High-end movers shake-up the market
ASTUTE owner-builders who bought blocks before prices boomed are now reaping the rewards, as buyers continue to seek architectural properties with appeal beyond the ordinary.
Yet for every jaw-dropping new home and equally eyewatering price tag, there’s hidden costs for the vendors, who despite being in the industry aren’t immune to the high stakes of building through these volatile times.
But with the right approach and realistic expectations, they are reaching qualified buyers who are prepared to pay a premium in order to avoid the minefield of taking on such a project themselves.
Kooringal Lodge at Tallebudgera was snapped up for $5.995m last week, smashing the suburb record for a residential sale of a single title lot in the sought-after acreage area.
The six-bedroom, fourbathroom home on a 5,773sq m block was designed by Reece Keil and combines alpine cabin architecture with mid-century modernism.
Marketing agent John Fischer, of PRD Burleigh, said the buyer was originally from Melbourne and had bought a larger parcel of land in northern NSW, but gave up on plans to redevelop that site amid construction price hikes and delays.
“The lower to middle end of the market does seem to be a lot slower to sell now than anything brand new or fully renovated,” Mr Fischer said.
“For buyers in the higher end of the market, I don’t think interest rates affect their finances, and the other reason there’s such strong demand is that it’s a nightmare at the moment trying to get a builder anytime soon.
“Many buyers aren’t willing to take on a project while material and labour costs are increasing, they’d rather buy somewhere that’s ready to go,” he said.
Owner-builders Paul and Nicky Harms, of PJH Constructions, were thrilled with the sale at the conclusion of the 30-day campaign.
“It just shows there are buyers out there if you’ve got the right product in the right area,” Mr Harms said.
Another avant-garde home at Bilinga sold under the hammer on Friday for $3.19m to a Brisbane family.
The Golden Four Dr property, named Cypress for its striking facade of Australian pine, resembles a series of sculptural cylinders and was the culmination of a “passion project” by owner-builders, Andrew and Jasmine Smith, of Merico Constructions.
The five-bedroom, fourlevel home was conceived with Shane Denman Architects.
Marketing agent Troy Dowker, of Kollosche, said: “the market really responded to the high quality of construction”, despite the subdivided block’s highway position ultimately narrowing the pool of buyers.
“From when the owners bought the land to now, they have done very well,” Mr Dowker said.
The Smiths split the 507sq m block purchased in late 2018 for $950,000, building a New York loft-style two-bedroom home on the smaller 175sq m lot. It sold last year for $1.2m.
But Mrs Smith said it hadn’t all been smooth sailing, with a previous marketing campaign for Cypress launched in July by another top agent abandoned.
“We definitely didn’t scrimp on anything with the quality of this build, and that’s been really tricky because we did come across financial battles because of the pandemic,” Mrs Smith said.
“Our costs had doubled, and so our initial price point [for Cypress] was much, much higher, but the market had shifted and we had to completely rethink our strategy and go back to what we originally paid for the block.
“We had to sacrifice a bit for us to be able to move on to the next project, but that is what drives us. We are both so creative and it comes from a very genuine place. We don’t just want to build within the box.”