Antony Lawes
Date: March 3, 2012
Source: theage.com.au

Is a house made out of brick worth more than a weatherboard house? That depends on where it is.

As the three little pigs found out, building a house with brick has its advantages.

They are long-lasting (able to withstand plenty of huff and puff), well insulated, easy to build on and good-looking. For these reasons, agents say, brick is the material of choice for many Sydney house buyers.

Perhaps because of these benefits, brick houses make up most of the housing stock in many suburbs - from terraces in Ultimo, to Federation bungalows in Haberfield, to mansions in Darling Point. But do brick houses of comparative size and location command higher prices than those made from other materials, such as weatherboard and sandstone?

Buyer's agent Stuart Jones, a director of Rose & Jones, says most building materials have strengths and weaknesses but are usually only one factor for buyers.

''They probably are going to be more concerned about the quality of the home and the price,'' he says.

Agent Bernard Ryan, a director of LJ Hooker Mosman, says a poorly designed, full-brick house with no natural light will not compare well with one made from other materials but with really good light and flow. ''I've seen that a lot,'' he says.

But what a house is built from does matter to buyers. How much it matters depends on where the house is. For example, in some parts of Sydney, weatherboards are considered a knockdown; in others, they command a premium price and are highly desired.

Inner city

The combination of old houses on relatively small blocks has ensured that the inner city continues to have a higher number of stone and weatherboard properties than most of Sydney. From Paddington and Surry Hills in the east to Balmain in the inner west, these types of houses are common and popular.

The director of Sarah Lorden Real Estate, Sarah Lorden, has sold houses in Balmain for 17 years and estimates most local houses would be brick, ''but not by much''. Occasionally, she comes across a buyer with a preference for one material over another but ''it's never a deal breaker''. ''When people look in an area as diverse as Balmain, it's quite hard to rule out any type of material and it's unusual for people to do that,'' she says.

That wasn't always the case. Some years ago, she says, there was a stigma about buying timber, which was reflected in the gap in the prices between weatherboard and brick houses, ''but that's lessened over time''. Today, there are still some buyers who will pay more for brick houses but there are likely to be just as many lovers of weatherboards who will look at nothing else.

Lorden says many weatherboard houses in suburbs such as Lilyfield also tend to be double-fronted and on larger blocks, which makes them highly prized. The best examples often have internal linings on the walls and ceilings that give them a rare charm that other types of houses don't have.

However, buyers are likely to pay more for sandstone houses, she says, because ''they're beautiful, there are fewer of them and they don't come up all that often''.

Such is the demand for sandstone that prices can be between 10 per cent and 20 per cent higher than comparable properties in the area, depending on the house and the level of interest, she says. ''People who love it, really love it.''

North shore

In an area such as the north shore, brick houses have many admirers, but it has to be double brick. Buyers want to know if they're not and will pay accordingly.

The principal of Forsyth Real Estate, James Snodgrass, discovered this when he was selling a house in King Edward Street, Willoughby. ''When the buyers found out it was single brick, the cost of doing double brick, which would have been another $100,000, was discounted from the end price,'' he says. ''We never expected it because it looked and felt like a double-brick home.''

Weatherboards get similarly short shrift in the lower north, says agent Eve Kay, from Century 21 Resnekov Realty Mosman.

Although there are areas where they are popular, such as Cairo Street in Cammeray, she believes weatherboard homes, when you can find them, are generally cheaper than similar brick houses and are generally bought for their land value.

''People around here would knock down a weatherboard house and build a double-brick one,'' she says. ''They're just not as popular.'' On the northern beaches, however, weatherboards are much more accepted, agents say, and in some parts they are still the dominant style of house.

''When people have a sea change, they want something that is sympathetic to the area,'' LJ Hooker Avalon agent Nina Sokolov says. ''Most of the houses in this area are generally weatherboard cottages.''

Snodgrass says weatherboards have a definite appeal for ''emotional buyers'' - young couples, downsizers - who are generally looking for smaller houses that have lots of character. In Naremburn, Crows Nest and parts of Willoughby, they would be worth anywhere between $800,000 and $1.2 million and, for the right property, could command a premium of up to 4 per cent. ''When it's small and cute, I think it adds value,'' he says. But those with a higher price tag can often be harder to sell and be worth less than comparable brick houses.

This can also be the case with sandstone homes, which are highly sought-after, Snodgrass says, but are often ''problematic'' because of their layout or worries about rising damp.

''It's everyone's dream but then it's something they come back to two or three times and have trouble making work. The dream and the reality can be a different animal.''

