This week Ipswich and Logan Granny Flats bring news of a change in the makeup of the Australian property market. The article below details the disparity between the great Australian dream of owning your own home and the harsh reality that some areas of Australia may soon have more than half the population renting, like New York. Affordability, investor domination of the market and the cost of stamp duty are the major hurdles standing in the way of young people today, 90% of whom still cherish the dream of home ownership.
​
Enjoy…

​Annabel Hennessy | The Daily Telegraph
17 December, 2017

SYDNEY is turning into a city of renters as rising prices force more people to ditch the homeowning dream.

Experts report an increasing number of people choosing to rent rather than buy and predict Sydney could soon turn into a city like New York, where more than half of the population rents.

In some Sydney suburbs the rate of renters has already topped 60 per cent.

​Real estate giant L J Hooker tips the rise of the renter to be one of the biggest property trends in 2017. Hooker research head Mark Tiller said affordability and investor domination of the market were driving factors.

“House prices are continuing to rise but, because of the increase of apartment supply in particular suburbs and the rise of investor numbers, we could see rents soften for units in some areas in 2017,” Mr Tiller said.

“The cost of transaction in terms of stamp duty also makes buying less achievable, which is also driving more people to rent.”

​While just 30 per cent of the Australian population rents, Bureau of Statistics data shows that in popular suburbs such as Potts Point the number of renters has risen to beyond 60 per cent.

McCrindle research director Eliane Miles said while home ownership was still a major aspiration, it was ­simply affordability stopping young people from buying.

“We did some research that showed 90 per cent of Australians still want to strive towards owning their own home,” Ms Miles said.

“It’s still the Aussie dream, it’s just more difficult and I think for young people it seems incredibly far off.”

Real Institute of NSW president John Cunningham said: “I don’t want to see Sydney turning into New York where the majority of people rent but it could happen.

“This is why we think the stamp duty system in NSW needs an overhaul, to make it easier for young people.”

Mahnam and Michael Mogaddam rent a granny flat in Baulkham Hills but are lucky enough to have bought a block of land nearby where they hope to build soon.

There were times when they nearly gave up on the homeownership dream.

“It’s really horrible. We’d have to live 45 minutes away for our family to get something affordable,” Ms Mogaddam­ said.

​“There were several times I said that we should think about just continuing to rent but we want to own a house so we can make it easier for our children and pass it on to them.”

​Sophie Foster | News Corp Australia Network
24 October, 2016

​GREATER BRISBANE MARKET:
Growth:
MORETON BAY: Arana Hills; Banksia Beach, Beachmere; Bellara; Bray Park; Deception Bay; Narangba; Ningi; Redcliffe (houses and units); Rothwell.

INNER: Bardon

NORTH: Bald Hills, Brighton, Fitzgibbon, Hendra

SOUTH: Darra Eight, Mile Plains, Heathwood

REDLAND: Birkdale, Redland Bay, Victoria Point

LOGAN: Edens Landing, Jimboomba, Slacks Creek, Waterford, Windaroo, Yarrabilba

IPSWICH: Raceview, Redbank Plains

Plateau:
MORETON BAY: Albany Creek, Bongaree, Burpengary, Burpengary East, Caboolture, Clontarf, Eatons Hill, Everton Hills, Kallangur, Lawnton, North Lakes, Petrie, Sandstone Point, Scarborough, Strathpine, Upper Caboolture, Warner, Woody Point

INNER: Brisbane City, Coorparoo, Highgate Hill, Kangaroo Point, New Farm, Paddington, Spring Hill, Teneriffe

NORTH: Ashgrove, Aspley, Bridgeman Downs, Chermside, Clayfield, Enoggera, Grange, Hamilton, Kedron, Mitchelton, Northgate, Taigum, Wavell Heights, Wilston, Windsor, Wooloowin

EAST: Balmoral, Carina Heights, Carindale, East Brisbane, Manly, Manly West, Tingalpa, Wynnum, Zillmere

WEST: Chapel Hill, Kenmore, St Lucia, Taringa, The Gap, Toowong

SOUTH: Acacia Ridge, Algester, Annerley, Corinda, Drewvale, Durack, Forest Lake, Greenslopes, Holland Park, Holland Park West, Inala, Kuraby, Macgregor, Moorooka, Oxley, Parkinson, Salisbury, Sunnybank Hills, Mount Gravatt East, Tarragindi, Upper Mount Gravatt

REDLAND: Alexandra Hills, Capalaba, Cleveland, Thornlands.

LOGAN: Beenleigh, Bethania, Boronia Heights, Cornubia, Crestmead, Daisy Hill, Eagleby, Greenbank, Heritage Park, Hillcrest, Kingston, Logan Central, Logan Reserve, Loganholme, Loganlea, Marsden, Mount Warren Park, Regents Park, Rochedale South, Shailer Park, Springwood, Tanah Merah, Waterford West, Woodridge

IPSWICH: Bellbird Park, Brassall, Bundamba, Goodna, Springfield, Springfield Lakes

Consistency:
MORETON BAY: Caboolture South, Cashmere, Ferny Hills, Margate, Kippa-Ring, Murrumba Downs.

INNER: Auchenflower, Woolloongabba.

NORTH: Alderley, Ascot, Banyo, Bracken Ridge, Carseldine, Ferny Grove, Stafford Heights

EAST: Bulimba, Camp Hill, Cannon Hill, Murarrie, Wakerley, Wynnum West.

WEST: Bellbowrie, Indooroopilly, Jindalee, Moggill, Graceville, Sinnamon Park.

SOUTH: Mansfield, Runcorn, Sunnybank, Wishart

REDLAND: Mount Cotton, Wellington Point, Ormiston

LOGAN: Underwood

IPSWICH: Camira, Eastern Heights
​
Danger Markets:
INNER: Fortitude Valley (Units), South Brisbane (Units), West End (Units)
(Source: Hotspotting)

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.
​
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.
​
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.
​
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.

Gone are the days of backyard sheds or garages renovated to become separate living spaces or unofficial Granny Flats.

The humble Granny Flat has now come of age. Experts in the industry are all saying the same thing – more and more people are utilizing a second building on their property as an investment strategy, and often the only way you can make an investment property cash flow positive.

I would say there has definitely been a change in attitude in the last couple of years towards granny flats, certainly here in Logan. We were the one of the first councils in SE Queensland to allow granny flats to be built that are able to be rented out to others than immediate family members.

Here at Logan Granny Flats we have found it’s predominantly investors that are looking at granny flats as a means of improving their cash flow on investment properties. But looking at our statistics, it appears that roughly one in four projects are for the family home being given over to the now grown children with their own families.

The newly built granny flat is for mum and dad who are now looking at downsizing and retirement. In some instances, both mum and dad and the kids have sold their respective family homes; bought a property together with mum and dad then built a granny flat for themselves with the kids having the existing main house.

Gone also are the days of turning the garage into a bedroom / living area with toilet and shower as an illegal/unofficial flat.

We have our own architect, Russell Wombey (Wombey Architects) do all our designs – site specific per property. So we end up with not one granny flat design the same, often with input from the owners themselves.

You see people start to think outside the square about what is actually being designed, how the spaces flow, how they would like to live in the space. And a custom-designed, purpose built granny flat need not be any more expensive than a modular building or conversion of existing space.

At Logan Granny Flats we believe the extra time and energy spent on good design initially, will deliver better returns.

We have seen this within our local area. I have seen transportable auxiliary dwellings or project home builders granny flats, and they don’t achieve anywhere near the rent return on our own architect designed granny flats – for very similar money!

Unfortunately at this point in time, there is little evidence of granny flats built on existing properties that have been on-sold. We have found that on valuation after the granny flat has been completed, it has at least valued $ for $.

Interestingly, what we have found is that people that are renting them out, even 50m2 one bedroom granny flats are getting the same rent or very similar as an equivalent house that is say a 2 bedroom postwar home. That’s a great return on this level of investment.

Most granny flats these days include a full kitchen and living area, and when we build a granny flat, a covered car accommodation with a covered outdoor entertainment area complete with timber floating decks. Probably the main consideration is to ensure that the second building fits in with and is sympathetic to the existing property.

You want to build something that is complementary to what’s already there. Simple things like similar finishes and style of existing buildings. So there are important design factors we believe you need to consider.

Too often we see new project brick homes built in areas that have character housing throughout – they stick out like a pimple on a bum! No thought has been given to the orientation in this instance.

It faces west, not a good idea here in hot, sunny SE Qld! Full height glass windows, a driveway most tenants wont’ use because of the steep incline and no turning circle for the tenants car. What were they thinking? Not a lot, obviously – can you imagine the tenants in the middle of summer? The air conditioning will be working overtime!

This is an example of no real thought about placement of the second building or the problems any prospective tenants are going to have living in the house.

