Grants spark land rush

Interest in vacant land in the Pilbara has spiked with a local builder receiving $26 million worth of residential inquiries in the last two months. Karratha based building company TIMIK Developments reported 56 inquiries into building houses in the town since the start of June. TIMIK Developments director Kim Janney said a mixture of the State and Federal government home builder grants worth a possible $45,000 along with DevelopmentWA cutting land prices had caused the spike in interest. DevelopmentWA, in partnership with the Sate Government last month announced it would slash the price of 376 vacant lots across nine projects in the Pilbara, including the Madigan estate in Karratha. Madigan Estate had land prices cut by $24,000 to start at $95,000. “When DevelopmentWA dropped about $20,000 off each block, that suddenly got more people interested,” he said. “Most of the people that contacted us wanted to be owner-occupied.” Mr Janney said the lack of houses on the market in Karratha was also a factor in land sales increasing. He said of those 56 inquiries, offers had been made on 15 lots of land in Madigan and Jingarri. “The difference to last year is that people have bought the land, last year they didn’t,” he said. In Port Hedland, Crawford Realty manager Erika Maylam said there were not many established houses for sale in the town. “In South Hedland, there are less than 50 properties for sale, as we clear that out you are going to start seeing more inquiry with land,” she said. Ms Maylam said Crawford Realty had settled three blocks since the beginning of June. “What you will find is the building costs are a lot more expensive than the land itself,” she said. “Having a $25,000 grant on the land is great, but I don’t know if that counters the building price.” Ms Maylam said Port Hedland was getting to a point where a new build would cover replacement costs. “Over the last few years, to build a house would cost more than buying an established one,” she said. “But that is starting to change.”