So you are put off buying a new property because of rising prices and opt instead to do a reno in your current home. Great idea? Well maybe not, with a new report this week showing reno costs and wait-lists on the rise.
New home builders and renovators across Australia are in an unenviable position, with the cost of construction rising at its fastest rate in more than 20 years and predictions that the situation won't get better for another 12 to 18 months.
A surge in new builds and renovation projects, disruptions to supply chains and a shortage of building materials and labour are all to blame for a 3.8 per cent rise in building costs during the September quarter, CoreLogic said.
While that may put some off renovating - those still keen to take on a "renovators delight" with a difference might fancy a unique property in the regional Victorian town of Bairnsdale.
A water tank in the decommissioned Bairnsdale Pumping Station, complete with plans to make it over into a unique home, is on the market for $340,000.
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Vendor Grant Maddern and partner Tony Martin purchased the properties four years ago and spent more than two years and hundreds of thousands of dollars getting permits in place for the project.
"I lived in that area for a long time when my kids were little and I always used to drive past and say I'm going to live in that tank," says Maddern.
That Bairnsdale water tank is a bargain however, in comparison to the prices being seen in a town of just 100 people in the Lake Macquarie region of NSW.
A home on acreage in the town of Wakefield sold for $1.86 million, the fourth property in the hamlet that has sold for more than $1.5 million since June.
"It's one of the few areas where people are paying an emotional price - they're understanding that there's only so many acreages out there and you have to pay a good price to secure them," said selling agent Harcourts Newcastle's Michael Hardy.
For those in the market for an apartment - and in particular an off-the-plan apartment in the ACT - more protection on the purchase is promised through new legislation.
Two bills were introduced to the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, both titled Civil Law (Sale of Residential Property) Amendment Bill 2021, to better protect off-the-plan property purchasers from having their contracts cancelled.
The proposed changes come after several Canberra buyers had their off-the-plan townhouse contracts cancelled by developer 3 Property Group, before the same properties were relisted for a higher price.
"Canberrans who are currently party to an off-the-plan contract can have confidence that they will have access to the improved consumer protections provided by these reforms," said Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury.