THERE ARE GAPS IN HOUSING AFFORDABILITY

‘The renovators delight’ - This housing model involves purchasing a Torrens title house that requires maintenance work. The sale price of which will typically be around 20% (if not less) than the sale price of a habitable house on an equivalent site and location. This significantly increases affordability, especially for first home buyers. With the bare necessities, the new home owners can save the funds needed for the future needs of the space.

There is no ‘renovators delight’ equivalent for entry level and new strata title housing, creating an impenetrable gap in housing affordability for most people, who are financially disadvantaged.

THE CONCEPT - FIRST FRAME HOUSING

‘A blank canvas’ - The concept of the First Frame Housing entails that the prospective owner will be able to purchase a concrete shell apartment with all the essentials of services and access. The apartment building itself will also include the appropriate services throughout. With a ‘blank canvas’ unit, any possible configuration is possible and available to the new homeowner, to suit their needs and unique lifestyle.

THE BUILDING DESIGN

To facilitate the changes, the concept entails that the building will be designed to hold a separate construction entry and loading area for the construction materials to be delivered to site and for outgoing materials to be easily transported out of the building. This system will involve two lifts: the first being the general access lift, located at the front of the building; and the second lift being the trade lift located at the rear. This ensures that day-to-day activities of the residents and others, like cleaners and maintenance staff, are not interrupted, inconvenienced and, first and foremost, that safety is not compromised.

During the initial period, when the occupants are ‘camping out’ , they can utilise the common toilet and kitchen facilities that are located on each level.

The purchaser agreement will include a 2-year time frame in which to complete their unit. When all the units are complete the trade pathway will be dismantled. The split lift car will be made into a larger lift car, and the trade path converted into a dedicated bike ramp. The shared communal kitchen and toilet, on each level, can be optionally utilised by occupants so they can reduce the bathrooms in their unit, and maximise their living floor area. There will also be the option for a dual key setup, with a separate bedroom utilising the shared facilities. While this can be a controversial topic, the well designed dual key apartment will facilitate a better outcome for the ‘shared economy’ and different avenues in an otherwise restrictive housing landscape.

Each unit consists of a fire and acoustic separated shell, with all essential services and utilities neatly running through a fixed fire rated services box of each floor of the building to service each unit. Within each unit, the services and plumbing will run through a false floor system according to each of the occupants needs. Whilst giving homeowners the freedom and flexibility in organising their own layout to their current lifestyle, this configuration also provides residents the option to easily remodel at any point in the future, without the need for strata approval. The layout eliminates construction disruption to other residents in adjacent apartments and cuts down on the time usually taken to renovate.

FINANCING, MARKET ADOPTION

The main driving force of this concept, is to significantly lower the ameliorate the financial obstacles for the potential homeowner. This model seeks to primarily benefit first-time home buyers and make entry into the market, easier. With the First Frame House model, the purchaser will save money on the initial purchase price and gain any market increase of that unit, that would otherwise be missed were the purchaser wait to save the money. This concept is based on a 2-year period in which to complete the interior, but the purchaser can do this in their own time and build up the savings without the increased pressure in the normal market setting.

This concept model also eliminates costs that would otherwise only help to inflate the overall price of the property. As part of the exploration of this housing affordability model, we have undertaken a preliminary costing analysis of this concept on this site, i.e. Comparison saving between this concept Building Shell and a standard Apartment Building (these numbers have been based on a 2-bedroom apartment of 80m2) :

Base building shell – developer cost saving = 15-20% cost saving
Base building time to construct – developer time saving = 20% time saving

Purchase Cost / Unit - 10% reduced price
(this is based on the assumption that the developer will maintain a typical profit margin)

Real estate advice has indicated that there would be a market for this type of unit, at that price reduction. Developer advice has indicated that this is a developer feasible model. This main unknown barrier which needs to be investigated is the standard bank valuation method and their willingness to lend on this model.

Attractiveness of this model to prospective purchasers include;

reduced entry level cost,
Affordability in highly sought after areas, i.e. ‘worst house on the best street’,
Uniqueness of the apartment model,
Potential to customise the unit to exactly their requirements, in their own time, by themselves, and as their needs change,
Community of people who are willing to ‘build their own space’,
Flexibility to spend as little or as much as they desire on their space
Flexibility of the unit layout over the life of the building, able to accommodate transitional living,
Flexibility of the unit layout to livability and transition to reduced mobility/disability.

REGULATION AND PLANNING – THE BARRIERS

Regulation

There is currently no regulation or planning framework in place, through which to enact this design. A two stage process will be required through which to activate the occupation. The building will involve an approval to construct a ‘Boarding House’, they will be very large (80m2) rooms with shared facilities on each floor. The purchase agreement will be to own a share in the Boarding house building. The Development approval and Construction Certificate will be split into 16 stages (reflecting 16 units). As each unit is completed the Construction Certificate will be modified to a Staged completion of a Strata Subdivision unit. At this point each unit will have become a traditional strata title apartment.

Planning Concessions

The floor to floor heights are 3.6m per level. This is larger than standard heights and as envisaged by the current planning controls. There will need to be height concessions from the Council regarding the overall building height. The two stage model for building regulation will need to be supported by the Council in the zoning, height, and building compliance.

First Frame Housing - Housing Affordability Scheme

THERE ARE GAPS IN HOUSING AFFORDABILITY

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