Good design is paramount when building anything, especially if it’s a smaller space. Building in sympathy with the existing area or house style is also a smart move.

One of our main points of difference here at Logan Granny Flats is having an in-house architect! As a result, all our granny flat designs have full passive solar orientation, no wasted hallway spaces to name just a few things.

This week, Logan Granny Flats brings to you an interesting article bringing to attention some things that not everyone might be aware of!

Read on & Enjoy…

Duncan Hughes
Australian Financial Review
28 January 2016

Granny flats are springing up across the nation's suburbs as property owners convert their backyards for more living space, additional income and generous tax deductions, say financial and construction specialists.

But a threefold increase in granny and "Fonzie" flats in the past five years also creates the possibility of backyard eyesores and sales of the family home, which are usually tax-free, attracting capital gains tax, they warn.

"Those thinking that a granny flat will increase the value of their home should think again," says Paul Nugent, a director of buyers' advocacy Wakelin Property Advisory. "Any additional value is likely to be negligible.

"Most people would prefer to have their backyard left alone and many granny flats end up as storage rooms for old exercise bicycles and rowing machines."

Other commentators believe granny flats are here to stay as working couples enlist the support of their parents to help raise their children, middle-aged parents create an autonomous space for teenagers, and empty nesters use them for rental income.

"A well-constructed and attractive granny flat can definitely add value to the overall property," says Tony Velardi, a builder who specialises in granny-flat construction. "In addition to providing extra space, it creates rental-income options."

Granny flats cannot be put on a separate ownership title, which means the cost is added to the price of the property. It also means they cannot be sold separately.

Nearly 100 granny flats were being completed each week in Sydney alone, a threefold growth in five years, according to state government statistics.

NSW, which has the highest overall demand for rental accommodation, allows granny flats to be rented. Information about eligibility and restrictions is available online from its planning and environment department.

NSW also allows Fonzie flats to be built over garages in new developments, subject to council approval.

Fonzie flats are named after Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli a character from the American sitcom Happy Days, who lived in a loft.

They can be sold separately to the primary residence.

Granny flats may be rented out in Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Tasmania and ACT, but cannot be offered as rental apartments in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia.

Requirements for planning permits and approvals also vary between states.

Velardi says a three-bedroom, self-contained apartment will cost about $150,000 and take between three and four months to complete.

Engineers might need to be consulted before building a Fonzie flat to assess the strength of existing beams and posts.

There are cheaper alternatives, such as DIY flat-pack construction kits that can be bought online for less than $10,000 and are delivered in about eight weeks.

Pre-built granny flats from kit home builders usually start about $69,000 for 60 square metres.
This will give you "the most bang for your buck" says Dino Talic, vice-president of hipages.com.au, a website for hiring home improvement professions.

Velardi says you "get what you pay for. Home owners shopping for a granny flat need to ask: "How sturdy are they? Will they pass the test of time."

They also need to consider the access needed to deliver materials. "Will they be easily delivered and constructed in a conventional backyard, or will a crane be needed to lift them over existing buildings?" he asks.

A granny flat costing around $120,000 to build typically generates an annual rental yield of about 15 per cent, assuming the owner can find a tenant willing to pay the going market rate, says BMT Tax Depreciation, a quantity surveyor that specialises in depreciation schedules for residential and commercial investors. This many not be possible in former mineral boom towns like Perth and Darwin, it warns.

Average depreciation deductions for a granny flat are about $5300 in the first year, rising to a total of more than $23,700 over five years, according to BMT.

Shared areas between the granny flat and owner-occupied property, such as patios, pools and barbecues, can also be deducted depending upon usage, BMT says.

Retirees considering renting out granny flats should check with Centrelink about the impact of rental income on their benefits.

For example, if the flat is being rented to a grandmother or another relative for a nominal amount, it would not be regarded as a commercial transaction and neither the income nor the expenses would be taxable or tax-deductible, says Mark Chapman, director of tax communications for H&R Block.

It becomes more complicated if the flat is rented to third parties, or taxable commercial rents are charged, he says.

"Any expenses incurred on running the flat – such as a proportion of utility bills and land rates or borrowing rates arising from the construction of the flat – will be tax deductible. Depending on the precise circumstances, this might generate a taxable profit or it might generate a loss for the taxpayer to claim against other income," he says.

There's also a possible risk of incurring capital gains tax on the main residence, which is normally exempt.

