This is how one of Melbourne's densest suburbs inspired a new approach to building apartments that don't feel crowded.
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.As Sabrina Baker and husband Nagesh Seethiah contemplated buying into Melbourne’s housing market for the first time, they had a few conditions.
With Nightingale – a much-lauded medium-rise community currently growing out of its Brunswick home base – and a state government project called Future Homes, a number of different groups are attacking the problem in their own ways.The building in Kensington where Sabrina and Nagesh live, and the ones that are soon to follow it, represent a new financial model as much as a housing development. It goes by the ungainly name of “build-to-rent-to-own”.
“I feel connected but not obligated to go beyond what I want,” says Sabrina. “You can tap in and tap out if you like. But a kid is already offering to babysit. There’s lots of shared dog walking. People are getting comfortable, parking their bikes in the breezeway.” The model has attracted investments from superannuation funds, including Australia’s largest, Australian Super. The cost to build will be reduced, Daff says, by applying a volume manufacturing model to construction and buying appliances in bulk.
They are built to be environmentally sustainable communities. Residents put down a 10 per cent deposit and buy an apartment at cost price. A studio-style apartment sells for $275,000 to $300,000, a one-bedroom apartment is $450,000 to $550,000; two bedrooms is $600,000 to the high $700,000s, and three-bedroom apartments sell for up to $995,000.Prospective owners apply in a ballot and have their name drawn out of a hat.
The only bath for children is also on the roof, and is first come, first served. Up there is also a vegetable garden, a shared induction cooktop and common room, rainwater tanks, a heat pump for the building and a solar array.Nightingale hosted a balcony disco during lockdown - a sign, its proponents say, of a healthy community.
Those whose circumstances change can rent out their property “as long as it adheres to the spirit of the model and avoids price gouging”, McKenna says. No Airbnb is allowed. The money to build them comes from “impact investors” such as Sefa, superannuation funds and banks. And they are carefully designed by architects to be great places to live. The government architect ran a competition and selected four designs that fit strict criteria including liveability, affordability, quality, sustainability and adaptability – that is, they can be replicated on different sites and scaled all over the city. They are light, bright and naturally ventilated.
In his Future Homes plan, “you are exposed to people seeing you, but in a clever way. It’s privacy that’s acceptable, but bearing in mind you live in a community ... It’s the idea of sharing.”
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