WA Perth: Buying vacant land for PPOR

Discussion in 'Where to Buy' started by Gypsyblood, 1st Jan, 2017.

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  1. Gypsyblood

    Gypsyblood Well-Known Member

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    Hi All,

    I have a question please for building a PPOR in Perth. My younger brother who lives in Perth is looking to build a home on 500 sqm piece of land as near the CBD as possible. The budget for land is approx. 350K. He is not looking at it as an investment and is not looking to buy already established property and building down the line. Hes very much focused on building the PPOR and buying vacant land.

    He has identified Queens park and Beckenham as possible areas he can buy 500 sqm land in around that 350K mark. The view is that these places are close enough to gentrify in the coming years being in the 20 km radius. What are your thoughts on these two areas? Is there any other area he is better off buying in that he can afford for that 350K or maybe slightly more?

    Thank you for your comments.
     
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  2. Ross Forrester

    Ross Forrester Well-Known Member

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    I quite like Beckenham. Not too far and not too tacky.
     
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  3. Gypsyblood

    Gypsyblood Well-Known Member

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    What about Queens Park? Any views on that?
     
  4. Perthguy

    Perthguy Well-Known Member

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    It does suffer from perception issues though.

    Personally, I would look in Embleton, Morley, Dianella, Bassendean, Bayswater, Belmont, Kewdale, Queens Park, Cannington, East Cannington, Beckenham and maybe Bentley and St James.

    As far as I know, Bedford is the most expensive of these but you can buy 500 sqm fir mid 3's

    193a The Strand Bedford WA 6052 http://www.realestate.com.au/property-residential land-wa-bedford-201607514

    or slightly less than 500 sqm for low 3's

    reiwa.com - 60a Birkett Street, Bedford

    It really depends how much he wants to spend on the build though. A generic project home build will get him a much better return in East Cannington or Beckenham than in Bedford.

    Something to consider
     
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  5. Gypsyblood

    Gypsyblood Well-Known Member

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    Thank you very much for the detailed reply and the links. I dont think he has considered any of these suburbs so its a great lead to research further!
    He is looking for street frontage so might have to up the budget.
     
  6. Westminster

    Westminster Tigress at Tiger Developments Business Member

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    I think for $350-400 he could get something quite nice but it will take some hunting.
    To explore lots of suburbs and help explore ones he hasn't consider put Perth - Greater Region as the suburb in realestate.com.au , dwelling type would be land and then $250-400k in the price range. Then put the results onto the map or the list page.

    There will be a lot of listings that aren't accurate - a 200sqm block for $500k might appear so there will be a lot of things to go through but it will give him a good idea about where he might be able to afford to buy.

    There is even a chance that for $400-450k he could get something with a free house and demolish it and rebuild if he wants something new.
     
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  7. Gypsyblood

    Gypsyblood Well-Known Member

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    Thank you some great suggestions that I've sent his way. Being a home he will be in for quite some time, this help makes will make a big difference and is greatly appreciated :) We have more options to explore!
     
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  8. Scott Townsend

    Scott Townsend Well-Known Member

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    I think it would be tough to find land in those areas of that size for that price range with street frontage. There are a few battle axes around for that kind of money but you may need to up the budget for street frontage or you could look into an area like Caversham (15km on a birds flight) to CBD where you would find land that size with street frontage.

    Also Depending on what kind of area he wants to move into a 450m2 block may be suitable. In old areas he may find increased front set backs where as in new estates he can potentially have his home a couple of meters further forward which would give him the same sized back yard as he would get on 500m2.
     
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  9. thatbum

    thatbum Well-Known Member

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    I'd be looking at Thornlie/Langford for that price range - you can get 700/800sqm blocks with old houses on them for land value - low $300ks. I think its still something like 12km or 13km from the city.
     
  10. Perthguy

    Perthguy Well-Known Member

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    Thornlie could be a good option.
     
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  11. JL1

    JL1 Well-Known Member

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    I'll second Embleton, I never thought much of it until I stayed with a mate living there. Probably wont get quite as much land, but its 8km of the city, next to Morley Galleria, near the airport, and a 5 minute trip down Beaufort St to restaurants and entertainment. Long term potential for the underground train near-by and Morley is in the government's sight for the satellite city plan or what ever its called.