Say a house is bought for $300,000 in 2005 and sold 10 years later for twice the price. In 2010, the owners build a granny flat occupying one-sixth of the total area of the property and rent it to a third party.

"This means one-sixth of the gain arising from 2010 to 2015 ($150,000/6=$25,000) will be liable for capital gains tax," Chapman says.

This example is illustrative and, to avoid too much complexity, excludes deducting the construction costs of the flat.

"The gains would be based on how much space the granny flat takes up," says Chapman. "You would also need to consider how long the flat has been in existence.  If you have owned the property for 10 years but the flat was built only five years ago, you don't need to worry about CGT on the first five years.

"If granny really does live in the flat and you can demonstrate that the space is an integrated part of the household lifestyle, you may be able to argue that the main residence exemption should cover the granny flat too."

Options for financing a granny or Fonzie flat range from using an equity release from the main residence, refinancing with a different lender or a construction loan, according to Mortgage Choice spokesperson Jessica Darnbrough.

There are dozens of loan packages available, so it could be useful to seek advice from a broker about the best strategy, lowest rates and easiest terms, she says.

For example, a  $90,000, 20-year reverse mortgage loan at 6.6 per cent is likely to cost about $344,000, according to Canstar, a company that provides financial information. This assumes a 15 per cent loan-to-value ratio, upfront fees of about $1000, annualised charges of $112 and a $300 discharge fee.

According to Canstar's review of the sector, there is a 30-basis point difference between the lowest rate of 6.45 per cent and highest at 6.75 per cent.

Rising property prices, rental increases, an ageing community and attempts to limit urban sprawl are contributing to the rise in the popularity of granny flats, particularly in Melbourne and Sydney, according to property specialists.

But there are also deeper social issues in the mix of causes, says Anne Hollonds, a psychologist and director of the Australian Institute of Family Studies, a government body that researches family well-being and welfare issues.

Hollonds says having grandparents, parents and children in the same household, or newlyweds remaining in the family home until they saved a deposit, was a tradition until recent generations, particularly in the inner suburbs.

The growing trend for both parents to work increases the financial and social value of having grandparents nearby to look after children, particularly after school before parents get back from work.

"For many, it is important not to live in the same house but nearby," she says.

Granny flats can provide the older generation, particularly those who do not mind less space, with a degree of independence, autonomy and distance.

"Close enough to be together but enough room to be apart," is how she describes the adult relationship Generation X and Y (born after 1961) are renegotiating with their parents.

Unfortunately the information about Qld not being able to rent out second dwellings is not strictly true. Queensland is governed by local councils in terms of planning schemes – there are only a handful of local councils at this point in time that allow them to be built. And Ipswich and Logan are two of the councils that have moved with the times and joined the Granny Flat Revolution!

Logan Granny Flats, your local Granny Flat Experts, bring to you another interesting snippet :

Jillian Clifford
Smartline Personal Mortgage Advisors
7.9.15

RP Data have just sent Smartline some fascinating property information. 

We have constructed the following two tables from this data so you can quickly see how the entire country is performing. 

Interesting points: 

1. Melbourne has more dwellings than Sydney (NSW has a more decentralised population). 
2. Melbourne residents hold on to their houses for the longest term (11.8 years), Darwin has the shortest term (7.1 years). 
3. Perth and Brisbane have the highest percentage of their dwellings on the market whilst Canberra has the lowest. 
4. Houses in Sydney sell the quickest with just 49 days as the average "on market" period. 
5. Melbourne had more house sales than Sydney over the last 12 months. 

More interesting points: 

1. The gap between the highest Median house price (Sydney $800,000) and the lowest (Hobart $350,000) is a whopping $450,000. 
2. Rental yields for Sydney and Melbourne are now well below 4%. 
3. The difference between Sydney's average annual growth rate over 10 years (4.9%) and Melbourne's result (5.8%) is surprising given Sydney's recent boom. 
4. Despite extremely solid growth over 10 years, Darwin's rental yield of 5.8% is very high. 
5. Although Perth's 12 month median price growth is low, the rental yield is still reasonably strong at 4.3%. 
6. Brisbane's rental yield is a full 1% p.a. higher than Sydney whilst the median house price is 39.4% lower. 

Logan Granny Flats weekly update :

Thinking of investing this year? Queensland IS THE PLACE TO BE BUYING YOUR NEXT INVESTMENT PROPERTY, and here are more reasons as to why …

In the big scheme of things, that whole big property clock – Queensland is coming from the bottom of the clock but now on the rise! You need to get in now before it’s too late!

