Group of neighbours in Sydney's Frenchs Forest make $200 million property play

A group of 62 home owners has banded together with big plans to collectively sell their houses for almost $200 million.

Residents in Sydney’s northern suburb of Frenchs Forest are hoping to cash in on future rezoning of their neighbourhood by selling their homes as one parcel of land.

The block totalling 4.3 hectares is situated just 200 metres from where the NSW government is currently building the new Northern Beaches Hospital, which is expected to be completed in 2018.

The consortium hasn’t put a pricetag on the homes but is open to expressions of interest from developers and real estate agents.

David Tomlinson, one of the 62 home owners, said while they haven’t named a specific price, they are thinking “in excess of $3 million” for each house.

With a total of 62 properties, that would put the price tag at more than $186 million.

Mr Tomlinson said they were shopping for an agent who had experience selling properties worth more than $200 million.

The idea came about last year after he and his wife started getting letterbox drops from developers interested in the area.

In May last year they spoke to their immediate neighbours, thinking they might be able to pull a group of six together.

They then organised a backyard meeting to discuss the idea.

“At the first meeting, 22 people representing 17 blocks of land showed up,” Mr Tomlinson said.

“But those blocks weren’t all joining each other. At that meeting they said their other neighbours could be interested too.”

It gradually grew from there. The group received advice from town planners and lawyers and soon grasped the potential of pooling all their homes together.

“We realised the bigger we got, the better it would be for us,” Tomlinson said.

CBRE Sydney’s director of residential developments, Matthew Ramsay, said it’s the largest consortium of home owners he has witnessed in Sydney.

“It’s really big. That will provide developers flexibility with a master plan,” Ramsay said.

Selling blocks of land in a cluster is an increasingly popular option for home owners in recent times.

Just in the last month Ramsay sold a group of 19 homes in St Leonards to an offshore buyer, while last year a record 46 neighbours joined forces in Baulkham Hills in an attempt to woo developers.

While unable to pinpoint a specific price for the entire 62 homes in Frenchs Forest, Ramsay estimated “it could be as much as two to three times their value”.

According to Domain Group data, the median house price in Frenchs Forest is $1.35 million.

Because of the land’s close proximity to the new hospital, it would not only offer the potential for residential development but also hospital-related use, he said.

The 62 homes sit on what has been recognised by the NSW government as a “state significant site” and the council is preparing to release a draft of its Precinct Structure Plan early this year to determine how the land will be rezoned.

“These sites can play a particularly important role in increasing the supply of housing and employment in key locations, and improving housing choice and affordability,” according to NSW Planning and Environment.

Mr Tomlinson said it isn’t a question of whether or not the land will be rezoned, but how it will be used.

“We won’t object to the redevelopment, but we want everyone treated fairly and equally,” he said.

Most of the homes sit on 697 square metres of land, though some are bigger and others have been previously sub-divided. Mr Tomlinson said the plan would be to spread the money evenly across a square-metre basis.

To ensure the entire group had similar expectations, each owner was asked to participate in a survey.

“We’ve only got one person who wants more than $4 million [for their house],” Mr Tomlinson said.

While there are a few other owners who have decided not to get involved, Mr Tomlinson said it’s fortunate their houses are on the fringes.

“Who knows, at this stage we have 62 properties, but we could end up with more.”