Planning communities and creating land estates where people love to live

In the search for a perfect place to build your first home, land size is of course an important factor. However, in isolation, the size of a homesite will not necessarily determine its value in the short or long-term future. Luckily for first home buyers, there are a range of options in the current marketplace that will deliver both land size and investment prospects. 

While location and budget are major contributors when it comes to the land purchase decision-making process, few often appreciate the importance of finding an environment that will not merely fulfil the owner’s lifestyle goals, but also increase the value potential of the property for future sae or rental.

Ironically, your dream location might be the best investment you’ll ever make.

By ensuring the home environment appeals to your own personal desires, with features that help it ‘stand out’ in a competitive marketplace, you’re actually giving yourself more flexibility for when life changes might occur in the longer term.

Monument is a boutique land development company that currently has three land options available – each at various stages of development and all with something particularly unique on offer.

Hamelin Park, Secret Harbour

A home by the beach 

What Monument does particularly well is introduce land estates in existing communities. When Hamelin Park was introduced in the established suburb of Secret Harbour, the estate was fast-tracked to meet demand for the land.

Today, Hamelin Park is some 80% sold out and literally surrounded by community infrastructure. As stage three comes on the market, savvy buyers will be able to pick up some ‘ready to build’ titled lots from just $179,000 for 331m2 to $200,000 for 531m2 only 3 minutes to the beach.

Atop, Beeliar

A home with a spectacular view

Located in the established suburb of Beeliar, Atop takes cues from the environment to create an elevated and interesting landscape for your home, adorned with natural materials, walking paths and majestic Tuart Trees.

Atop offers stunning ocean views and has recently completed its first stage of development, which is already 30% sold out in just 2 months. Monument is currently offering titled lots from 410sq.m to 494sq.m priced from $259,000. 

The Wedge, Wellard North

Exclusive release of land 

The Wedge is an exclusive pocket of land located in one of Perth’s most well-located and well-serviced areas. Although it is only in its early stages of development with the release of an initial 17lots, the homesites are larger than the market norm, and are located within private estate full of lifestyle features and adjacent to a nature reserve. Construction works are underway and Stage 1 titles will be available mid-2019.

Monument prides itself on its capacity to deliver a well-considered development design that introduce something unique and special into the marketplace. What that means to first home buyers is an enhanced future resale or rental prospect that also ticks any personal lifestyle goal you might have.

Working in close partnership with Western Australia’s leading first home buyer project builders also means you can get access to home packages tailored to your specific needs.

To register your interest for any of the above opportunities, visit www.landbymonument.com.au or call Damyn Strang 0434 070 654.

Without question, making sure you dive into the current market before prices begin to rise should be a top priority for first home buyers, but it’s also about finding a personal lifestyle fit.

Looking for a location with well-established community infrastructure is often more important than the size of land itself. Smaller more boutique developments can sometimes see greater price growth into the future than much larger projects on the outer regions, even when they may initially appear more price competitive, make sure you do your homework on the area.

It is also important to understand how much you can borrow and your budget. Working closely with a mortgage broker can quickly provide you these answers and the right loan for you to get into your dream home easily.

Home building industry veteran Garry Brown-Neaves has emerged as a major investor in M/Group’s Beeliar subdivision, pre-sales of which were launched last month.

Mr Brown-Neaves and his family have taken a 60 per cent stake in Atop, attracted by the location and character of the subdivision as well as it being an infill site.

Mr Brown-Neaves established his family office Brown-Neaves Investments (BNI) in 2016 when he sold his interests in ABN Group, the second biggest homebuilder in Western Australia.

A Business News 40under40 winner in 2007, Lloyd Clark founded M/Group, formerly known as Match, in 2001 as a boutique apartment developer, before branching out to comprise real estate services, construction, maintenance works, and land development.

John Wroth, a former executive at ASX-listed property developer Port Bouvard, joined M/Group in 2015, and heads the group’s land development arm, Monument.

Atop is M/Group’s second subdivision, following a 67-lot estate in Secret Harbour, which was released late last year.

Mr Clark said the investment by Mr Brown-Neaves was testament to the quality of the Beeliar site.

“While we had already identified Atop Beeliar as a quality opportunity for development, BNI’s investment really highlights what a special project we have on offer,” he said.

“We welcome Garry’s experience, knowledge and input into the project.”

Atop is located along the Western Trade Coast, a land corridor forecast to generate more than 11,000 jobs through a $2.3 billion government injection into road and rail projects, including Metronet.

A local structure plan approval has been granted for 171 residential lots across the 11.8-hectare land parcel, with the release of lots expected in four stages over the next two to three years.

The estate will also include integrated parkland and the preservation of a number of established tuart trees.

Blocks at Beeliar range in size from 217 square metres to 630sqm with prices expected to start at $245,000.

Mr Brown-Neaves said he was attracted to invest in the Beeliar site because of its location and character, the available views, and because it was an infill site with nearby access to Fremantle and Cockburn.

“All my (Perth) assets are spread across the metropolitan area, and a lot in the greenfields,” Mr Brown-Neaves said.

“When this opportunity was presented to me I thought it could be considered an infill development and we were keen to get on board.

“It’s in a location we don’t have any assets, it is an infill site and it has unbelievable views.

“It’s a beautiful bit of land and we considered it a good investment and a project we wanted our name attached to.

“It is a good project in so far that it has a varied product to meet a range of customers. Some of the smaller lots will give people with smaller budgets the opportunity to live in this area.

“It is important to us to do quality investments and continue along the same lines as I had in the building industry.”

Mr Brown-Neaves’ family investment company has an interest in more than 4,000 lots, mostly in Western Australia, but with some exposure in Brisbane, Cairns and Melbourne.

“We like to have between a 15 per cent and so per cent share,” Mr Brown-Neaves said.

“John Wroth brought the deal to us. We go into business with people we believe are trustworthy, and we certainly believe in John and Lloyd.”

Bulk earthworks have been completed at the site, retaining walls are under currently construction and pre-sales have commenced.

Despite Mr Brown-Neaves’ experience in residential building, he said the developers were open to using any and all builders at Beeliar, with a focus on good design and good value.

Mr Wroth said despite current weakness in the metropolitan property market he was confident the Atop development would be well received.

“Atop is being developed as an infill site, which means it is prime land that has simply never been available to the public,” he said.

“The lots are being released as buyer confidence returns to the land market and demand is beginning to soak up existing land titles.

“In this climate, we are likely to see developers push the urban boundaries further from the city to meet demand, which is in contrast to Atop’s offer of premium land in an established and sought after location, with jobs and infrastructure already in place.”

– Peter Kermode, Business News (5th November 2018)