Battle Axe Block in Sydney

Hello,

I am a first home buyer and am currently looking at a 422 sqm battle axe block property + driveway.

The house is no doubt very good.I wanted to know whether the battle axe property will have a good resale value ???

Thanks in advance...

Priya

Hi Priya,
I am a bit confused and have read your post as you are thinking of buying a back block on a battleaxe property. Apologies if this is incorrect. Having built on the front of a battleaxe property in the last twelve months I can say that a recent valuation of both properties showed only a 20% difference in favour of my front block with new building on it, compared to the older property on the back. Of course, it would depend on whether you are looking in a sought after area where blocks are scarce. I hope this helps, good luck.

Originally posted by lisabellan:

Hi Priya,
I am a bit confused and have read your post as you are thinking of buying a back block on a battleaxe property. Apologies if this is incorrect. Having built on the front of a battleaxe property in the last twelve months I can say that a recent valuation of both properties showed only a 20% difference in favour of my front block with new building on it, compared to the older property on the back. Of course, it would depend on whether you are looking in a sought after area where blocks are scarce. I hope this helps, good luck.

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for your feedback. You are right, I am thinking of buying a back block on a battleaxe property. The house (cottage as they call it ) is 1.5 years old and very well maintained. The whole block was developed 1.5 years ago so the front and the back properties are new.

The area is a Western Suburb in Sydney - Wentworthville.Any additional information is welcome.

Thanks.

Priya

Hi Priya, Having never been to Sydney I can't comment on the area. My mum lives in the back block of my property (I bought the front block from her and built my new home).
I can say that she feels very safe being back from the road and it is lovely to see the property open up from the driveway into a hidden away oasis. We were very surprised that her home retained alot of it's value with the difference being only the 20%. Again I would have to say it would depend on if there is land available. In our older area the only way to get land is to buy an old place and demolish it. We are lucky that the blocks are all subdividable.If you go ahead with it send me a PM and I'll send you some photo's.
Good Luck
Lisa

Hi Priya, I am in similar situation. Tell me please if you bought that property? If yes, how do you feel now? Do you see any negative point after buying the battle axe? Please advise as I am about to buy battle axe property in north shore.

Thanks,

Raj

No to battle axe - where possible, I live in a nearby suburb. you asking this question should give you the answer your after. Particularly a small lot size as mentioned.

Re-sale is the major concern?

www.birchcorp.com.au

Hi Priya,

I feel a little cautious putting forward my thoughts on this one as I've never actually bought a battle axe block, so please note that my comments below are only my opinion, and I can't provide any real firm supporting facts to the comments I've made.

I have a block of land that I have just sub-divided (battle axe) with the existing house at the front of the block.  I will be building a brand new house out the back and see some great benefits with owning/living in a battle axe block.

A lot of the literature i'm reading at the moment talks about 'what the market wants' and it's evident that low maintenance properties are certainly a popular option.  People want the flexibility of owning their own space, but don't necessarily want the responsibility of large property maintenance.  This is a big plus for the battle axe blocks given their generally small size.  They also provide a level of Privacy that you don't get from a street frontage property.

Additionally, the availability of land within close proximity to the major amenities (transport, shops, schools, etc) is becoming very rare, this is one reason why the battle axe blocks are popular (both with developers and purchasers).  You need to look at the location of this property and it's proximity to amenities (does it have a solid base around it to maintain a strong market value).

I have also seen situations where a block is sub-divided and sold off as 2 separate properties, with neither loosing any value due to the sub-division (it seems that the reduction in actual land size doesn't affect the final sale price - there's also an interesting article about this in the March 'Australian Property Investor' magazine, starts page 94).

I'm getting the vibe that this is a 'home' that you are looking at buying, with this in mind, you need to make sure that you are happy with your purchase.  There are plenty of properties on the market at any given time, each one has its own pros and cons.  Work on identifying what you can live with, and what you can't.

One final thought, everyone has their own tastes.  What you love...someone else will hate, and what you would never purchase...someone else will be happy to buy (eg: some are happy with Battle Axe blocks, and some aren't). 

Based on this, i'd suggest you buy what will make you happy to call 'home' if that's your overall intention.

Hope this has been some helpful food for thought.

All the best.

Cheers,

Darren

G'day Pryrao,

I think it depends on the area too. For example, I live in an area of Perth where subdivisions are common - it's the exception rather than the rule to go shopping for a house in this area which is not subdivided. Since most other houses that would sell if/when you put it on the market are a similar property type, you will get good re-sale value because it's the norm and buying a full block in this area is overpriced unless you want to develop it.

However, I used to live in an area of Perth that is your typical outer suburban land development where all houses are big and are on big blocks. In this suburb I'd say you wouldn't get such a good resale value because the properties you'd be competing with are all bigger and better in terms of size. What's more people who go shopping for houses in such an area wouldn't be looking for battle axe type properties - they go to the outer suburbs to get the bigger sized houses.

If it suits your area, battle axe blocks can be really popular because, as lisabellan mentioned, people like the private and tucked away nature of them.

Hope that helps!

Matt.

Matt McCombe,
Home Loan Specialist
Extreme Mortgages and Finance
matt@extrememortgages.com.au
www.extrememortgages.com.au