City Futures Research Centre

KNOCKDOWN-REBUILD IN SUBURBAN SYDNEY

Renewal, Reproduction,

McMansionisation

Research team

Bill Randolph Simon Pinnegar Rob Freestone Ilan Wiesel Andrew Tice Crystal Legacy ARC Discovery, 2010-2012

‘Knockdown – rebuild’

Knockdown-rebuild (KDR): Demolition of an older single-household detached dwelling and its

replacement with a new single-household detached dwelling

Aim

to better understand owners’ motivations to reinvestment in ageing, low density housing stock through ‘knockdown and rebuild’, and the implications of this particular form of housing reinvestment/development

Analytical perspectives

• Housing reinvestment and suburban decline and renewal

• Middle-suburbs / Greyfields

• Suburban gentrification

• ‘McMansions’, ‘Monster homes’

Methods

• Survey of Development Applications in Sydney 2004-2009, from 29 councils - over 6,800 DAs for KDR identified

• Mail questionnaire survey of households - 1,200 (17%) responses

• Follow up interviews with 30 residents, and 10 builders and planners

KDR Scale and geography

• 30-35% of all new detached houses in greater Sydney (close to 100% in some LGAs)

• 10-15% of all new dwellings (30-35% in some LGAs)

KDR scale and geography

Category Local Government Area (LGA)

Total DAs for KDR 2004-

2008

Proportion of total detached

dwellings

Affluent middle-ring

Woollahra 147 2.5% Waverley 145 2%

Ku Ring Gai 616 2%

Lower income middle ring

Auburn 233 2% Bankstown 627 1.5%

Fairfield 353 1%

Inner-city City of Sydney 31 0.1%

Outer ring Hawkesbury 41 0.02%

Camden 21 0.01%

KDR owners

The uncoordinated agents of suburban change: • Nuclear families

• 66% couples with children

• Affluent • 35% over $200k annual gross household income • 41% $100-200k

• Gen-X • 64% heads of households born 1961-1976

KDR owners

Motives to pursue KDR: • Second or third time home buyers – desire to upgrade • Desire for modern, larger dwellings • Older dwellings seen as ‘hopeless’: too small, obsolete design,

asbestos. • KDR better value for money than renovations • Ability to build ‘my own home’, ‘dream home’ • Desire to stay in the same area, same lot: attachment, social

networks, lifestyle, access

KDR owners

29%

66%

Within Sydney

Same Suburb orneighbouringsuburb

Interstate

Origins of KDR households:

KDR homes

Before

After Ryde

Before

After

KDR homes

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

Bedrooms Bathrooms Living areas Off-street parking

Before KDR

After KDR

159m2 337m2

KDR homes

Bankstown

KDR homes

KDR homes: life-style and investment

This is infinitely larger than I imagined but then I always figured on a block of this size, to under-utilise the site would be crazy in an area like this (Peter, Avalon)

That's purely for resale value because three bedroom homes don't sell

anywhere near as well as four and five bedroom homes (May, Ryde) Honestly, we could've done probably with a ...three bedroom house

because there's only two of us but ... if a family moves in here - and it's a family-orientated area - you've got children (Ian, Randwick)

KDR homes: Lifestyle and investment

It's nice having your own space. Sometimes my husband comes home from work and I'll have dinner, and he'll still go sit upstairs and eat by himself because we'll be doing homework and he wants to watch TV and the kids are getting distracting ... I don't think we're selfish. Everyone's got their own movies, and you can watch your own stuff. It's just nice not being on top of each other. (Adele, Randwick)

I don’t mind staying inside this house day and night because it’s like it’s big ... I sort of walk around and it’s not that - I don’t feel boxed in. Once I retire like I’ll spend a lot of time inside that house and I’ve got room to move (Doug, Bankstown)

It's made us a little bit more homebodies I guess. Rather than having to

get out on a weekend, we now - we don't. (Ian, Randwick) Fantastic, unbelievable…were able to see for Christmas Eve, 48 people,

sit down… just to show that you do need the space and the comfort. (Roberto, Randwick)

