Jo Chivers

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One of the most common questions I am asked these days comes from investors looking to use their self-managed super funds (SMSF) to invest and develop property.
It's no surprise that people who've had good experience with property investing want to apply the same strategy and take control of their superannuation investments.  But it's not as easy as it seems and you need to be clear on what tactics are permissible when investing money from your SMSF. You also need good, qualified advice.
I have to say I find it a little hard to stay on top of what you can and can't do with a SMSF.
When we recently started working with our new client Adam Mondy of <a href="https://www.mondyfinancial.com.au/" target="_blank">Mondy Financial Services</a>. I was delighted to hear that he was a financial planner who specialises in SMSFs. So I asked Adam if he wouldn't mind setting us straight on what we can and can't do with a SMSF.
Below are Adam's words of wisdom:
THE SMSF Developments
It sounds like a new movie release, but the SMSF world can be just as exciting and just as scary.
The Australian Tax Office are suggesting that 30,000 new SMSFs are opening each year, which is a lot of people wanting to be in complete control (or at least have the perception of control) over their retirement fortunes.
Investments in a SMSF
Any investment you can make in your current super fund or personal name you can make in an SMSF. Although if you are looking to boost your collection of fine wines and buy a few bottles of Grange Hermitage or perhaps add to your art collection with a Pro Hart, then that's a topic for a another time. Whilst it can be none, it's far more complicated.
You can invest in shares, term deposits, bonds, real estate trusts but a major drawcard and what has become very popular, is property.
Borrowing to Buy Property in your SMSF
The fact that you can take your super, borrow some funds from a bank and then buy a property that you may pay off in 15 - 20 years (yes slightly different than your traditional property strategy) using some or all of your superannuation guarantee payments, is a powerful strategy. Not a perfect, well diversified, sure fire guaranteed strategy, but nevertheless a powerful one based on past property prices. Basically if you are comfortable with gearing (using somebody else’s money, at a cost, to help build your future funds) using SMSF may suit you.
The standard method is to obtain a special loan from a normal banking institution, combining these funds and you can purchase any type of property. The ATO has very strict rules on “whom” you can purchase from and “who” can use these properties but any property type is fine.
The interesting thing about these loans is you cannot change the fundamental character of the property while the loan is on foot. For example, land cannot be purchased and then developed while a loan is attached. You could purchase a house and land package or an “off the plan unit” but there could be no ownership transfer under the package until the home/unit build was completed. The fundamental change being from vacant land to residential property.
On the other hand it is possible to make improvements to property, whilst the loan is on foot, so long as:
a) The improvements are not so extensive that they result in a change of the fundamental character of the property. Renovations to an existing residential property would generally be acceptable;
b) The improvements are not funded from borrowed monies, In other words the fund uses its own funds to make improvements to the property.
Can you develop property in a SMSF?
Many people think that you cannot develop in the SMSF environment. This is not correct. You can set up special trusts within the SMSF environment that allow you to use borrowed (by the SMSF) funds, develop property, subdivide, buy/sell, build a granny flat, or any property strategy you can think of. These trusts will even allow other investors, other SMSFs or you personally to invest with your SMSF to undertake a development.
The major catch, other than it is highly regulated, complicated and can be costly, is that you need to have the funds outside of the specific property you are developing. You cannot borrow against the property you are developing, as would be the “norm” in a traditional development. If you have access to funds, are able to borrow against other assets and/or have other parties involved, this scenario may be beneficial.
Using your own funds i.e. not borrowing
Basically you can do what you like with your own super funds in relation to property when borrowing is not undertaken. As long as the ATO rules of purchasing and “use” of the property are satisfied then any purchase, development, construction, subdivision or investment can be undertaken.
Your future self?
Whilst using your SMSF to invest in property has become common, you should consider that property is illiquid and may not produce the returns it has in the past. So it's important to do your due diligence carefully. In addition to this many property investors are committed to property over other investments, meaning there is little diversification across their portfolio. However, using different strategies such property development where you are adding value and creating equity through the process, can be a good way of building up the value of your SMSF faster than waiting on capital growth.
