How to find a break in the traffic

Spring is here, the Sydney real estate market is heating up and no properties offer better value for money than those in the heart of the action.

Many buyers won’t consider properties on main roads, deeming them too noisy and exposed. But others, like 29-year-old software sales rep Fernando Zamudio, view them as opportunities too good to be passed up. Zamudio has just purchased his first house, a five-bedroom unrenovated terrace on one of inner Sydney’s busiest thoroughfares: Cleveland Street.

“I am not worried about the noise,” he says. “That was something I knew would mean a lot of people would avoid the property.”

Zamudio bought the house with an offer of $825,000 – a price that would have got him far less in one of Surry Hills’ quieter streets.

Century 21 agent Roshan Amarasingha says that for the same type of place a few streets back from traffic, Zamudio would have had to pay upwards of $1.1 million.

A quick sale

The house barely had time to settle in the market, selling to Zamudio just a few weeks into the campaign.

This is not unusual in a market as healthy as Sydney’s is right now, says an agent at Raine and Horne Five Dock, Sam Varrica. Two weeks ago he sold a three-bedroom semi on Lyons Road, Russell Lea, that had been on the market for three days.

“Main roads aren’t worrying people at the moment,” Varrica says. “They offer an entry into the market and that’s always been the case. If a buyer has a budget but wants a certain type of house or to live in a particular area, they will compromise in some way.”

Conversely, when a market is tough, Varrica says, main-road properties can be difficult to move.

The amount of discount that buyers will get on main-road real estate goes up in a slow market, says the director of property valuers Dyson Austen, Simon Feilich.

“When you enter a weak market and buyers poke sticks at places, then a house in a secondary, or non-prime, position will be more heavily discounted than other sectors of the market,” he says.

Discounts to expect

A director at BresicWhitney, Ivan Bresic, says there’s no question buyers will get better value for money on a main road than a quiet one.

“The discount in price can vary anywhere from 5 to 25 per cent, depending on the road … and variables like demand and supply,” he says. “But if a suburb performs well over a 12-month period, whether the house is on a busy street or not, it will be affected the same.”

Quiet, please

Many things can be done to lessen the impact of traffic: double glazing, fences and trees all help to reduce noise and increase privacy. Redesigning interiors so living areas are at the back can also improve the appeal of a house on a busy road.

Sometimes, a council will come to the party by reducing speed limits, widening footpaths and nature strips and even, as happened on inner Sydney’s Moore Park Road a few years ago, by laying noise-retardant bitumen.

Unfortunately, a City of Sydney spokeswoman says the asphalt’s effectiveness diminished quickly.

“The council’s investment in planting street trees was more successful,” she says.

Good timing

Sometimes, planning decisions or rezoning can boost the value of properties, as happened on inner Sydney’s Crown and Bourke streets after the Eastern Distributor opened.

“Had buyers researched the Eastern Distributor, they could have made a very wise investment,” Bresic says. “They went from being two of the busiest streets in Sydney to two of the most in-demand. The traffic died down, they became two-way and there was also a gentrification of those streets.”

Home owners on sections of the Pacific Highway in Roseville and Lindfield recently had the opportunity to make some healthy profits when parts of the highway were rezoned to medium density.

“Thanks to the rezoning, many home owners had developers knocking on their doors and a lot of owners made a killing,” says a Ray White agent, Robert McElhone.

“In Sydney, density is going to keep increasing, so for people who own properties on main roads – subject to the proximity to infrastructure – there is the potential to one day be zoned to allow you to build three-storey units and the value will go up by a minimum of 50 per cent.”

Road with a view

The fact that a house is on a main road can be counteracted by a fabulous location or spectacular view. “Look at Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach,” Feilich says. “It’s noisy as all hell and people love it. It has some of the most expensive real estate in Australia…

“Similarly, for a view of Rose Bay and north across the harbour, New South Head Road in Rose Bay and Vaucluse is one of the best spots.”

Long-term dividends

Zamudio plans to renovate his home and hold on to it for the long term. “It has a lot of potential,” he says. “I also think it has good future prospects. It’s very much like a village around there and one day light rail may come in and that would reduce the traffic.”

Sound investment

When Ben Hassell, his brother, sister and parents all moved from a quiet Paddington street to busy Moore Park Road nearly seven years ago, he says they didn’t even notice a difference in noise levels.

“We spent most of our time out the back and it’s well blocked off from the noise because there are tall houses on either side,” the 29-year-old says of the three-storey, four-bedroom terrace house that backs on to Leinster Street. “That worked both ways because it kept the noise in when my brother and sister and I were playing music, too.”

Ben’s mum, Narelle, says once the family had moved — from Paddington’s more prestigious “harbour” side — she regretted having listened to detractors who had warned her not to even consider looking at houses on the four-lane road.

Ben, who works for an audiovisual company, says he and his brother, John, 21, and sister, Hannah, 28, used to enjoy hearing sports fans cheer from the SCG or SFS and musicians doing soundchecks and then playing at Centennial Park.

Now that all their children have moved out of the family home, Narelle and her husband, Neil, are looking to downsize and their house, at 356 Moore Park Road, will go to auction with Bickmore-Hutt Realty on October 23, with a price guide of $2 million.