IT’S THE new trend taking Sydney’s housing boom down a very different track.
Skyrocketing property prices have encouraged inventive homebuyers to take a new ­approach to building a home, converting old train carriages into detached houses, granny flats and guesthouses.

Recent sales show the concept is picking up steam.

A Blue Mountains home converted from a 1929 sleeper carriage sold in June for $286,000, while two carriages joined together on an acreage outside Nowra sold in August for over $500,000.
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A 16ha estate near Mittagong in the Southern Highlands sold last week for $2.8 million, complete with a 1910-era train carriage set up as a six-bedroom guesthouse.

Another home at Dural in Sydney’s northwest has an ­entertainer’s retreat out back built from a decommissioned carriage, which helped the home sell for $2.2 million.

Carriages already have plumbing and wiring and are structurally sound. Prices for unconverted carriages range from about $5000 to $40,000.
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The downside is that they are difficult to move. But train converter Fiona Brown, seller of the Mittagong property, said the charm of train living makes it worth the effort.

“I love trains so the conversion was an interesting project for me,” she said.
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Gerrard Smith First National agent Paul Crinis said Ms Brown’s train “attracted a lot of what I’d called dreamers. People like it because it offers something different,” he said.

A Canberra-based interior blogger has injected some serious style into her energy efficient, family home.
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THE HOME A contemporary, solar passive family home and granny flat in the Woden suburb of Hughes. 

WHO LIVES HERE
Style Curator blogger Gina Ciancio, her husband, owner of Tile Republic, Bruno and baby Patrick.

WHAT WE DID

“We wanted to create a new home for ourselves and a granny flat that could generate an income but privacy from the granny flat was important to us,” Gina said. “Our architect Rob Henry came up with a design that made the best use of our block and offered complete privacy from the granny flat. The north-facing orientation with large windows floods the house with natural light and keeps the cost to a minimum.”
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THE INSPIRATION
Gina searched the internet for design inspiration and found plenty of ideas on home renovation site Houzz. Rob helped them translate these ideas into a home that would suit their needs. “Rob also invited us out to his property to see his house which is clad in the same black metal material so we could see how it looked before locking in this selection.”

OUR ADVICE
“Sit with your design for a few weeks before locking it in,” Gina said. “This was a tip Rob gave us and during that time we made some minor tweaks to the design that seemed small at the time but have made a big difference to how we live in and enjoy our home.” Gina also recommends being flexible as unexpected things will pop up during construction.

Gina searched the internet for design inspiration and found plenty of ideas on home renovation site Houzz. Rob helped them translate these ideas into a home that would suit their needs. “Rob also invited us out to his property to see his house which is clad in the same black metal material so we could see how it looked before locking in this selection.”

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This week, Ipswich and Logan Granny Flats bring to you a fantastic article about how granny flats are heightening community spirits and keeping families closer together. With house prices in some suburbs, particularly Sydney, rising and housing availability hitting an all-time low, granny flats give the next generation the headstart they need in the property market – and for the rest of their lives…
Read and enjoy…

GRANNY flats are being used as family homes to house a young generation priced out of the northern beaches property market.

Mum-and-dad homeowners are turning to the granny flat as a way of helping their adult kids stay on the northern beaches.
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Some homeowners offer the granny flat to their children while others move into the granny flat themselves and offer the main house to the next generation.

Newport couple Maggie and Paul Taylor’s 23-year-old daughter Claire is getting married next month and she and her fiancé are struggling to afford a home. Paul and Maggie have decided to build a two-bedroom granny flat in their garden to help out.

“It will give them a headstart and save us mowing the lawn,” Maggie said.
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Granny flat builder Paul Mathias of Multidwell in Brookvale said four years ago homeowners built a granny flat in the garden for a second income. Now they are offering the flat to family members who can’t buy on the northern beaches.

“Eighty per cent of the granny flats we now build are for children and grandchildren,” he said.
“Four years ago it was mostly to rent out but now people are buying them to give their children a leg up.

“Parents help their kids and when they do move out in five years or so the parents still have an investment.”
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Real estate agent Andrew Strong, of LJ Hooker Collaroy, said some parents even sold up entirely to buy a house with a granny flat.

Last weekend seven parties registered to buy a Wheeler Heights property on 1570sq m of land that had the potential for a granny flat. Mr Strong said families competed with builders for the old home at 44 Rose Ave that sold for $1.66 million.

“The new owner will be looking to maximise the potential of the block,” he said.
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There are 22 homes for sale on the peninsula with self-contained accommodation.