They are called ‘Pedestrian Access Way’ (PAW) and are generally associated with anti social behaviour due to the fact they are poorly surveilled. Most people want to try and close them, however they provide a necessary access to pedestrians so the reality is they will stay. New subdivisions do not have them as they design roads in a way to provide permeable access throughout an area, and if they do have them, they are much wider and have good lighting and overlooked by adjoining properties.

Property prices are generally lower if located next to one, so it may mean good value for you if you don’t mind it being there, but in the future when it comes to sell it may reduce your sale price as it does put people off.

ROI – return on investment, its a numbers game, especially if you want to sell straight away.

Spend $380,000 plus buying costs of stamp duty 4%, finance fees, settlement costs and you are up to around $400,000, then add the $30,000, you would then have to work out what it would be worth? It would need to be considerably worth more than $430,000 given holding and selling costs and the fact you want to return a profit. In this regard you should check REIWA and RPData for sales history and do your research before jumping in to see if the project stacks up.

You should be able to borrow 80% of the value of the property as long as you can demonstrate ability to service this debt. You should also be able to borrow on the finished development product as well.

Another way to look at it if getting finance is too big of a hurdle is to get your approvals in place and then sell the property to a developer, you can then take the funds and buy another place and end up with a net gain without having to rely on finance to develop.

I agree – there is a huge demand for housing. There is a shortage of supply. Financial institutions are making their lending criteria more difficult and this is not helped by increases in interest rates so quickly after the GFC whilst the economy is still in recovery mode (and temporarily boosted with active Government stimulus making things look better than they actually are). What this does is maintain the status-quo of limiting supply and with the demand I mentioned, pushes up the price of housing. The demand is evident in Melbourne at the moment which is seeing a rapid increase in property values because there are 10 buyers for every 3 sellers (a statistic from Steve McKnight).

Without private investment in the development of new housing and rental accommodation, there would be immense pressure on States to deliver public housing – which is already in a sorry state and there is no budget to properly accommodate substantial increases in demand.

So, in my view, leveraging property is key to the future growth of our nation, however I think what Mr Stevens is getting at, is that investors do need to take responsibility (as well as the banks) to avoid a repeat of a sub-prime like crisis occurring again. His comments is an attempt to control people by using fear of failure as the motivating factor.

No risk, no return.

Infiltration systems only work in certain soils, so thats good fortune that you can do that.

And to Scott No Mates – thanks for the capital letters and bold text, I would have otherwise missed your comments entirely.

To clarify my comments – I was referring to the fact that if there was already an existing stormwater drainage system in place with an existing easement, then you could simply connect into it, but obviously if there is nothing there, then yes you would need the easement and its probably not worth it – it sounds like the house dreamer has it covered now anyway.

RH

Increases in residential density is high on the planning agenda for WA. It is part of the focus on sustainability and reducing impacts on climate change, such as reducing the dependance on private vehicle transport. There is a massive population growth projection for Perth and ultimately the days of sprawling suburbs of large lots of land are numbered.

You should note that the work currently being done on the Canning Bridge Precinct is strategic planning; it is not in itself a rezoning proposal – this will come later once its been knocked into shape and could take some years before being implemented and you being able to develop at the higher density.

Christian

I am happy to contribute to help out on the key elements of town planning and development/subdivision process.

Ryan

If it is R20, then you need a minimum lot size of 450sqm and you must have at least 3m width to allow for an access leg.

You could always ask the agent for the information you are after or engage a town planner or surveyor to do preliminary work to get the facts and see if it will stack in your favour.

Consult the local government if it is possible to subdivide and develop in the first instance.

Allow at least one year for the development and subdivision. Finance can also be difficult so check this out first before jumping in.

You will also have to pay capital gains tax and stamp duty and gst if you want the future lots in individual names, which you should budget for.

I would suggest you read up and learn quickly or engage help if you want to get going now.

Ryan

That sounds good, however, if you have clay soils, then on-site infiltration through soakwells and pits become ineffective as the soil when wet becomes impervious and the water will not infiltrate away. I would suggest you spend some dosh upfront to get an engineer on board or consult the local government to get a better idea to avoid ending up with a nasty surprise.