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There are more investment opportunities
still to come on the back of the West Australian Government’s Network
City initiative predicts Property Wizards buyers’ agent Liz Sterzel.
Sterzel says areas as diverse as
Leederville, Gosnells, Canning Vale, Rockingham and Bassendean have already
been impacted by the planning strategy and more suburbs will be in the
future.
“The whole idea of the
“centric city” is higher density housing close to a commercial
hub,” she says.
“The concept is to have less dense
housing in the suburban area and to create little hubs where there are
shops, good transport networks and lifestyle facilities and to have more
dense housing developments near these hubs.”
Sterzel says the benefits of the
initiative are greatest for investors keen to buy and develop.
“The initiative has led to a lot of
rezoning, so savvy investors may wish to buy a house then sub-divide the
land and build two to four units or townhouses,” she says.
“Done well, these can be very
profitable opportunities.”
However, she cautions, there are potential
pitfalls.
“It can be time consuming to get in
and find out where these planning changes are taking place and then you do
have to be concerned about picking the best time to buy and doing your
checks,” she explains.
“Investors with little time on their
hands would do well to team up with an expert to ensure their success with
a strategy such as this.
“It is common, for example, for busy
buyers to find out only once it’s too late that they have to pay
development contribution to the council.
“These contributions are used to
help pay for the building of roads and facilities, but when you’ve
already done your sums and failed to account for something like this, it
can be a nasty shock that wipes out all your projected profits.
“Another problem is that usually, it
is hard to find out about these opportunities until they’re made
public, once all the decisions are made and the plans adopted, so at that
point it can be a competitive environment that works to erode any potential
profits.”
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