East

With some of the grandest and most expensive real estate in the country, buyers in the east want to know they are getting the best materials and, like the north shore, more often than not the material and construction of choice is double brick.

Agent James McCowan, a director Richardson & Wrench Double Bay, has noticed that, with the market slow during the past few years, increasing numbers of buyers are cautious about their purchase and they want to know they're getting something solid. ''When I'm doing open for inspections, people will walk around knocking and tapping on the walls,'' he says. ''I find in our area [that] the quality of the build to our buyers is all about double-brick, solid-concrete construction and solid-concrete floors.''

Others who look for older-style properties are generally more flexible about the build quality and the use of materials, McCowan says. A director at Ray White Double Bay, Elliott Placks, says buyers expect double brick and concrete in houses worth more than $4 million but in ''up-and-coming areas'', where prices are generally closer to $2 million, young families or couples will ''make the compromise of having the brick veneer'' to get a foothold in the area.

Although the east has some of the city's finest examples of sandstone houses, McCowan says they rarely come on the market and usually appeal to a specific type of buyer who is happy to pay a premium for them. For others, stone can be a turnoff because of concerns with its heritage, which can often restrict how much of the house can be changed.

The few remaining weatherboards in the east often have similar constraints, buyer's agent Jones says. In Watsons Bay, for example, which has the largest pocket of weatherboards in the east, most of them are in conservation areas and this has tended to put off some buyers, he says.

McGrath agent Peter Starr says there are those who will steer clear of Watsons Bay weatherboards because they can't build what they want. But he believes they also have a following among other buyers who are attracted to the charm of a fisherman's cottage near the harbour, and this tends to keep their value high.

''[These cottages] would command a slight premium because there are people who won't buy a brick cottage in Watsons Bay, they want to wait for a weatherboard one,'' he says.

Love affair with Lilyfield Bungalow set in stone

Simon Tracy and his his wife, Kirsty Bass, loved their old stone house in Lilyfield as soon as they saw it - so much so, when they got home from the open for inspection they took the contract the agent had given them and threw it in the bin.

''We thought we'd never be able to afford it,'' Tracy says.

The double-fronted bungalow, built from local sandstone, was one of the oldest houses in the street and needed a good deal of work. But the couple, who had one child at the time, had admired the many sandstone houses in Balmain and Rozelle, and knew they were expensive compared with others.

''We didn't go searching for a stone house but it was the one we really loved and we definitely thought because you do pay a premium for sandstone, that we couldn't afford it,'' Bass says.

However, the agent convinced them to turn up to the auction and before long Tracy was sticking his hand up to bid. He kept bidding. The property passed in but he had made the highest offer and the couple bought the property afterwards for $648,000 - with their lawyer on the phone to help them through the contract they hadn't read.

''I think everyone who had seen it felt that it was going to go for too much,'' Bass says.

Now, nine years later, they are as enamoured with the house as they ever were. The interior needs little heating or cooling and the facade has a weathered, colourful beauty they would struggle to find again.

''It has a lovely look and feel, it's a very romantic house,'' Tracy says.

Did the building material influence your purchase decision?

Sandstone

206 Darling Street, Balmain

Asking $1.1 million+

Sold for $1.15 million

Agent Andrew Liddell - Cobden & Hayson

The buyer, Louise Watts, says ''I'd absolutely say that it influenced my decision. When you walk into the front room, it's all sandstone and there is something incredibly inviting about it. I was very lucky because the price was below what I was willing to pay for a new house. The fact that it had the sandstone feature was a huge bonus.''

Weatherboard

88 Taylor Street, Annandale

Asking $1.25 million

Sold for $1,265,000

Agent Ian McPhee - Belle Property Annandale

The buyer, Josie Bryant, says ''No it didn't, actually, it was the location that we wanted and the set-up of the house was exactly what we were looking for, so the fact that it was weatherboard didn't feature at all for us. Interestingly, it was the first thing my parents said when they looked at it.''

Fibro

150 Woronora Road, Engadine

Asking $549,000+

Sold for $587,000

Agent Coleen Bowen - 2233 Realty

The buyer, Kaye O'Connor, says ''We were after the cottage look rather than a brick house. Prior to that we were looking at brick properties, which we weren't really into. We didn't want to pay as much as we would for a brick property … ''

Double brick

9 Sibbick Street, Russell Lea

Asking $1.34 million

Sold for $1.25 million

Agent Michael Tringali - McGrath Inner West

The buyer, Sophie Li, says ''We prefer double-brick houses. If it's double brick it's good, though single brick is OK. We were willing to pay more for double brick if the location was right.''