Purchase or Pass? A 76 square metre $800k garage conversion opportunity in Paddington

Purchase or Pass? A 76 square metre $800k garage conversion opportunity in Paddington
Property ObserverDecember 7, 2020

While it was marketed as being DA approved - with architecturally designed plans - on this week's episode of Purchase or Pass Elizabeth Tilley was joined by Tom Panos of News Limited to look at a unique property that is a lock up garage.

Elizabeth Tilley and Tom Panos discussed the property as a garage, albeit it actually a 76-square-metre residential allotment. 

27 years ago you could have picked up this garage with it’s adjoining four-bedroom terrace house for $122,000 in Paddington New South Wales. Today, just the garage component alone was up for sale for more than $800,000. It has a roller door and no windows and sits on 76 square metres. It sits on it’s own title and is DA approved for a one-bedroom abode. It had inquiries from over 500 people before it sold.

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Elizabeth Tilley: Wow, that is really quite amazing isn’t it? I mean, Paddington is obviously a really popular part of town and getting a park around there is very hard. Really, is a garage really worth $800,000?

Tom Panos: I think if you’re living in a $3 million property and you’ve got a $300,000 car and you want to park it. It probably means to you more than someone who has a cheap car and doesn’t have a $3 million property. We can tell by the number of people enquiring about it, that it’s obviously in demand. So I think Liz it depends on the location, it can effect, parking is a major KPI when people are buying, particularly close to the city where space is limited.

Elizabeth Tilley: How much, just out of interest Tom, can you rent a car space out for these days?

Tom Panos: It varies. I was talking to someone yesterday who’s actually listed out a car space for $130 a week.

Elizabeth Tilley: Really? What area was that in?

Tom Panos: Potts Point. So I think the issue you’re going to have is, closer to the city, the more valuable it is. You know, sometimes though, they could have had, and I don’t know all the details in this. But it could have had the creativity of a real estate agent thinking outside the square saying, how can we actually get the best use and there could have been a subdivision done where they try to capitalize on the best use of the land and by selling the garage separately they get more money.

Elizabeth Tilley: I suppose having a DA approval makes it more attractive?

Tom Panos: Absolutely, takes the risk factor out of it.

Elizabeth Tilley: Alright, there you go. So is that a purchase or a pass for you?

Tom Panos: I would pass.

The median house price in Paddington is $1,352,500, according to RP Data.

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