Investing In Study

Newcastle Herald

Wednesday December 21, 2005

SALLY CROXTON

WITH the HSC results coming out last week and the changeover time for university rentals, parents are getting into investment mode. A terrace at Newcastle East and a house at Shortland are among the buys which have gone to parents for their university student offspring. And a large house at Waratah has been bought by a developer who intends leasing it as furnished student accommodation with each room set up individually to provide computer links and desks. The renovated brick terrace at 24 Parnell Place, Newcastle East, was a typical example of today's market where buyers only become interested once the price is competitive. Selling agent Steve Macnamara said Robinson Property took over the listing from another agency about four months ago and the terrace had been on the market for about five months before that. It went on the market in March, priced at $495,000 and by last month had come down to $450,000. The two-bedroom terrace has now sold for $445,000 to a Hunter Valley investor as a pad for his university student son. While the sale price was not what the vendors sought, it was a substantial gain on the $269,000 paid for it in September 2001. Maria Di Claudio of Dowling Mayfield said Christmas/new year was the traditional season for parents to search out homes for their student offspring. She had been showing some Blue Mountains investors around Mayfield looking for a suitable place for their university student son. But in the end it was a just-listed house at 67 Marsden Street, Shortland, that caught their eye. The house, listed by Dowling Shortland, went on the market last weekend at $289,950 and an exchange was expected by the end of this week in the high $270,000s. Then Maria Di Claudio's listing of a five-bedroom brick house at 49 Morpeth Road, Waratah, sold through Leo Della Grotta of Dowling Hamilton for $465,000 for student accommodation.