Calls for commission to consider retirees
2015-07-02Calls have been made by executive chairman of Raine & Horne Angus Raine for the Greater Sydney Commission (established in last week’s NSW Budget) to help promote more suitable housing for retirees, such as low-density apartment blocks and villas, in order to help address the city’s real estate affordability issues.
To help meet its target of 664,000 dwellings in Greater Sydney by 2031, the state government has allocated $400 million to support new housing supply in infill and greenfield areas, as well as $89.1 million to help cut council red tape.
“The Greater Sydney Commission is an excellent initiative but it must find ways to deliver suitable housing to retirees still living in oversized family homes across the metropolitan area,” Raine says, adding that he believes Sydney requires more medium-density housing and villas, where land prices make this a feasible alternative for developers.
“There’s been plenty of news about the massive growth in apartment developments across Sydney, but the majority of this stock isn’t suitable for retirees, who are already hampered by the prospect of paying stamp duty to downsize.
“If the commission can help encourage more Sydney empty-nesters to downsize out of bigger family homes, it will go some way towards helping to address the city’s affordability issues,” he says.
Raine also urges the NSW Government to do more to promote the benefits of downsizing to a bigger population centre such as Newcastle, Bathurst, Wagga, Tamworth, Dubbo and Orange.
“These centres offer all the amenities and facilities that retirees have come to expect in the city, yet real estate prices are significantly more affordable,” he says.
In the St George and Sutherland Shire region, Ray Fadel, principal of Raine & Horne Sans Souci, agrees that the explosion of high-rise apartment towers in his region is not really addressing the housing needs of empty-nesters.
“Older Australians want to live in villas or three-bedroom apartments in smaller blocks that have views and are within walking distance of shops and transport,” he says.
“There’s not much stock like that in our region apart from Cronulla, Ramsgate and Brighton.
“The majority of the new developments in the St George/Sutherland region offer two-bedroom apartments, located in high-rise towers where owners must share the space with hundreds of other occupants.
“Even though they all have lift access, the high-rise towers are not for retirees in many cases.”
Older three-bedroom villas worth around $1 million are proving popular with retirees, although they’re also in short supply, according to Fadel.
“The trouble is that the three-bedroom villas were selling for about $700,000 a few years ago. They’re now up above $1 million, which doesn’t free up much cash for retirees considering a downsizing strategy,” he says.
On the North Shore, Hugh Macfarlan, principal of Raine & Horne Chatswood/Willoughby, says the cost of land generally prohibits the development of villas.
“Ku-ring-gai Municipality, which covers off suburbs between Wahroonga in the north and Roseville in the south, has responded with plenty of new low-rise apartment blocks that offer stylish three-bedroom apartments with generous floor plans and lifts, which are suitable for downsizers,” he says.
“These apartments are more manageable than large houses on big blocks with tennis courts and pools, that many on the Upper North Shore continue to live in because of a shortage of suitable options.
“Stamp duty is already a problem and this is keeping many older North Shore residents in bigger homes, so it would be great to see the new Greater Sydney Commission consider ways to address housing affordability issues – and this probably means encouraging the development of larger quality apartments close to good amenities that would suit downsizers very well.”
SOURCE: Australian Property Investor
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