Terry Ryder, Hotspotting
September 2014

As the ripple effect clicks into action, markets in our major cities are shifting.

A standard pattern in property cycles is that an upward movement starts in the Top End suburbs and gradually ripples out to the middle and outer ring suburbs.

We’re seeing this playing out in Sydney and Melbourne as 2014 winds on.

The pattern of activity in Sydney shows that sales levels in many of the millionaire suburbs have tapered off. In the Price Predictor Index, which tracks sales volumes in cities and towns across Australia, many of the Top End suburbs in Sydney have been downgraded.

But several markets in the middle and outer ring areas have been upgraded, because sales activity has picked up.

The Sydney precincts that still have strong growth momentum are mostly in the far west and south-west. The municipalities centred on Parramatta, Blacktown, Penrith, Liverpool, Campbelltown and Camden have numerous suburbs with rising activity levels.

The pattern is similar in Melbourne – where the market with the strongest growth pattern is the Mornington Peninsula.

In Brisbane and Adelaide, which are less advanced in the property cycle from the two biggest cities, we’re also seeing middle ring and outer ring suburbs putting their hands up.

Brisbane’s run, which started with the inner and middle-ring suburbs north of the CBD, as well as the inner-city apartment market, is starting to spread. The Moreton Bay municipality, which encompasses the northern growth corridor heading up towards the Sunshine Coast, has emerged strongly as a growth market.

So too has Logan City, which provides a suburban bridge between Brisbane City and the Gold Coast in the south. Ipswich, in the far south-west, is lagging a little, but starting to show signs of life.

Ask any local real estate in Logan or Ipswich and they will all agree – we are definitely showing signs of positive life !

Since late 2014 when Terry Ryder wrote this article, Logan City Council has amended their planning scheme to allow Granny Flats – and boy hasn’t this turned up the anti in the local Logan City Council area …

Logan Granny Flats, your granny flat experts bring to you an excerpt of one of Australia’s top property industry analysts has to say about the SE Queensland property market.

2015 – Not sure where to buy your next investment property? South East Queensland is the place to be, according to a number of experts, including Terry Ryder. Here are his thoughts …

Terry Ryder
1.12.14

There’s a pretty good argument that the hottest property precinct in Australia right now is South East Queensland.

Brisbane, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast: Together they comprise a vast metropolitan area - ongoing urban growth means these three big centres have merged into one big conurbation which starts at the NSW border and extends 250 kilometers north to Noosa.

All three have hot markets. The research conducted by Hotspotting for the latest edition of the Price Predictor Index revealed 254 suburbs across South East Queensland with rising sales activity.

To put that in perspective, the Sydney metropolitan area has 106 growth suburbs. If you add in the Central Coast, which has caught the growth wave from the capital city, there are 120 growth markets.

This shows that, while Sydney is the nation’s hottest big market in terms of price growth, it’s starting to fade (though not markedly, as yet), while South East Queensland is starting to rise.

So when you see headlines suggesting that the boom is fading and price growth is starting to dissipate, remember that it’s Sydney they’re talking about. There are markets elsewhere in Australia that are really just starting their run.

They include Adelaide and Hobart, as well as numerous regional cities in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

But the headline event is the rise of South East Queensland. While there has been some price growth in 2014, to date it has been fairly moderate.

The big shift has been in sales volumes and that’s what I mean when I say there are 254 growth suburbs in the region – 254 suburbs throughout Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast with distinct patterns of rising sales activity.

The greatest price growth will come in 2015.

I remain hesitant about the Gold Coast. There’s no doubt that the oversupply that has dragged down this market for five years has now been absorbed – and that there is a significant real estate recovery under way.

The heartening thing is that most of the growth suburbs on the Gold Coast at the moment are what I would call genuine housing markets – inland suburbs where houses are being sold, rather than coastal locations where highrise apartments are flogged to investors and speculators.

Unfortunately, that will change. Now that the Gold Coast is back on a growth path, developers are flocking back, intent on creating the next oversupply. Driven more by ego and greed than common sense, developers are competing for the title of biggest project and tallest tower.

And, like their counterparts in Melbourne, it’s all designed for sale to Chinese investors. It won’t end well.

Beyond that cautionary note, the message about Brisbane and South East Queensland looks highly positive at the moment.

The opportunity for investors lies in understanding that the rise in sale volumes we have seen in 2014 is a forerunner to significant price growth.

