real estate South Coast Property Specialists (Carlene Franzen) Tips #1081: Tasmania’s Tiny Transformation – A Lesson for Other States? One of our staff has a particular interest in watching television Vol 16 September 15th 2017 shows that27th are2018 “off2017 the grid” constructions and shows involving 28 April December 7th, Vol 48
people who are downsizing into a tiny home. Tiny homes are an interesting concept that hasn’t really taken off in Australia, however Tasmania is looking to change all that for a very specific reason, to ease the rental availability issue.
As everyone is aware, the Covid 19 pandemic has placed unexpected demands on our property sector. House prices are booming, rental markets are very undersupplied and housing affordability is becoming a major concern for both the state and federal governments. Locally, we have seen the difficulty for tenants finding a new rental when the property they have been living in has been sold. Several months ago, we reported that in some locations (eg Byron Bay), long term locals who have rented for many years are being forced to relocate to other towns due to both the lack of rental properties and the natural increase in rental costs brought about by the short supply. Tasmania to the rescue! The Tasmanian government is providing property owners a grant of $10,000 if they build a granny flat for the purpose of renting it out for at least two years. The program aims to support the construction of ancillary dwellings as a way of adding extra living space to an existing property and providing more rental accommodation in the market. They have made the program wide reaching by making it available across the state to homeowners, companies and trusts that hold residential property. Michael Ferguson, Tasmania’s Minister for State Development, Construction and Housing said: “This program will help more Tasmanians add additional living quarters to their home, and support those looking for somewhere to rent.” The new builds must meet the specifications for an ancillary dwelling, meaning that they are self-contained additional living spaces with a floor area of up to 60 square metres. They can be detached or semidetached (such as sharing an outside wall) or an internal part of the home. They also must share amenities like access and parking, water, sewerage, gas, electricity, and telecommunications connections and meters with the primary dwelling. We believe the program that is open until the end of June, is a very interesting model that could be worth considering by other states (eg NSW). It provides an incentive for homeowners to add living space to their property, business opportunities for the building sector and most importantly real hope for rental tenants to find affordable accommodation.
beagle weekly : Vol 244 January 28th 2022
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