eljustino

Hi all

Just been looking tentively at land sales across WA/Perth. From what I can see there is some very nice affordable land, found some 150k upwards, in good areas. Can anyone advise, who has purchased land and then built upon it a good builder - and an aproximation of the costs they charge for building on this land. Looked at many web sites and they just dont give up how much they charge to build guess they want people to contact them and begin negoitiation.

Basically what I am trying to figure out with my projected income of 42k what and how much I can afford morgage wise and what and how much I an afford property wise. I think with the 20% deposit I could afford a morgage around the 250k mark maxed out at about 300k.

Any advise needed

Cheers Justin

NIGENABBY

Hi

We were in Aus in April (admittedly Victoria) and we looked at new builds.

The costs seemed to be from $150 up. It totally depends on whether things are included or extra. Keep a close eye on this as you will find the basic build price really is just that - basic! We looked at the 'all inclusive packages'. Covered floor coverings, painting etc. Otherwise you can go a bit mad. All these things can be addressed and upgraded once you have been there a while, however it is a little hard to live with just a concrete floor.

Have a look at http://www.avjennings.com.au/VIC/home_designs gives prices and designs.

I know it is an east coast firm, but it will give you some idea. I have only ever lived on the east coast, so I don't know who is good or bad on the west. I would suggest googleing Perth and New home builders.

Oh and just remember if there are a lot of single story homes this is by far the most common in Australia and not just for old people! I lived in a single story house most of my life.

Hope you have some success

Abby

Shaun&Dee

I've asked lots of similar questions recently, do a search or look at some my posts. Lots of people have told me some very usefull infomation on costs, sizes, rules, etc.
Good luck

eljustino

Cheers all for the advice have some Karma

cranni

Hi , i dont think you will be able to afford 250-300 thousand dollar mortgage on 42 k a year, if i have got that right, my hubby is on 45 and there is no way we could, they tax you heavily here. Denise

Centurion

Justin,

I cant really say how much it is to build in Perth but having just done our land contract and ordered our new home we're been to about a million and one show homes and costed up every type of build I think!

I think you would be very lucky to be able to build at $150k and that would be very small and basic. At that price then you would not be talking any floor coverings, landscaping, driveway - just the house, basic light fittings, bathroom fittings and kitchen etc. You would need to add another $50k on top of that to get anywhere near completed.

However I would say that in Brisbane you have to allow at least $250k in build costs alone. This can go upward from there depending on the sort of property of course. You can easily spend $350k on a large 4 bedroom highset.

Really its what you are after but if you are funding a project from a mortgage only finance based on a 45k income before tax then I think you may really have a hard time mate.

I would be more tempted to consider taking advantage of the falling house market in Australia and there are so many completed brand new homes completed and ready to move in already. That may be a better option or alternatively the market has such a variety of houses out there one will probably be ideal and no doubt bigger than the UK standard shoebox! Good luck with your decision!

Pomster

here in Melbourne most builders quote about 10-12,000 dollars per square of building. Of course this is with basic fixtures and fittings.
We live in a not-huge 3 bed single storey house and it is about 12 squares. Most 3 bed houses would be 14-15 squares.

That's helpful isn't it????

Flying Banana

With ref the mortgage situation it is very unlikely you would be able to borrow what you are saying above. Lending criteria over here are a little different to the UK and they seem a little more cautious about letting people hang a massive millstone of a mortgage round their necks.

If you go to www.realestate.com.au and look on lhs menu for 'calculators' there are some there which will give you an idea of what you will be able to borrow, repayments etc. As a guide I earn a little bit more than what you were quoting you expect to earn and the max loan that I was offered was $220k. It seems to vary greatly with the amount of capital you have and also things like they take into account any credit cards you have, assessing it as if you are maxed out to your card limit for purposes of the mortgage borrowing power (better than the UK where credit card companies allow people to get into 10's of thousands of debt and still throw more plastic at them)

As far as building goes some of the charges, not exhaustive and for VIC, land (over here 650m2 in a nice area) $150k ish, stamp duty on that $4.5k, solicitors fees to buy appr $500, then whilst you are waiting to build you are responsible for reduced rates on the land, keeping the block in a decent condition etc etc. Soil tests to determine suitability of block for construction $600.

You will be eligible for a first home owners grant from federal and state governments, here in VIC till end of Dec it's 12k, after Jan 1st drops $1 or $2k I think but will vary from state to state.

If you look at http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...t=Porter+Davis loads more info on there, but as a rough guide,

Base price for a 27-29sq 4 bed single story house $155k upwards. By the time it is specced up to a reasonable standard adding floor coverings, kitchen bits and pieces, extra electrical sockets etc etc it will probably end up heading towards the $200k mark, then there is the cost of driveways, paths, garden, air con, fences (about $45 per m for wooden and $60 per m for colorbond metal), been told by a friend in the building trade to allow $5k to $10k for sorting outside.

I'd say you could build somewhere nice for around $320k total looking at a budget of around $140k ish for land and being sensible about what you kit the house out with initially (go for the structural things that would be difficult to do later - things like downlights, floor coverings etc can all be changed at a later date)

Hope this helps

Moody Cow

My hubby works for a well know building company in WA as a site supervisor and his company (I believe) advertise the cheapest house to build at $103,000 (don't quote me on this!). However, we have put an offer in on a piece of land and I wanted to have a look at some of the houses he works on to get an idea of layouts, vfm etc....my goodness I was shocked! Talk about SMALL, the bedrooms would barely fit a double bed in anything other than the master, no floor coverings, no window coverings, plastic light fittings, awful melamine kitchen/bathroom cabinets that were exactly the same as the rental we had stayed in which must have been built at least a decade prior etc. Oh no, I said to hubby, discount or not I am not having kitchen cupboards like that in my brand new house!!!! I was greatly disappointed.

What I am saying is that it can be done on a budget as land can still be purchased north under $150,000 for 500SqM plots or less but you will certainly have to compromise in size and finishes to achieve this. Personally I would rather buy a "used" home with space and quality fixtures than a tiny box with new appliances squished in between the neighbours.

Good luck with everything.

MC

Wol

It's the old how long is a piece of string thing.

You can get estimates from $650 to $2000 per sq m. You get what you pay for.

Timber Floor Au

Yeah but, hes tryin to find out what he CAN get for the money he may Get. LOL

All i can add, is:

1. you can get 100% mortgages, albeit you pay higher rate
2. you can self certify, but you pay bigger deposit.

In my experience, moe people rent than you would first think.

I find that Australia, isntthe Ive got a huge house, and its better that yours malarkey, they dont give a toss.

Id advise, get here, get a feel for the areas, and then go with the flow..

Steve

eljustino

thanks all for posting, gives me some food for thought.....


cheers

Justin