KDR homes: Lifestyle and investment

KDR homes: Lifestyle and investment

Probably a third of the house is not utilised enough (Terry, Ryde) You got more space, you think of things to fill it up with (Melanie, Ryde) Those rooms… they sit idle, very idle (Gerald, Ryde) The most difficult part is the maintenance.... At the moment we are

lucky, we get cleaners to do the work. (Pradip, Bankstown)

KDR homes: Sustainability

• Minimal, often reluctant, compliance with BASIX • Energy reduction through modernisation, passive design of homes

(positioning, bright coloured roof, insulation, eaves) • Energy increase due to size of dwellings • Loss of private green space in the suburbs due to increase in

dwelling site coverage • Reproduction of low-density suburban form:

• Missed opportunity for higher-density development; • New generation of owners seeking to ‘protect’ their substantial

investment from urban consolidation

KDR impact: summary

Urban - Renewal of ageing housing stock - Reproduction of low density suburban form - Changes to ‘character’ of middle-ring postwar suburbs

(McMansionisation) Social - Declining housing affordability - Increased mismatch between housing stock and demographics - Lifestyle changes: privatism - Generational change in postwar suburbs

Cont’ next slide…

KDR impact: summary (cont’)

Environmental - High energy consumption in larger homes (despite modernisation

and BASIX) - Loss of private green space Economic - Boosting housing industry activity - Housing transactions exempt from stamp duty, capital gain tax - Speculative development

KDR and planning

Despite urban, social, environmental, economic impacts… • Flying under the radar of strategic planning (“Zero contribution to

dwelling targets”) • Increasing disengagement from statutory planning (complying

development)

Publications list

Journal articles Legacy, C., Pinnegar, S., Wiesel, I. (In press) Under the strategic radar and outside

planning’s ‘spaces of interest’: Knockdown Rebuild and the changing suburban form of Australia’s cities, Australian Planner.

Pinnegar, S., Freestone, R. and Randolph, B. (2010) 'Suburban reinvestment through knockdown rebuild in Sydney', in M. Clapson and R. Hutchison (Eds) Suburbanisation in Urban Sociology, Volume 10, 205-229.

Randolph, B. and Freestone, R. (2012) Housing differentiation and renewal in middle-ring suburbs: The experience of Sydney, Australia, Urban Studies.

Wiesel, I., Pinnegar, S., Freestone, R. (2013) Supersized Australian Dream: investment, lifestyle and neighbourhood perceptions among ‘knockdown-rebuild’ owners in Sydney, Housing, Theory and Society, Online access pre-print.

Wiesel, I., Freestone, R., Randolph, B. (2013), Owner-driven Suburban Renewal: Motivations, risks and strategies in ‘knockdown and rebuild’ processes in Sydney, Australia, Housing Studies, Online access pre-print.

Publications list (cont’)

Conference papers Legacy, C. and Wiesel, I. (2012) Knockdown-rebuild: Where is it on the planning agenda?

6th Australasian Housing Researchers Conference, 8-10 February 2012, Adelaide. Pinnegar, S., Freestone, R. and Randolph, B. and Wiesel, I. (2010), “Suburban

reinvestment through ‘knockdown rebuild’ in Sydney”, ENHR, 4-7 July 2010, Istanbul. Tice, A., Pinnegar, S., Wiesel, I. (2011) Knockdown-rebuild in Sydney: addressing

household and place in a study of residential choice and local change, State Of Australian Cities Conference, November 2011, Melbourne

Wiesel, I., Freestone, R., Pinnegar, S., Randolph, B. (2011). Gen-X-trification: The replacement of housing and residents in ageing neighbourhoods, State Of Australian Cities Conference, November 2011, Melbourne,

Wiesel, I., Freestone, R., Pinnegar, S., Randolph, B., Tice, A. (2011), Knockdown-Rebuild: Drivers of reinvestment in low-density suburban housing, World Planning School Conference, Perth, 5-7 July 2011

KDR homes: ‘Monster homes’?

‘Mere Mansion or Monstrosity’ North Shore Times, 28 January 2011

‘Tell ‘em they’re dreaming ... Of the Taj Mahal’ Sydney Morning Herald, 28 May 2011