    Also not sure what would be available around Tuart Hill/Osborne Park, but my folks live there and its super cheap for what you get. Half way between the city and Scarborough, freeway access and a decent enough shopping area that delivers the basics. They are also walking distance to the Mt Hawthorn cafe strip which is pretty nice, and being north of Scarborough beach road land is like half the price.
     
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  12. JohnPropChat

    JohnPropChat Well-Known Member

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    Can find stuff in Bayswater and Maylands, remember a street front strata block with it's own drive way that sold for less than $350k in Maylands recently. Bayswater has good stuff too.
     
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  13. Perthguy

    Perthguy Well-Known Member

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    Street frontage is an issue because most subdivisions in these areas will be subdividing off the back yard to sell. He might have to make his own block.

    Much due diligence required and I am guessing numbers because I don't know the value of vacant land in the area but as an example:

    House for Sale Bentley, WA 109 Sevenoaks Street

    1010m² block for $485,000. Lets divide it into 2 equal sized blocks.

    Budget for demo, site clearing, subdivision and services is $100,000.

    Total spend: $585,000 + stamp duty, legals, holding costs

    Sell the back block for $300,000.

    After commission, tax, legals etc, the front block should come in at just under $350,000, which is within budget. Then your brother has a street front, vacant block to build on.

    I believe this could be done in Bentley, Queens Park, East Cannington or Beckenham with the right property.

    306 Wharf Street Queens Park WA 6107 - House for Sale #124030378 - realestate.com.au
    http://raywhitecannington.com.au/wa/beckenham/1573176/
     
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  14. Gypsyblood

    Gypsyblood Well-Known Member

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    Thank you all. I have been sending him all the information to research and come back to me if there is anything specific he has questions on.

    Last phone call i had with him he has had a bit of a mind shift and was becoming flexible about buying an older style house living in it for a bit and eventually building the dream house. Hes young enough so has options i would say. I think his revised budget came to 450K or there about for an older house on as big a block as he can get and as close to CBD he can manage.

    I think the more research he is doing the more he is realizing that compromising now on how nice a house he lives in gives him more options on suburbs to target, gets him in closer to his work place in the city at a lesser budget.. especially since hes struggling to get that all important street front!
     
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  15. Perthguy

    Perthguy Well-Known Member

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  16. Gypsyblood

    Gypsyblood Well-Known Member

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    Thank you Perthguy! Sent it across!
     
  17. Perthguy

    Perthguy Well-Known Member

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  18. Gypsyblood

    Gypsyblood Well-Known Member

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    He does fly outs for work and lately has been away from home and super busy so hasn't made as much headway unfortunately. Also he's not like his impulsive big sister :/ so the latest is that he's seen houses here and there, leaning towards the likes of Belmont, Cloverdale and Dianella. But nothing more exciting.

    We did have a chat where he was wondering why I would go through the trouble of looking for an IP in Brisbane (I have no idea about the market and will likely need to go through a BA) when he's in Perth to look for something for me there.. It's swaying me a bit. Would it be crazy to be ignoring Brisbane and looking at Perth? It would be so much easier to do that but I'm concerned about vacancies..
     
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  19. JL1

    JL1 Well-Known Member

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    Personally i think Brisbane is a lot of hot air. Fundamentally their market is in the same situation as Perth. QLD listings are actually more inflated than WA (90,000 vs. 40,000, using realestate.com as the benchmark), rental vacancies are on the rise and there is no question they are way overbuilding (average approvals of 1 dwelling per 1.2 people, twice the rate of what is currently there). Both states had a drop in full time employment in 2016 and rely heavily on resoruces.

    Personally i see huge downside risk in that QLD residential construction activity may fall by as much as half which will be a huge loss in jobs and like WA, government debt is prohibiting any real fiscal stimulus. As WA is at the bottom of the construction cycle, there is less further downside potential as those jobs have already been lost.

    I think that it's 6 in one, half a dozen in the other for the two markets right now. The right buy in Perth will far outshine an average buy in Brisbane, and land near the city is definitely what I would tip to be "the right buy" for Perth.
     
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  20. Perthguy

    Perthguy Well-Known Member

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    With sharp pricing you don't have to worry too much about vacancies in Perth @Gypsyblood. My 3 rules for property are location, presentation and price. I have a well presented property that is well located within Cloverdale. It became vacant just before Christmas. It is an older 3x1 but renovated. When I checked there were 26 older style 3x1's for rent in Cloverdale. So I priced at the lower end of the market and found a good tenant in 3 days.
     
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