With any investment the return you receive should attempt to reflect the potential risk you are undertaking. Don’t forget in this instance we are talking about your future retirement funds, so you not only need to justify this strategy to your advisers, to your auditor and to the ATO but most importantly to your future self and family, so tread carefully.
<a href="https://www.propertybloom.com.au" target="_blank">www.propertybloom.com.au</a>
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jochivers-wq5Bp59R5a

Can I develop property using my SMSF? Jo Chivers

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There have been a few recent changes to the NSW affordable housing state environmental planning policies (SEPP or AHSEPP).  This policy was introduced in July 2009 to increase the supply of affordable rental and social housing in NSW.
Since then, Property Bloom has been busy doing our bit to help with affordable rental properties in the Hunter region of NSW. 
A typical, new two bedroom granny flat or single villa will rent for just $250 - $280 per week.  Compared to a typical house in these locations, tenants can save around $50 a week and these are pretty good digs being offered and in some cases much better than the 80 year old miner’s cottages asking for higher rents. 
The flats meet all the<a href="https://www.basix.nsw.gov.au/basixcms/about-basix/basix-assessment/basix-certificates" target="_blank"> Basix requirements</a>, which means they are energy efficient. They are functional and about the same size of some of the miner’s cottages but of course being brand new have none of the issues of older homes.  
 <img src="/images/2014/05/02/chivers%20may%201%20two.jpg" alt="">
 <img src="/images/2014/05/02/chivers%20may%201%20one.jpg" alt="">
On the 14 February 2014 there were some new changes introduced to the AHSEPP.  Probably the most important was the change to the period in time the complying development assessment can take.
Previously it was 10 days and it has now been extended to 20 days. This is because the neighbours now need to be notified of the application to build a granny flat.
In the past, the neighbours were not notified and may have realised all too late that granny was coming to their close proximity.  Neighbours of the complying development now get to know what’s going on next door - which I think is a good thing.
They have 14 days to lodge any complaints or ask any questions of the certifier. They can’t really stop a granny flat being built unless the application is not meeting all the requirements of the policy; however they have the opportunity to discuss any concerns and check plans. I think this is fair and it’s always good to have some kind of relationship with your neighbours. 
Imagine you live in a high density area where the land size is quite small; say 450-500 square metres blocks and the house next door starts to build a granny flat. There is not a lot of space for the tenants of the flat to chill out so they hang right on your fence line when they have a BBQ which happens to be next to your bedroom window. This is not a good situation for anyone.
Property Bloom always looks for large lot sizes for our granny flat developments, land that is 800 square metres – 1,000 square metres so there is plenty of yard space for both the house and the flat.  This is one of our main criteria but we have a long list of other criteria that we need to meet before we will present a property to our clients for such a development.  Our goal is to maximise the rent from the house and the flat but if the positioning of the flat is too close to the house, it just won’t work.
When you get it right, this strategy works well but I’ve heard of some horror stories where investors have just squeezed on a flat, yet still meeting the AHSEPP requirements but not thinking about the consequences; unhappy neighbours, and unhappy tenants.   
For a granny flat development to work for property investors it needs to result in a high rental yield, be well designed so that there are no issues down the track and maximise depreciation benefits of the property. 
Check out the video here where we explain <a href="https://www.propertybloom.com.au/services/granny-flats" target="_blank">some of the pros and cons of building a granny flat</a>.
<a href="https://www.propertybloom.com.au/" target="_blank">www.propertybloom.com.au</a>
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Granny meets the neighbours

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The next time you look at buying a piece of land within a land estate, spare a thought for the land developer.
A few discussions this week with different large scale land developers reminded me of the number of layers they need to work through when developing raw land. Raw land is land that remains in its natural state and has had no development improvements, service connections, road works or other developments done to it so that you can build a dwelling there.
I certainly don’t envy the job of a large scale land developer as it takes literally years of work before they see any profits.
One developer told me that they’d been working with council for several years to get their development application (DA) for the land subdivision approved...and that was the easy bit.
Once a subdivision plan is approved the land developer then starts the real work in meeting the conditions of the DA consent so that they can apply for the construction certificate and then finally the subdivision certificate.  Then the final step is to have the individual lots that have been created, registered.
Once registered the purchaser can buy their piece of land and commence their own development journey. For Property Bloom it’s usually an application for a dual occupancy or a multi villa development.
Another land developer explained the stage they were at in one of their current subdivisions. After waiting longer than ever anticipated for the land to be rezoned there other major hurdle was seemingly simple.  
After obtaining the DA consent and in order to commence their civil works, drainage, sewer connections, road and other service connections, they needed permission to put down a 20 metre access crossover.
The owner of the land they needed to use to access their subdivision is the Catholic Church. The levels they had to work through to obtain this small 20 metre access gave the impression it was going all the way to the Pope for approval. Of course it wasn’t, but it was just an example used to convey the time some things can take.
It’s a great thing for us to work with these developers and our established relationships mean Property Bloom gets the low down on land that will be coming up in the near to medium term. We get a sneak preview of the subdivision plans before others so we can choose the lots most suited to our type of development. It gives us time to prepare our DA whilst waiting for the final registration of the land saving on valuable holding costs.
<a href="https://www.propertybloom.com.au/">www.propertybloom.com.au</a>
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The long road to large scale land development

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A good development strategy for a first time developer and investor wanting to boost their property portfolio is a dual occupancy project; buying land where you can build two dwellings and subdividing. 
The dwelling/villas may be attached or freestanding, either way you are basically halving the land cost for each. And that is where the value lies.
Where Property Bloom develops, there is usually opportunity to create around $100,000 in equity through a dual occupancy development within about 12 months. This does not take into consideration any capital growth that also may occur during the development period. That is a bonus if it occurs.  If you are developing when the market is moving up, then you have timed your development well. Even if the market is flat, you can manufacture some equity. The equity created is purely because you are the developer and you are adding value to the land not with one dwelling but with two.
Here’s an example of a dual occupancy project we recently completed:
Land cost: $200,000
Stamp duty: Nil
($5,000 <a href="https://www.osr.nsw.gov.au/lib/doc/factsheets/ofs_nhg1.pdf" target="_blank">NSW New Home Grant</a> applied so the government contributes $5,000 and this off sets the stamp duty cost)
Legal fees: $1,500
Build cost, including subdivision costs, for two freestanding, three bedroom, two bathroom villas:  $430,000
Total cost:  $631,500
Actual end valuations:  $750,000 or $375,000 per villa
Equity created:  $118,500
Gross yield: 6.3% based on renting each villa at $380 per week
If you are borrowing at around 4.5% then the project may be cash flow positive for you. This is when the rent and depreciation benefits combined cover the costs of interest, insurance, council, water rates and management fees.
Expected depreciation: $20,000 in year one (using the diminishing method)
Want to know how to do it?  Well you can either use an experienced project manager to guide you through or have a go yourself, it will depend on the resources or skills you have available, time, experience and some grit. 
The steps involved in a dual occupancy development strategy are:
<ol>
<li>Finance preapproval. It’s important before you start looking at development sites or any property, that you have a preapproval from a lender in place. 
</li>
<li>Understand the council requirements for dual occupancies in this area. Read council’s local environment plan (LEP) and development control plan (DCP). This will let you know the size of land you’ll need for your dual occ and what is permissible. 
</li>
<li>Focus your attention on the area you want to develop in, making sure the location is correctly zoned for dual occupancies. But even if it is zoned for this type of development, there may be covenants on the land preventing it.  It’s important to narrow down to one or two suburbs based on your research.  This is a really important stage and you need to understand the area well.   </li>
<li>Search for land that meets the dual occupancy criteria. Size – look at the frontage and know what the minimum width is for your dual occ. If it’s a duplex site, you may need a minimum of 18-20 metres frontage – it will depend on the duplex design you want to use. Look at the depth and size to ensure the land is large enough to meet the DCP requirements, look at the aspect and if there is enough area to meet the minimum outdoor private space requirement.  Make sure there are services to the site; electricity, sewerage, gas. Then ensure the land is relatively flat with a slight slope to the street unless there is a drainage easement at the back.  
</li>
<li>Check the planning certificate to see if it is in a bushfire or flood zone.  You can still develop in these areas but it will add to your build costs.  
</li>
<li>Have your builder look at the site. This is very important as the builder will look at the land from a different perspective. 
</li>
<li>Run your feasibility to ensure the project will be viable. You will need to find recent comparable sales references then you can base your end value estimate on this.  Talk to agents about the current rental market and what rent could be expected then work out the projected yield on completion.  Most importantly, you need to have a good understanding of the build costs. The build costs will evolve over the design and planning process. Your builder can give you an estimate once a concept plan is available, but as the full development application (DA) plans and documentation is available, the builder will then need to run a full tender. You can cross check this against your original estimate. If it’s in line, lodge the DA if it’s not, go back to the design and look at areas where you can reduce costs. Once the plans are approved, the builder may run a second tender if council asked for any changes. If not, then a last tender will be generated once the engineer’s plans for the construction certificate (CC) are available. 
</li>
<li>Secure the dual occ site and try for a long settlement period with permission to lodge a DA from the vendor. You can get all the design work and perhaps even have the DA and CC approved before you settle on the land, this will reduce your holding costs. Make sure you include the subdivision on your DA. 
</li>
<li>Once you have the DA and CC approvals, you can then go back to your lender to obtain your unconditional construction loan. As soon as this is in place, the builder can start. 
</li>
<li>The build phase for a dual occupancy should be around three to four month or so, depending on weather. You need to be on site each week to check the builder’s progress and put out any ‘fires’ that may arise as you are under construction. 
</li>
<li>Once the building works are completed, an occupation certificate will be issued. You can now have your villas tenanted. Don’t forget to order a depreciation schedule; this is simple, just email the plans and builders tender and any other cost details to your quantity surveyor.  
</li>
<li>You can now apply for the subdivision certificate and once council issues this, you can register the subdivision (after your lender has signed off on it).  There is no need to register immediately if you are planning to hold and not planning to refinance as you may find costs such as rates may be a little less if the villas are kept on one title.</li>
</ol>
I’ve summarised the process very quickly, it’s not that straight forward and you really do need the time to work on this development strategy closely as mistakes can be costly when developing property. But you can have your cake and eat it too by using an experienced property development project manager. You will learn so much from the process, can still keep your day job and know that you are in the hands of a professional. Then you may find you will be ready to do the next project on your own.
<a href="https://www.propertybloom.com.au/" target="_blank">www.propertybloom.com.au</a>
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How to make a dual occupancy build happen

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I was looking over some old files and found a TV interview I did some years ago on a popular property program – Your Money Your Call.
The very first question I was asked by the host Chris Gray was: “Why would someone develop rather than buying and holding?”<a href="https://www.propertybloom.com.au/about/videos"> </a>
{qtube vid:=8wsx8fPOiqQ}
What a great question. It’s really the main reason why many investors take that next step from being an investor to becoming a property developer.
My answer was: "The best thing about developing property is the creation of equity through the development process. So rather than wait for capital growth to happen (over time), you create equity by adding value."  
In a nutshell, this really is what most developers are trying to achieve. Some call it the ‘developer margin’ but I call it ‘creating equity’ - it’s the amount of money created when the costs of developing a property are taken away from the value of the project on completion.
<blockquote>
The best thing about developing property is the creation of equity through the development process.
</blockquote>
I like the term ‘creating equity’ over say ‘manufacturing equity’ because when you are a property developer, you are very much part of a very creative process. 
As a developer, you have a lot that you can control, yet there are also some things you can’t control.  If you make the right decisions around the stuff you are in control of; smart plan design, meeting the needs of your target market, efficiency in the build process by using a trustworthy and experienced builder and some strong interior design choices then you can boost the equity creation process.
At the same time, if you can minimise the risks on the things you are not so much in control of; council processing time, finance approval times and inclement weather then you are giving yourself the best ‘equity creation’ opportunity.
So what would you rather?  Buy, hold, wait for equity; or buy, make and create equity? 
I know what I would choose every time.
<a href="https://www.propertybloom.com.au/" target="_blank">www.propertybloom.com.au</a>
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Develop or buy and hold? Why it all comes down to creating equity

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As a mother of two beautiful boys, my focus is to teach my sons the value of setting themselves up for the future early.
I only really leant that I was totally responsible to support myself after reading the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki when I was pregnant with my first son 13 years ago.
The book opened my eyes to lots of things, but my two main insights were; the more time we have to build our investments, the more money we should have when we are ready for retirement. And, that we need to educate ourselves financially and not just handover our money and trust others to invest it for us. We are responsible for building our own wealth.
So off I rushed to build our investment portfolio and along the way I also created a business developing property for others. I found that I loved my new business; it was flexible to accommodate my baby and I was doing something that I loved: Property.
As my son grew older and our second son was born, my investments started to really show the benefits of holding property over the long term. Rental returns slowly increased and capital growth created equity. Then I started to develop and add value to my regional investment which lead to my understanding of compounding equity creation through development.
I try to talk about property investing as much as possible with the kids, sometimes they come with me to the development sites and I try to explain in simple terms about basic economics. “We are building houses here...if you borrow money to build or invest you’ll get some help from the government to help you pay the loan costs.  You will get paid rent and this will be a source of income for you...” I tell my twelve year old who has starting to understand. We set up a term deposit for him that we call his ‘first property deposit’. Slowly I plan to build on his knowledge of economics and how he can make money by being entrepreneurial.
Kids are pretty smart with money so engage them and encourage it. I try not to say ‘we can’t afford it’ and rather ‘how can we afford it'? Let them come up with ideas to make money. To nurture the genius in your child is a great gift.
As Robert says “Don’t just protect your child from the future; prepare them for it”.
I don’t want my kids to have to deal with the tyranny of compounding bad debt as well as the compounding interest on that debt. We must educate our children and teach them the difference between bad and good debt. 
The world is full of teachers and they are not all in the classrooms. Our kids need to learn early how to make money, invest and manage their finances. Experience and making mistakes along the way is the best way to learn. As parents we can help our kids think differently to the way we did when we were young.
Happy Mother’s Day for Sunday to all the mums out there.
<a href="https://www.propertybloom.com.au/" target="_blank">www.propertybloom.com.au</a>
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We need to teach our kids the importance of investing wisely: A Mother’s Day message

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Whilst there has been so much commentary last week on the federal budget, I thought we could talk about a different type of budget - one that can be just as important, particularly if you are a property developer.
Property developing can throw many different challenges at you and one thing I have learnt in this industry is there is always a solution to a problem. The trick is to understand what possible problems may arise and preparing yourself for them.  Unfortunately things don’t always go to plan and as a project manager it is up to us to make sure the development gets through as efficiently as possible.
One of the biggest problem areas is not allowing enough for building works. 
When pricing a development and running feasibilities, it is important to understand that your building estimate is an organic creature. By this I mean the building estimate you start with will nearly always be different to the one you end with.  It will evolve throughout the process as you obtain more and more details.  Once you have all the fine details, the building estimate can be finalised to the fixed price builder’s tender.  
If architecturally designing our villas, we generally follow this process:
<ol>
<li>Concept plan – this will show the number and size of villas on the land, but not much detail</li>
<li>Development application (DA) plans – enough information is included on the plans to satisfy council</li>
<li>Construction certificate (CC) plans –more detail, including engineer drainage and slab design</li>
</ol>
The starting point for our build estimate will be based on similar projects that we have recently completed and an allowance for the different site.
