is to have a Geelong lifestyle.
However, they can also see the investment. Land prices are still reasonably affordable in Geelong compared to Melbourne. Looking at value for the future, we can look at investing in a house, particularly for that second or third home buyer, that is actually going to give more value for capital growth, an investment to be able to sell cash out of and make money for the future. So there is a lot of things to take into consideration, in that single double storey.
There is this obsession it feels like there has got to be four bedrooms, with studies, and living rooms and that sort of stuff. But really a three bedroom home used to be the norm. When the $32,000 first home buyers grant came in about ten years or so ago. People changed from buying a three bedroom house, because all of a sudden they could afford a four bedroom house. People became conditioned that you had to start with a four bedroom house. That was going to be the best investment that you could possibly have.
The reality is today is that land sizes are shrinking so much, a 350 square metre block now is a big block for a first home buyer.
So that three bedroom introductory house, is also the most perfect house for someone that is going to retire or be an empty nester. There will always be a buyer for that sort of house now. It is actually a really clever way of investing, because whether you are that downsizer, you are building it then it is a great next house for a young first home buyer or the other way around, so it is a great option.
