pazza

I've been looking on realestate at prices of buying/renting in Secret Harbour areas. I've also looked on a few house/land packages and i'm just wondering if there's any catch. A couple that i've looked at are $354.900, and the other $368.000. and they look absolutely beautiful 4x2 homes.
That seems very cheap considering what you'd pick up for £160+K here in the UK, just that people say prices in Oz are on par if not dearer than the UK.
I'd be interested to hear from anyone who's done it this way and if they found it better or worse than a ready to move in home.

slipshot

The prices you see are true and fair and they are nice houses. You could then spec them to your own requirements which add costs, or put in more plug points, but al in all they are good value. But you're living a fair bit away hence the price.

In Melbourne, for similair prices you can get a decent home and garden all done for about 280k upwards but middle of nowhere. And we'd therefore be able to buy outright, but we decided we wanted a better lifestyle for the kids and live in a surburb area with better, more established schools. Horses for courses...

Dorothy

What you see is the cost of the land and a bare bones house. No floor covering, no window coverings, very few power points, no upgrades, no landscaping (or very little), just very very basic. Take the price listed and add about 10%.

We're building in Butler, NOR and our house & land package would have been listed at about $370000. After adding in "upgrades" such as more than one single power point in each room it came up to just over 403k. Like I said, add 10% for the things you will want/need in a new home.

Take a look also at what the builders include in their price. Some are more inclusive than others. Really, though, you have to be here to see the homes to get a feel for the quality of builder and the layout of the house. What you see on the internet is really hard to get a feel for until you actually see it in person.

ABCDiamond

This can depend very much on area. Comparisons that are not like for like can be very misleading.

eg: Sydney area, 40km (25 miles) or 1 hour commute by train to CBD, 5 bed house cost $380,000 (or £173,000)

How does that compare to a similar UK house 1 hour by train from Central London ?

slipshot

I think you know the answer to that one already! Then again, it will depend on whcih of the home counties you are in. A 4 bed detached house we sold in Bramley, Surrey, so about 50 mins by train to central London sold a few years ago fro £520,000, so about $1.2 million.

Fair bit of difference, and for the Brist coming over here, where a one hour commute is nothing, you're sorted...

ABCDiamond

Actually I have no real idea what the UK prices are these days.

It would be interesting to see what the "lower" priced areas 1 hours out of central London would cost.

Looking at the better areas of Sydney, Mona Vale (Northern Beaches) which is 28 km (17 m) north of Sydney CBD, has good properties for about the $1m mark.
So those two areas, Bramley and Mona Vale, may be closer to "like by like" comparisons, for people.

My last UK house was a 3 bed terrace, sold for under £100,000. I effectively swapped it for a 5 bed house near the water here in QLD
But that was a few years ago now, when there was no question to the answer to the price comparisons

sr71

Depends on the area. I lived in Brighton (Hove actually ) and house prices there were on a par with good London suburbs.

Dorothy

I think you will find, though, that the OP was asking about house and land packages in Perth's southern suburbs. Not resale homes 1 hour from Sydney's CBD.

ABCDiamond

Oops, is Secret Harbour in Perth ?

Not near Darling Harbour then ?

Dorothy

Yup. It's just south of Perth about 30 or so km. It's a newish housing estate close to the ocean, near the train and freeway. Looks pretty nice from what we've seen driving through and looking at display homes.

Three Legs

I've just designed a home (4 x 2 plus study, activity & alfresco) for my company which can be built for as little as £307,568 in a house & land package ...

Sitecosts
Carpets
Timber laminate flooring
Venetian blinds
Floor tiling to wet areas
Granite benchtops
Shower screens
Double GPO's
etc
etc
etc
etc

It can be done, dependant on where you'd like to live.

The price above is based on a land release at Lakelands, just North of Mandurah.

Good value.

3

pazza

Thanks for the info.

We seen a few display homes in Gold Coast 3 year ago and the agent we were talking to showed us the list of everything you get with the package, and they had a little box next to each item. They told us to go through it and tick all the boxes we required, and leave any boxes i thought i could do the work myself, Landscaping, patio, etc, which they would then knock off the package price.
With me being a builder i thought i could maybes save quite a bit of money, but i don't know if i'd rather just let them do everything to save me the hassle.

pazza

Hi 3,
That sounds absolutely amazing.
I've got to nip out now but i speak to you later.