This progresses to an estimate based on the concept plan.  Still a ‘loose’ estimate as there is usually not enough detail on the concept plan for the builder to have all information he needs.  The build estimate we have at this stage will tell us whether we are tracking within budget.  If not, we can make the necessary changes required, perhaps reducing the size of the villas working with both our builder and architect to design the right dwellings for our project to be successful.
Once the concept plan is approved, the architect will proceed to full DA plans.  It is here that much more detail is added and we will have our builder price the DA plans and review the supporting documentation.  Again, this does not give us a final fixed build cost but we will be getting closer to the expected outcome.  Once approved by our client, the DA plans are finalised and the DA is prepared and lodged with council.
During the DA process, council may request some changes to the plans, so it is important to understand we are still ‘evolving’ at this stage. We also need to review the conditions of the DA consent before we have more detail to finalise the build costs.
Once council have approved the DA, we will start to prepare the CC plans.  Engineers will be briefed and a drainage and engineered slab design or footings for the foundations will be produced. More detail is added to the CC plans, finalising levels and double checking schedules. 
Before we lodge the CC plans with our private certifier we will have our builder issue a third costing. It is this costing that will give us the final build costs...well almost.  We still need to have the CC approved and ensure there are no further revisions to the plans required.  
After we have the CC stamped plans, our builder will issue their final tender and building contract. This will be a fixed price contract; however, there may still be a few items that will be ‘provisional’. They are usually some site works, removal of fill and retaining walls.  The builder may mark these items as provisional as they won’t know until works proceed exactly what the cost is. For instance, if rock is hit during the site cut, this will increase the site costs. If the site cut differs slightly to the plans, this may impact on the height of retaining walls.  So these ‘provisional’ items will be charged at actual cost whether it is lower or higher.
So you can see how the build estimate must evolve through the development process and until your development is completed, you really won’t know the exact cost.  It’s important you allow a contingency amount for any variations that may crop up along the way. 
As a developer, you will embark on a challenging journey from start to finish and the path you choose can be simplified with the help of a project manager to guide you along the way.  Always take the time to have full builder’s estimates done at each stage to avoid any nasty surprises. 
<a href="https://www.propertybloom.com.au/">www.propertybloom.com.au</a> 
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A different type of budget talk: The development budget

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One of the joys of my job is listening to people's investment stories - how they've achieved what they have so far and where they are heading.
One of our female clients has six children, is an accountant and owns eleven investment properties after completing two property developments with Property Bloom. To state the obvious, she's time poor, I've written about Rachel in the past...
<a href="/expert-insights/buying/23122-friday-may-31-observer-jo-chivers">How does a mother of six come to accumulate eleven investment properties?</a>
Another client is a family man and fellow soccer coach, man does he loves his football! We met years ago as our sons played for the same club, but he didn't know what I did until he read an article in a property magazine that I'd written. Busy with work, soccer and family commitments and with no development experience, he asked me to manage a project for him. Then he embarked on a long-term holiday; we organised the builder to pre-invoice his drawdowns so we could manage the bank payments while he toured Europe.
Another lovely couple recently completed a three villa development with us, she works at a university and he's an engineer, both highly educated. They referred their daughter, a law (and soon to be medicine) graduate to us for her first property investment - a dual occupancy project. She was our youngest ever client. When we completed villas, the parents signed up for another project; they had little spare time and I think most importantly, we'd earned their trust.
We managed one development for a client who we are very proud to say served our country in the Australian Army in Afghanistan. She was there right through the duration of her development. I really cherished the updates we would get from this lady, when she had email access, and was amazed at some of the conditions she had to endure. No running water for days – how is a girl to wash her hair!  Needless to say, she had important things on her mind and could not have managed her own development from an active war zone. I've written about her story before too:
<a href="/expert-insights/investing/21339-friday-march-15-observer-jo-chivers">Don't let a war get in the way</a>
All our clients are different - they come from varying backgrounds, cultures and employment and we love working with such diverse clientele.  
But there is a common thread I have noticed.
All of our clients are highly driven and time poor.  They are conscious that there is a limited amount of time available in which to build their wealth.  They've told me, that to outsource the management of their property development to someone more experienced and capable was a no brainer. They openly admit that whilst passionate about property development, there is a knowledge gap and for them to come up to speed would take years.
To handover this responsibility to us lets our clients keep doing what they do well, earn a salary to support their financing and spend precious time with those they love.
<a href="https://www.propertybloom.com.au" target="_blank">www.propertybloom.com.au</a>
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Even the most time poor people can create a property success story

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This week I was speaking with one of the land developers we source our development sites from and was interested to hear her say that they’d been told that the NSW state government were currently fast tracking land releases to meet their housing acceleration goals. Music to my ears as we are always on the lookout for good development sites in well planned areas.
One of the most important roles the Department of Planning and Environment is to work closely with other agencies, councils and communities to plan for housing supply and delivery in "greenfield" or undeveloped areas, and "infill" housing in existing areas.
The NSW government has allocated more than $300 million from the HAF in the 2013-14 NSW budget to drive housing growth.
This includes:
<ul>
<li>$141 million towards eleven water, road or electricity projects in Sydney and the Lower Hunter which can accelerate 42,900 new housing lots.</li>
<li>$70 million towards an upgrade of Old Wallgrove Rd in the <a href="https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/StrategicPlanning/Employmentlands/WesternSydneyEmploymentAreaWSEA/tabid/366/language/en-US/Default.aspx" target="_blank">Western Sydney Employment Area</a> to deliver jobs near major housing growth centres</li>
<li>$99 million towards the <a href="https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/StrategicPlanning/FundingPrograms/LocalInfrastructureGrowthScheme/tabid/653/language/en-US/Default.aspx" target="_blank">Local Infrastructure Growth Scheme</a> to assist councils fund local infrastructure needed to support growth above the developer contribution cap.</li>
</ul>
With our focus on project managing property developments in the Hunter Region of NSW, I delved a little deeper into the NSW Planning website which is a fantastic source of information. I wanted to see where the $141 million spend on infrastructure and where the new housing was planned for, although I already had a very good idea.
<a href="https://www.urban.com.au/property-observer" target="_blank">Maitland</a>....it’s one of Property Bloom’s favourite cities to build and invest in throughout the Hunter. This city has experienced solid population growth, has a diverse economy and the planned growth of the city is no secret.  Council has identified several areas for new land release.  It’s an affordable yet established city and benefited from some recent infrastructure projects such as the Hunter Expressway opening this year, a new hospital being announced, road and bridge upgrades and an aggressive planning program to accommodate one of the state’s highest population growth projections.
Maitland’s population is projected to grow by 42% from 2011 – 2031. It’s one of the highest projected growth areas of NSW. The main drivers will be net internal migration from within the state – people moving perhaps from Sydney or other areas and interstate migration. Also from high fertility rates, apparently they make lots of babies there. Actually what that means it that it’s a nice place to raise a family with good schools and facilities. Housing is affordable and there is solid rental demand.
<a href="https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/projections" target="_blank">Check out the website</a>, it also gives you the age profiles of the community, household types and size and my favourite, projected dwellings – this shows the number of dwellings needed to provide private housing for all projected households. This is a fabulous tool and we are using it to understand the local councils and NSW Planning expectations. We can then help our clients develop their property development strategy targeting the right locations for their developments.
Property Bloom project manages villa developments; dual occupancies or larger medium density developments as well as granny flat complying developments. One of the points raised on the NSW Planning website is that in 2011, couples with children were the most common household type in the Lower Hunter. However by 2031, most households will be occupied by couples only or those living alone, together making up 56% of all households in these regions.  Also the 65-84 year age group is projected to almost double in NSW. So the low maintenance villa dwellings that we are producing will meet the demands of this emerging market.
<a href="https://www.propertybloom.com.au/" target="_blank">www.propertybloom.com.au</a>
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Jo Chivers

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