A recent study published in Westpac’s What Aussies Look for in a Home report indicated if you want to increase the value of a home by thousands of dollars to make sure you make the sale, basic improvements are what buyers favour. The study emphasized that modern Australian homebuyers want essential amenities provided for and placed a new emphasis on the value of location and the social infrastructure surrounding it.
Some of the most surprising details reported by the study were that Australian homebuyers in Perth were fully prepared to pay an extra $13,600 for a home with a double garage and $23,190 more for a house that had a short commute to work. The report also indicated that seemingly mundane improvements could have a massive impact on the value of the home. Willagee sales agent Siobhan Micale was quoted stating “Simple things, like spending $8000 to replace a carpet, can add $40-$50,000 to a property’s sale price.”
Much of this can be explained by a shift in what Perth buyers placed as a top priority in what they looked for in a home. Modern bathrooms, low maintenance properties, and privacy from neighbours topped the list of what homebuyers considered a priority when looking for a home.
This represents a contrast to what home buyers of previous generations looked for in a home. Assets such as air conditioning or European appliances were formerly used to sell homes in and around Perth, but modern buyers have come to expect those sorts of amenities. Now, homebuyers are much more interested in what sort of community they are joining by moving to a specific area or location, and what intangible benefits they will experience by joining a specific community.