South East Queensland has more momentum now than does Sydney, but it’s not yet reflected in price growth data.

That is yet to come.

Logan Granny Flats, your local Granny Flat Experts, bring to you another interesting snippet :

http://www.theurbandeveloper.com
Staff Writer
27 July 2015

Queensland is by far the state of choice for property investors looking to buy, according to new research by property investment advisers MRD Partners.

More than half of respondents to MRD’s Australian Property Investor Survey indicated the Sunshine State was where their next investment would be.

Queensland outstripped its rival states of New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia in popularity by four to one, South Australia by 6 to 1, Tasmania by 32 to 1, and the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory by 48 to 1.

WA was the second choice behind Queensland, but it was a distant second, with only 13.61 per cent of respondents indicating the state was their preferred investment location.

Nick Lockhart, MRD Partners’ Managing Director, said it was no surprise Queensland was the focus for investors going forward.

He said there had been plenty of speculation over the past 18 months pointing to South East Queensland in particular as the place to invest, largely because it was long overdue for an upturn.

“Investors know all markets go through what we call a ‘property cycle’, where there is typically a boom, followed by a flat market and some price correction before it lifts again, and Brisbane is the only capital not to have experienced a substantial lift since the GFC,” Mr Lockhart said. “The Brisbane market has moved from recovery to growth but has not yet entered what we could call a ‘boom’ market, so there is plenty of opportunity for people to get in now and buy before that growth comes.”

Survey respondents indicated they believed the Queensland market was ‘on the comeback’, along with the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Tasmania.

New South Wales and Victoria were considered to be at the top of the cycle, while the property market in Western Australia and the Northern Territory were labelled as ‘in a slump’.

Mr Lockhart noted that the WA property market had recently stagnated – or fallen in some instances – due to the slowdown in mining, which was creating opportunities in the state for investors.

But he also noted the majority of investors who indicated a desire to buy in WA were those from the state, which was evidence of a preference to buy “in their own backyard”.

“Alongside Western Australia, New South Wales and Victoria were also high on the shopping list for investors, which was to be expected,” he added. “Even though these states have experienced significant growth recently, they will always be popular markets as they have a history of strong growth.”

MRD’s survey found the majority of property investors were positive about the market, with more than 51 per cent of respondents indicating they would buy over the coming year and 50 per cent indicating they believed negative gearing would remain despite recent political debate about its possible removal.

Investors from the Australian Capital Territory expressed the highest sentiment, with 89 per cent wanting to buy in the next year, followed by those from NSW at 66 per cent.

Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania were the only states where the majority of investors indicated they did not want to buy over the next 12 months.

Investors surveyed preferred to buy a house and land (62.8 per cent) as opposed to townhouses (15.46 per cent) and units/apartments (14.01 per cent), and were almost equally split on whether they preferred to buy in the inner city (47.34%) or in areas further from CBDs (45.41%).

“People still believe the value of a property investment is in the land,” Mr Lockhart said. “As medium density has given way to higher density – that is, as bigger apartment blocks and townhouse complexes are being built – there has been a shift back to single-dwelling homes. In the past two decades master-planned housing estates have sprung up making housing further from our CBDs more appealing. With them comes a mixture of retail and commercial facilities, as well as residential housing, usually with lakes, parks, community facilities, schools, hospitals and bikeways.”

 

Domain News
Stephen Nicholls
11 July 2015

The successful bidder last Saturday, 70-year-old Raymond Leung, who admitted to paying "a little bit more" than he hoped, is going to live in the granny flat with his wife, Eva, with his 34-year-old son and grandson in the main house.

"It's good that three generations can live together, but it's better to have a little distance between us all," Mr Leung said, laughing. "There is a bit of a generation gap."

Granny-flat builders have sprung up across the city to cope with the demand. "We're doing about four or five jobs per week," says Wally Gebrael of Granny Flat Solutions.

Robert Daoud of Master Granny Flats says business is booming. "There's just huge demand at the moment."

Although most are being built in larger backyards from in the west, north and south of the city, some are appearing in the east.

Qantas HR manager Atura Norbury, 40, and web designer Jessica Lim, 37, finished their granny flat above a garage in Randwick in February for $250,000. They're already collecting a cool $500 a week in rent.

And there's still enough room for Mitchell, six, and Zoe, three, to play in the courtyard.

"It's compact, but it's working really well," Mr Norbury said.

"And there's potential for parents to move in at some stage."