I just bought, have been looking on and off for 2 years but for various reasons only really been serious in the last 6 months largely due to funds.
Initially budget was $450k, this blew out to as far as $650k depending on the property in the end we bought for $550k off the plan (so no stamp duty plus get $15k FHOG). For this we get a 3 bedroom designer terrace decked out with close to the best of everything.
Mainly glad to just call an end to the BS that is various games developers play with land lotto, ie first to the sales office, first to click submit on a link etc all of which despite best efforts amounted to no results. The Sydney market is utter mayhem no other words to describe it but if you want a place to live and call your own then you have to play along.
Went to plenty of open houses as well for existing properties but in the areas we can afford most were needing a decent amount of work/money thrown at them on top as these are traditionally lower income areas that have boomed so a lot are DIY disasters in terms of the renos that have been completed. In the end the simplicity of paying 10% upfront waiting 18 months and then getting some keys is far more enticing and less stressful. Gives us more time to save by the time we move in we'll only need to borrow around $350k.
FYI this is around 50km from the Sydney CBD but it's where I've grown up and have family and friends around the area so I'm happy to call it home.
