Location, Location, Location + Train Station
Posted on 07 June 2010 by admin
” Location, Location, Location !” You’ve certainly heard this real estate agents‘ mantra enough. Usually, water views, parks, golf course frontage, prestige school could add hundreds of thousands to the bottom line but now a “good location” means being walking distance from a train.
Sydneysiders, it seems, will do anything to avoid relying on the city’s congested roads. UTS property expert Vince Mangioni said transport infrastructure could help values as the price of petrol rose and congestion worsened. “People have to get to work,” he said.
A survey of valuers and agents found being in walking distance of a train station could add 20 per cent to the value of a property, but backing on to the rail line, or facing a major highway, could drive prices down up to 20 per cent.
The median house price for the suburbs of Chatswood, North Ryde, Marsfield, Macquarie Park and North Epping rose by 18.6 per cent in the year to March 2010, above the 14.7 per cent overall Sydney rate, Australian Property Monitors economist Matthew Bell said.
“For units, the rise was 23.3 per cent, well above the overall Sydney rise of 10.4 per cent. I think the unit result is quite striking,” he said. “After schools and security, transport is the most important factor, ahead of shopping, employment and recreation.”
Hornsby’s median price surged from $536,000 to $727,000 in 12 months.
“Hornsby has always been at the fork on the Strathfield line and with the changes in the train line we’re starting to benefit with a lot of people moving into Hornsby,” Laing and Simmons Hornsby director Matt Effenberg said.
source: Daily Telegraph
