5 hours Ago By Dennis Family Homes
In today’s market, when considering a renovation or move, interest rates and construction costs are crucial to prevent budget overruns and ensure long-term home value. Where Victorian homeowners once preferred to let values rise passively, today’s homeowners must actively ensure their homes maintain financial value. Technological advancements have radically transformed how we create value in properties compared to a few decades ago.
Living in an older, drafty home may simply no longer make financial sense, and with energy costs having risen an average of around 63% in the past decade, efficiency has become a critical factor. A brand new home means a fresh slate from a renovation and maintenance perspective. But aside from energy efficiency, technological advancements have significantly impacted the building and construction sectors in a wider sense – which has impacted homeowners.
These include: However, buying a new home isn’t the only way to upgrade your living space and enhance investment value. An increasingly popular trend is to knock down and rebuild your home, letting you stay in your local community without having to leave behind schools, friends, and familiar places. Tearing down an old house and building a new one may sound like a lot, but with the right team by your side, it's usually easier than you think and comes with plenty of perks.
Here's why a knockdown rebuild could be the right option for you in 2025: Life changes, and people often find that their once-perfect home no longer meets their needs. "A key reason people look at knockdown and rebuilding is that they've outgrown their existing home," explains Richard Hee of Dennis Family Homes. "They may need an extra bedroom or two and/or want an open plan.
“There's that attraction to finding a design that suits their current and future requirements." People may want a new home, but do they necessarily want a new postcode? According to Richard, often not: "One of the biggest reasons for doing a knockdown rebuild is people love where they live. “They don't want to move into a different community.
“Whether it's tied to current work, the location and travel, the kids' schools, or family and friends in the area, they don't want to move away from that." People may also have a block of land next to a key feature like the beach, where the location is too good to give up. "That's when they start looking at knockdown rebuild designs as a way rather than searching for an already established home and having to pay stamp duty,” Richard adds.
A knockdown rebuild is a great way to maximise the value of your land. Quality homes with modern features and floorplans have higher capital value than others in market. According to realestate.
com.au data, median Australian property values have risen by 33% over the past five years*. Melbourne metro homes have increased by 16%, and regional areas by 30% during the same period.
In the 2024 context, modern, updated homes continue to outperform older homes. This is because new homes, with their modern updates, are much more appealing to buyers due to their improved functionality, contemporary design, and updated safety standards, all of which boost their market value. "We know many people are looking at buying older homes simply to do a knockdown rebuild in some areas for that reason,” Richard says.
"In some cases, a rebuild has doubled the value of equity in a property, and rebuilding with extra bedrooms and bathrooms will add value too." Richard adds that an experienced knockdown rebuild company like Dennis Family Homes "can help identify the best design for your land and budget,” which will maximise value. It's hard to find an established home tailored perfectly to your lifestyle and needs, so people choose this option because they can create their ideal home.
Whether you dream of an open-plan living space, eco-friendly features, or indoor-outdoor living, you have complete freedom in layout, style, and functionality. Richard explains customers can choose any design from the Dennis Family Homes range and tweak it to their style and needs. Starting at under $400,000, they have the flexibility to add new features and create a dream home exactly how they want it.
When doing a knockdown rebuild, you may be able to finance the project using the equity in your land. "It may be a little bit easier with the equity that people have built into their existing property to fund the build of a new home on that property, rather than needing to sell and have that factored into a new budget that they've got to work with," Richard says. This can mean a call to the bank to change your existing loan rather than finding bridging finance or taking out a new loan.
You also don't have to pay real estate agent selling fees or stamp duty which can often be in the tens of thousands of dollars. Older homes often have little to no passive heating and cooling design, poor insulation, outdated appliances, and no solar. "A lot of older homes don't even have an energy rating, they don't even have proper ducted heating and in summer, a lot of the older homes can get very hot," Richard says.
Complying with higher requirements around efficiency, new homes are much more comfortable to live in. However, it's a government requirement that new homes be built with a 7-star energy rating, which means increased levels of insulation, better glazing, careful consideration of window placement and sizing, and smarter floor plans, all of which will reduce the cost of running a home. You also can ensure your home is better placed on the block, ensuring that it faces the right direction for sunlight and that the living spaces are in the right place for maximum enjoyment.
People often consider renovations as an option, but this can usually lead to unforeseen expenses, especially if the home's structural integrity is compromised. Renovations may also uncover problems that cost more to fix, and you're constrained in what you can do. Richard explains that a complete knockdown rebuild eliminates the "uncertainty.
" “You can plan around a new build rather than the surprises, limiting the likelihood of budget blowouts.”.
