Neighbours join forces to sell homes as $60m “super site”

It’s no longer a seller’s market, in Sydney at least.

So what do you do, if you want to sell up?

A clever bunch of home owners from Baulkham Hills in Sydney’s western suburbs, think they might have the answer.

Rather than flog their properties individually, a group of 26 neighbouring homeowners have come together to create a 26 hectare “super site”, which they hope will sell for more than $60 million, reports Domain.

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The hope is the super site will be rezoned as high density living area, making it more enticing to hungry property developers.

“I don’t think we’re greedy, we just believe it will probably give us the best opportunity,” said Baulkham Hills homeowner Ann Papas, whose relatives own the neighbouring block.

When she and her relatives planned to sell their homes together, they approached other neighbours to see if others were interested. And it snowballed from there.

An explosion of apartment developments in the area, installed alongside residential houses, have pushed locals to sell up – a trend which is occurring all across Sydney.

“There was [medium density] zoning, and as soon as a walkway was put in … it took just five minutes to walk to Stockland [Baulkham Hills Shopping Centre], so we knew if it wasn’t us eventually an amalgamation of sites would happen,” she added.

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With median houses selling for $1.15m in the area, together the 26 properties could fetch more than $60m, experts estimate, with home owners pocketing at least double what they would sell individually.

Even though there are two homeowners on the Baulkham Hills block that have not yet agreed to sell up, Papas and her neighbours are optimistic developers will have an interest in the site.

“We’re all pretty realistic that this process isn’t a short one,” Ms Papas said.