Neighbours' big payday

Homeowners who band together to sell a mega-lot of land, rather than selling individually, can double their profits

- NICOLA FIELD

There’s a good to reason to be on friendly terms with your neighbours this festive season. They could hold the key to you making a fortune on your home. Property prices have soared in the past two years. But if you want to make serious money selling your home, it can pay to think beyond your own four walls. Banding together with neighbours for what is known as a collective, group or amalgamation sale can mean pocketing super-sized profits.

Three years ago, a group of 20-plus homeowners in the Hills District of Sydney made headlines when they banded together to sell a 1.98 hectare mega-lot marketed as Hillsview Central (more on this later). Around the same time, nine homes in St Leonards, also in Sydney, sold to a Hong Kong developer for an estimated $66 million, giving each owner an average payday of $7.3 million. Melbourne homeowners haven’t missed out on the action. Several years ago, a Chinese developer is believed to have paid more than $4 million for a 1692 sqm site in Bentleigh, created when four neighbours sold together to maximise their returns. At the time, Melbourne’s median home value was around $568,000.

These sales have certainly triggered a trend. Samuel Schumann and James Nixon, directors of Raine & Horne projects, have handled a number of amalgamation sales. “We’re seeing a lot more property amalgamations, especially among the downsizer demographic,” says Schumann. “A couple of people in the same street will band together to sell to a developer, especially if the council allows construction of apartments.”

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