Why aren't more terrace houses being built?
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday December 17, 2009
The lack of choice available to first-home buyers is dismaying ("Crying poor? Count your rooms and houses, and think again", December 16).One can "buy" an overpriced flat or townhouse and then continue paying rent in the form of continuing strata fees, or alternatively migrate to a ridiculously oversized McMansion in the outer suburbs. Terrace houses occupy a sensible middle ground, allowing ownership of a small piece of land and a small house, and have shown themselves to be extremely popular both here and overseas.Unfortunately for renters such as myself, new terrace developments are as rare as hen's teeth, and tend to be priced well out of the reach of first-home buyers. Suburban consolidation invariably takes the form of ugly blocks of flats rather than usable houses.Given the obvious benefits of this form of housing, I'm utterly bewildered at the dearth of new terrace developments.Suzy Jackson Lane Cove
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald