Buying land for your new home: Five factors to consider

Many people dream of building their perfect home. However, before you purchase land, there are some important things to consider.

Here’s our top five tips when buying land for your new home

1. Location and amenities

Choosing a block of land requires more than just looking within your dream suburb. Remember to assess availability of basic services like water, electricity, gas, sewerage, internet and telephone. Next, look at your short and long-term needs like access to schools, childcare, shops, public transport, medical centres, parks and so on.

2. Established neighbourhood vs new development

Building in established neighbourhoods has advantages but also delivers a few unexpected considerations. For example, sites that have already been built on may be classified as infill sites. Infill sites can have debris which may increase your building costs. Your builder will also need to avoid disturbance to neighbouring properties and may have restricted access. This will make it more complicated to build on the land. In new developments, these matters are already accounted for.

3. Assessing the site

When choosing your land, there are several things you need to assess before you buy. These include:

• The zoning or any development restrictions on the block
• Ease of access during construction as well as your everyday use once you move in
• The shape and slope of the block
• The location of any trees (or garden beds if it’s an infill or knockdown rebuild block)
• Any easements such as water, sewerage and communication services

4. Build type

What you build could also influence which block of land you choose. Your options include house and land package, project home, custom built home (a one-off home designed and built just for you), or duplex.

5. Look to the future

There may be plans in place to change the look and feel of your preferred street or suburb such as road widening, government infrastructure projects and rezoning applications. These things could significantly impact the future value and enjoyment of your home. The same is true if you purchase land because of the view. You’ll need to investigate the possibility of the view being obscured in the future.

Homes by ZAC offers a wide range of home building options to suit your needs. Get in touch with us if you’d like to start making your dream home a reality.