My daughter and son-in-law are dreaming of a home to buy in the Sydney Northern Beaches suburb of Dee Why. But the prices are criminal.
Dee Why has never been a real estate standout region, more solid conservative families with a ‘tradie’ home renovation bent and a lack of good public transport.
But what was $750,000 three years ago is now trending to $2 million today. For young families it is impossible.
Which is why the PwC/Property Council Retirement Survey released this week of village home prices caught my eye. It states on average that a village home is priced at 67% of the median price of surrounding homes.
Villages versus units
This was worth checking out. We selected a few locations across Australia and compared like with like – a two-bedroom apartment or home in a village to a two-bedroom home close by being sold today. See the ads above. This is what we found.
First we looked at Mona Vale, a few kilometres down the road from Dee Why where Aveo has the village Bayview Gardens. The village price is $410,000. The standard Mona Vale apartment is $850-895,000. The village apartment is at least 52% cheaper.
Winston Hills – 33km northwest of Sydney. Stockland’s The Willows village is priced at $338,000 while the local standard apartment is $675-735,000. The village apartment is at least 50% cheaper.
On the other side of the country we looked at the Perth suburb of Bibra Lake, 23km south of Perth’s CBD. At Lendlease’s Lakeside village, a two-bedroom house is $230,000 while it will cost $300,000 for a similar house nearby. The village home is 23% cheaper.
These are ‘like for like’ home comparisons – each two bedrooms. Most people moving into a retirement village are downsizing from a family home of three, four or five bedrooms, so the cost saving is significantly escalated again.
So while the kids of today have a massive struggle to get started on the family housing front, residents of villages can downsize and have real savings in their pockets – often for the first time. Sure, there are fees to be paid at the end but off a far lower base to a normal home value and we have the money to enjoy now and as we age – when we will really need it.
