NSW Townhouse Baulkham Hills or Castle Hill? or Wait longer?

Hi Guys,

A long time lurker but first time poster on the forum. Have always found the forum extremely useful and would love to hear from everyone regarding my dilemma below.

I am currently looking for a townhouse in the spec of 3-2-2 in the Hills District. The townhouse will become our PPOR for the next few years and an IP when time comes for another upgrade down the track.

Initially I was hoping to secure a townhouse within the walking distance of the Castle Hill Tower as well as the metro line, as my wife works in the City so will need daily access to the train line.

However given the recent pricing surge in the area, I am now faced with the dilemma of having to choose between

1. A smaller townhouse which on average only has an internal size of 135m2 or less and is about at least 1km-1.5km (around 20mins+walk) from the metro line. (not to mention the price tag will be near the top of the my budget if not over, and with such strong buyer interests and lack of available listings in the area, there is no guarantee I can definitely secure it when I find one)

OR

2. A more affordable townhouse in Bualkham Hills, with great internal size and floor plan + within walking distance to hills bus & Stockalnd Shopping Center

Which option do you think is more appropriately for us to vouch for?

Does it make sense to settle for a more affordable option in the Baulkham Hills now or should we just continue saving for a larger deposit so we can revisit the Castle Hill option in the next 24 months? It may also allow the current buoyant market to resettle a bit in terms of pricing (I hope)?

Do you think the trade off between 'size & livability' and 'capital growth' is a worthwhile one? assuming in the long term Castle Hill will have a better CG prospect than Baulkham Hills.

Love to hear what you all have to say about this.

 

If the bus scheduling for Baulkham Hills looks ok, if I were you, I'd actually go for that for a better purchase price. I know there's huge competition for Castle Hill townhouses near the station, and you'd be paying well over in order to buy one, or you'll keep missing out.

 

Depending on your budget, I would also look at 3 bedder at Norwest.

 

I wouldnt touch a T/H in norwest. That and apartments are in abundant oversupply and more are coming.
Consider school zones if applicable.

 

Not much difference between Castle Hill and Baulkham Hills imho. I live around here and have been living here for 15+ years. If I was you I'd much rather buy a older style townhouse in Baulkham Hills and do some slight reno yourself.

The newer ones are not built to the same quality and standards as the older ones. Plus Norwest is getting a heap of units/townhouses built now. I dont think it would be a good buy imho.

I would say the capital growth potential is similar for both areas.

 

Baulkham hill actually has higher ranked schools than castle hill...
But castle hill is closer to Metro and Tower. When I think about it though, if you can work from home a few days in the week, the extra a few mins drive to Metro is probably gonna be OK.
Castle Hill is red hot based on the auction results that I can see.

We have looked at Norwest as well, there are townhouses selling off the plan, the strata seems to be quite high in that area. We keep watch on the area though as it's a nice area and zoned for Bella Vista primary. Wouldn't mind buying a townhouse or even low density apartment if the price is reasonable. Hope the new apartments under construction will be able to slow down the property boom plus the interest rate hikes is on the watch....

 

BH for me as well, buy a old one that need reno put your own style and enjoy.

 

Thanks for your input Bluechips. So you reckon in the long term CH will have better CG potential than BH? Hence settling for a smaller and further T/H from the metro station is a worthwhile trade-off?

Workwise, my wife and I are currently working 2 days a week from home and we will be expected to go back to office full time by September this year if things are going well. Manager has for long flagged any WFH arrangement will be temporary.

 

If you think you need to return to office full time in the future, then location with respect to Metro is important I guess. For us, we can wfh 3 days a week. It's observation only that Castle hill has a lot of apartments under construction, not sure what impact these properties will have to future rent.

 

I feel houses and townhouses will perform differently to the apartments. Townhouses are very desirable in the area.
It's very much a family area, not so much of a couples area.

 

Lol, you are spot on. This is one of my dilemmas too. Discounting on property features and distance to metro may or may not work in my favor at the end of day as the rising market is working against my limited budget. I can only hope I can find a T/H in CH but doesn't mean I can secure it as interest is fairly strong and most importantly hardly any listings on the market.

I am just afraid that if I wait any longer I will eventually get pushed out of the area anyway by the rising tide. Hence my other alternative of continue saving and revising the purchase as an option later.

 

I think townhouses are more desirable than apartments in almost any area...!

 

Hence our initial thought of getting a T/H close to the metro. But given the current climate, getting a T/H close to the metro is definitely beyond the reach of our budget. Based on my recent observation our budget at most can only secure a property that requires at least 20+mins of walking to the metro each way. I am not really sure if this would an ideal solution at all, doing it on a daily basis.

The other alternative is then to secure a T/H in BH, with daily express bus to the city. Been catching the train all my life to the city so have no idea how this would pan out for the daily bus commute. And then on top of that there is the CG prospect of things to consider. Not sure if BH will hold up just as well as CH in the long run.

Your thoughts?

 

What does a TH near* the metro cost anyway, roughly speaking?

*About 10 mins walk / 1km.

 

Is that why we got priced out ? lol

 

Market has been moving so fast. It's very hard to exactly pinpoint an anchor point. Based on the latest listings that I can observe, it's at least 1.15mil+. Anything new will mean 1.25+ to 1.4mil.

On top of it, every single one of them is going directly for auctions.

 

It makes sense right, as lovely as RH is, why would you move all the way out there to end up in the same thing you could buy for the same price within 15 mins of the CBD. I don't think apartments as a product really make sense that far out, unless it has some very special attribute.

 

Limited supply of townhouses in the area (houses are preferred but are even more expensive), and it leads to very high demand as it's something many people want to buy, so they can live in the area. There's loads of interest for any that come onto the market.
Very easy to sell now but if you buy you'll have a lot of competition. My sister sold one in 2014 and they had 21 offers after the first open. Broke a bunch of records at the time. Very short walk to the new station location. But you know what? 1 year later and the buyers were even more desperate and a neighbour sold ~250k more a year later, and their property wasn't as good!

So, call it rare as hen's teeth!!!

 

No, it's T/H that I am after in the area. Not apartments. Wanting to have a bit of space and yard.

Prices were more within my price range last year...

 

Yah, I could tell that easily from open homes in the area.

I don't have problem settling for something that's a bit further away from metro, but then that will just make my daily commute twice as hard unless I plan to drive to the station and park somewhere nearby. However, based on what I have heard from others, parking near the station is not something easy either.

Guess unless I am happy to delay my purchase until this frenzy is over, I will just have to bite the bullet and settle for a T/H in BH. Just hoping I won't loose out as much CG wise down the track.