Green-fingered sellers see home values bloom

A beautiful garden can make the difference between a house selling quickly and one languishing on the market, a neglected, unloved wallflower. But experts say it will also add more to the sale price – often from 10 to 20 per cent more.

Sadly, not enough people understand that, says Joel Bence, director of Commercial Landscape & Maintenance. “A good garden immediately gives a house a nice, attractive vibe and a tidy front garden, rather than something overgrown or with bare patches, is a pointer to a good interior.”

Bence says because Australians love spending time outdoors, especially in spring and coming up to summer, “if a potential buyer can picture themselves entertaining with a group of people in a lovely outdoor setting in a beautiful space, then that’s a massive plus factor for any open house”.

First impressions are key, and the more people there are who like the look of the front of the property and decide to enter as a result, the more competition for the property there’s likely to be, says Christopher Mourd, head of real estate for the LJ Hooker Group.

Buyers are particularly looking for low maintenance gardens, Mourd says. “Everyone’s working harder and wanting more leisure time and, while they want a garden, they don’t want to spend the majority of their weekend looking after it. 

“They also like homes that open up into a garden, with good indoor-outdoor living, or that have that potential … There’s no doubt that the price can be 10 per cent more if there’s a beautifully presented garden.”

While it’s impossible to say exactly how much value a good garden will add since it depends so much on the location, type, style and starting price of the property, and the quality and extent of the landscaping, 10 per cent for a great garden might not be far off the mark, says Kim Quick, residential director of valuers Herron Todd White.

“It could certainly contribute to a person’s decision of its worth,” Quick says. “As well, good landscaping and attractive features with lighting will also put it at the top end of the range of that type of product, because a good garden area will make buyers think the interior is likely to be good too.”

However, some put the value even higher. Sustainable horticulturalist Adam Woodhams, currently selling our cover property, sold his last house six years ago in Mount Colah, near Hornsby.

Apart from the garden he’d put in, his property was identical to that of a neighbour, who was also selling. Woodhams received a 14.5 per cent higher price. “So I know they add on a decent value,” he says.

Matt Cantwell, managing director of landscape designers Secret Gardens, says that after 25 years in the industry, he’s known the extra added to the price of a home to be as high as 20 per cent. “It’s about first impressions, giving a home a good street presence, giving it some sort of intrigue and degree of difference,” Cantwell says.

“Just as people are drawn to greener streets, so they love gardens, especially with plantings separating them from neighbours, providing privacy, some immersion into the landscape and giving shady spots. We have such a fantastic climate here, they also want to slide back their doors and have a fantastic connection to the outdoors.”

We’re all concerned about health too, and if you can grow vegetables or herbs that’s another plus, says Mourd. “It’s the same for apartments. People like balconies with planters or pots and the right aspect to allow things to grow.”

Latest fashions in gardens, Bence says, are outdoor kitchens with marble benchtops, barbecues, a sink and a fridge underneath; as well as fire pits for people to sit around; spit roasts; and irrigation to save them the trouble of watering.

“There’s now definitely much more interest in gardens,” says Bence. “But there’s also, with everyone so busy, much more interest in paying other people to look after them.”

The elements of a good garden

Since the global financial crisis, homeowners are much more keen to add value to their homes by doing work in their gardens, says Matt Cantwell of Secret Gardens. And, if done well, that’s an investment that can pay off handsomely.

1. You need an excellent design to start off with. A good concept plan will cost between $3000 to $8000, Cantwell  says.

2. Consider a quality outdoor entertaining area. With flooring, shade and cooking facilities, that might start at $40,000 and go up to $80,000.

3. Plantings of flowers, shrubs and grass on a standard-sized block of about 300 square metres, including preparation, irrigation and lawns would be $50,000-plus.

4. To have a vegetable garden established would cost from $1000 to about $10,000. A herb garden, $500 to $3000.

5. If you want a pool that will enhance the value of your home, start your budget at about $100,000.

Tropical oasis a selling point

Jim and Valerie Mitchell. Photo: Michele Mossop

When landscape architect Jim Mitchell and his wife Valerie returned to Sydney after a 10-year stint working in Darwin, he decided to create a tropical oasis in his backyard.

With a water feature he brought south with him, as well as all his treasured frangipani, the couple set to work to make their Manly garden a glorious green haven of trees, shrubs and flowers.

“I think a good garden is one of the most important features of any home,” says Jim, 71. “I always used to tell my clients it adds 20 per cent on to the price of a home.

“I certainly think the garden will help sell this house. It’s a tropical little rainforest, a little bit of Darwin in Sydney, and is the biggest courtyard in this part of Manly.”

Jim and Valerie, also 71, who used to work as her husband’s PA before they both retired, first bought their Ashburner Street beach house in 1998, before going to the Northern Territory.

After a beautiful renovation, and with the foxgloves and primulas now all in bloom, they’ve put the four-bedroom, three-bathroom cottage close to Manly Wharf on the market for auction next weekend, with bidding expected to start at $3 million. It’s being handled by Candice Cattell of Stone Real Estate (0417 311 777).

“We’re looking for an apartment so we can lock up and leave it and go travelling,” says Jim. “But we keep thinking the balconies are a bit small. We won’t fit even the staghorns on most of them.”

Feature property

1 May Street, Turramurra
$1.5 million +

The most stunning aspect of this three-bedroom, two-bathroom home on a 1425 square metre corner block of two quiet  cul-de-sacs on Sydney’s upper north shore is the incredible garden that surrounds it.

Created by celebrated sustainable horticulturist Adam Woodhams, a regular on TV and radio, it was designed to provide plenty of great spaces for outdoor family fun, but to be either no maintenance or low maintenance.

With different levels carved out of the sloping block, it has lots of paths for kids to run around and play – with plenty of edible fruits growing  for them to snack on along the way – as well as shady seating and a  barbecue area for adults.

“One area is also almost completely native,” says Woodhams, who bought the house six years ago and is now moving to Queensland. “We also have lots of passionfruit and apple trees, and a vegie garden, as well as a little Japanese garden my young daughter Amber helped to design, so she could remember a part-Japanese schoolmate who went to live in Asia.”

The two-level house itself, with a large home office that could become a fourth bedroom, has potential to be subdivided or redeveloped, with the council indicating DA approval if the right plan is put forward. It goes to auction on October 31 via agent David Walker of Ray White Wahroonga (0414 184 911).

Or try these:

​112 Wells Street, Newtown
$1.8 million 

A pretty, leafy garden with a large alfresco decked area, customised barbecue and a spa is a big feature of this four-bedroom, two-bathroom freestanding house. There’s also a central outdoor courtyard, giving the home plenty of indoor-outdoor space, as well as a balcony upstairs off the master bedroom. It’s for auction on October 24 by Raine & Horne Newtown’s Michael Harris (0406 751 631).

46 Woodford Street, Leura
$850,000 +

Set in glorious gardens, this three-bedroom-plus-study house has picture windows in every room that look out on to flowering plants, trees, rock walls and private pathways meandering through the greenery. To the back in this pocket of historic Leura are two rear decks with flowering cherry trees. Inside, it has north-facing, open-plan living. For sale via Belle Property Leura agent Matt Grima (0400 875 429).

56 Fourth Avenue, Willoughby
$3 million +

Fabulously landscaped park-like lawns and gardens encircle this three-bedroom, two-bathroom house on 1114 square metres of land.  “Brooklyn” comes with an all-weather entertaining area overlooking the garden. Although the home has lots of period features, high ceilings and french doors to the outside, there’s also the opportunity to develop two freestanding residences there. For auction on October 31 via Rawa Norman of Ray White Northbridge (0419 271 655).