Latest news with #OliverHume
News.com.au
18 hours ago
- Business
- News.com.au
$130m project to build 195-home village for over-55s downsizing
A new entrant to the growing lend lease community space targeting downsizers has made a start to a $130m Waurn Ponds project. Oliver Hume's ReGen Living has commenced work on the 195-home project at Hams Rd that will feature a $10m clubhouse, dedicated active sports precinct, health and wellness space, and a workshop adjacent to an edible garden and greenhouse hub. The homes will sit within more than 3ha of parkland, including walking and bicycle trails, playgrounds and sporting ovals. 1960s Highton original gives buyer the chance to unlock value ReGen Living general manager Ashley Duster said changing demographics required a new approach to downsizing for people in the over-55 age bracket. Oliver Hume research shows the population aged between 55 and over 85 in Waurn Ponds is forecast to grow 119 per cent by 2046. Already an older population, more people are expected to consider downsizing options. 'This is a true masterplanned community that puts lifestyle first with best-practice design and a financial model that allows buyers to own their home while leasing the land,' Mr Duster said. ReGen Living chose the Waurn Ponds location for its first project due to its proximity to established everyday amenities, such as shopping centres and services that are ready to use now. 'We spent considerable time researching how people over 55 want to live,' Mr Duster said. 'In listening to these needs we have turned land lease living on its head and will deliver a truly innovative community. 'Homes will be priced to allow local downsizers to release funds from the sale of their existing home. For some people, this means money to travel, buying a new car, or helping out the kids.' Lend lease villages are becoming an increasingly competitive space, with operators involved in an arms race of design features to lure customers. Such as the clubhouse which is designed to offer an indoor and outdoor pool, gymnasium, private cinema, his-and-her steam rooms, wine bar, billiards parlour, a co-working space and private dining room. Tennis and pickleball, a golf similar and sports bar pavilion will be features of the active sports precinct. The nearby Lakehouse Wellness and Creative Centre features a yoga and pilates studio, as well as a creative arts hub. A range of two, two-and-a-half and three-bedroom homes with single or double garages are designed for the community, which can accommodate between two and four cars and contain ready-to-move-in inclusions, oversized storage and private outdoor open space. Two-bedroom options at ReGen Living Waurn Ponds are expected to start from around $580,000, with prerelease purchase benefits available for buyers who register before September. The development comes after Levande submitted $70m plans for a 125-unit retirement village at Highton.
News.com.au
22-04-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Housing affordability: How a change to mortgages could benefit buyers into the tune of $20k
Prospective first-home buyer Sharna Hackett jokes that having a bit more money in her kitty might allow her to purchase a residence with 'an actual kitchen bench'. In 2023, Ms Hackett moved back to Melbourne after securing her dream job as a video manager in the visual effects industry, following years of working overseas in the creative sector. Aged in her 40s, she is now hoping to buy a two-bedroom apartment not too far from her inner suburbs' workplace after spending 'quite a few years' saving up a deposit. Ms Hackett said that if mortgage serviceability buffers were cut – potentially expanding her home loan by tens of thousands of dollars – she might be able to buy in a pricier suburb than the ones she has been looking at, such as Fitzroy North or Westgarth. 'It might mean that I could be a little bit more open to things that are a little bit nicer or, you know, an actual kitchen bench,' she said. Ms Hackett doesn't see herself ever being able to afford a house unless she could flip an apartment for quite a bit more than she paid for it. New data analysed by property sales and research firm Oliver Hume shows there are more than 400 suburbs where the typical household's wage isn't enough to buy there. There are just 36 areas where the local wage would be enough to buy a house with, mostly in Melbourne's outer ring including Wyndham Vale, Mickleham and Cranbourne South. But a Senate Inquiry recommendation to change the rules around how banks lend us money could change the situation in dozens of suburbs — and boost first-home buyer budgets by more than $20,000. Oliver Hume's figures show that a 1 per cent reduction to the nation's 3 per cent serviceability buffer for home loans would be enough to put 60 Melbourne suburbs on the affordable list, based on local incomes. The buffer is set by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and used by banks to stress-test mortgages to ensure a buyer could cope if their interest rate was 3 percentage points higher — which saved many households from disaster as interest rates surged from 2022 to 2023. Melbourne-based Smart Lending director and senior loan writer Melissa Gielnik said that for every half a percentage point cut from mortgage serviceability buffers, about $20,000 would be returned to a home loan – but this would vary based on factors like home prices. Ms Gielnik said that she would like to see Australia's mortgage serviceability buffer reduced to a 2 per cent figure. 'Especially because (interest) rates are on decreasing, we've ridden the wave of the up, now we're coming down,' she said. 'So being on the downward slide, I kind of feel like they could lessen it.' And Ms Hackett said that if mortgage serviceability thresholds were decreased, a new deluge of buyers would likely enter the market. 'My only concern would be, what tends to happen when things become more affordable is prices seem to go up because more people are looking at the same stock,' Ms Hackett said. 'I'm not necessarily sure that it would make a significant difference, because then I would just be competing with more people.' Buyer's agency Cohen Handler Victoria's business director Zac Jacobs said that for some people, cutting the mortgage serviceability buffer would allow them to look at properties and suburbs they wouldn't otherwise consider due to financial constraints. 'I guess our fear always is, does that level the playing field for all first-time buyers and then negate it at the same time?' Mr Jacobs said. 'Because now they can afford by spend between $20,000 more, everyone can afford to spend $20,000 more, the prices go up $20,000. That's the issue I would say.' He added that the having an additional $10,000 to $20,000 could help cover a buyer's advocate's fees too. 'It could help them (a buyer) engage someone professional to help them find the right property, negotiate the property off market, for example, so don't have to compete at auction,' he said.
