Owner of Helensburgh land you can't build on makes $50K profit

The property at Lot 9 Wagonga Road, Helensburgh sold earlier this month.

The 923 square metres of vacant land had a price guide of $90,000.

Read more: 7 Illawarra homes you can buy, live in, and earn an income from

Selling agent, Mattias Samuelsson from Ray White Helensburgh said he couldn't disclose the sale price, but CoreLogic records show it sold for $80,000, after 61 days on the market.

The property's marketing noted that the land can't be built on with its current zoning.

Mr Samuelsson said it was sold to an out-of-area buyer who had bought it for one of his children, in the hope the property would be rezoned at some point in the future.

"Land in Helensburgh generally has been selling for... A nice, flat residential block has been selling upwards of over $800,000," Mr Samuelsson said.

"So if the zoning was to change, it would be a nice windfall."

The land previously sold in February 2018 for $30,000.

Mr Samuelsson said these types of blocks were typically bought as "speculative investments" in the hope of a future rezoning.

Records show the previous block of land to transact on the same street was 20 Wagonga Road, which sold for $80,000 in July 2021.

Perhaps buyers are willing to try their luck with such "speculative investments", due to reports of vacant land remaining in short supply outside the region's growth corridors.

Property valuation and advisory company Herron Todd White's region director Chris McKenna said urban development in the Illawarra is significantly constrained by its geographical attributes, with the escarpment to the west and ocean to the east.

He said there are a number of identified growth areas for new housing.

"The majority are within West Dapto, Calderwood, Tullimbar, Shell Cove and Kiama," he said.

"Demand for land in these new estates is largely driven by the unavailability of land elsewhere in the Illawarra, along with the other property market factors.

"Vacant land opportunities outside of these areas are very rare so if your dream is a new home, your options are usually to buy and build in a new estate, or purchase an older home in an existing suburb, knock it down, and rebuild."

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