so lets take the average new suburban development and strip out the costs on a price range of 3 bed to 4 bed with double garage lets say on the fringes of the major city.
well in my area for a fully integrated home with shopping centres,footpaths,schools,community centre,underground power, treated water supply for the garden,public transport nearby that would run into 389k base to 489k on a block range from 450 - 550 sq metres [naturally there are more expensive homes],but just for the purpose we use these.
now to reduce costs we strip out all govt charges,approx 60k, underground power we leave that,footpaths however become a local council cost,along with sewerage and water,the community centre will also be local govt,the schools state govt if and when they build one,the shopping centre will be a separate development with land set aside only and treated water for gardening will be a user based cost for connection etc.
kerb and guttering along with anything more than rudimentary drainage will be a state or local govt cost.
so lets have a look at what we have,-60k leaves a range of 329-429k but wait there are more initial costs to strip,of course they will be future costs.
lets say sewer and treated water connection and supply reduce costs by an average of 12k,the range then is 317-417k,the kerb and guttering and associated draingage say another 9k per block [naturally in the real world these costs will vary] but anyway this brings it down to 308-408k,
the issue i am trying to raise is all the infrastructure that is included in the price,if it were not included at some point you would have to pay to get kerbing or guttering or a community centre,its all very nice comparing average cost of this country or that country but i have yet to see any article showing the comparative ongoing cost of ownership ,in australia we have land and water rates,power and sewerage costs,and in the case of a new subdivision thats it.
some years ago i had a brief discussion with a yank who lived on i think it was Jersey Island or some similar familiar name, at the time we were discussing the value of fibro homes in blacktown about 300k at that time and the cost of ownership,now the yank said his home was valued at that time at around 650k us$ HOWEVER THE ONGOING COST OF OWNERSHIP WITH COUNTY ,STATE AND UTILITY COSTS WAS AROUND 17K US$ A YEAR i dont know of any home in australia with that sort of cost base, and i can only begin to imagine what costs might be like in a country with infrastructure that is evolving from 150-300 years of dense development like new york or paris,kuala lumpur,london.
if labour costs go up so does everything associated with a green field or infill project,if they take away all the govt charges we will only foot the bill as a different form of tax.
all this complaining about the cost of instead of the benefits we receive,the benefit of planned communities of one cost burden the purchase price,while eveyone is contemplating this suburban dream just imagine the cost of building a 200sqmtr home on 100000 hectares in rural australia with all the appropriate sewerage drainage,power connection paths and driveway [mind you the driveway might be in kilometres] you wont get very much for 500k that for certain
