Penrith. Granny flats

With an ever-increasing affordability crisis limiting price growth within the Western Suburbs, property investors have turned to rental returns in order to secure higher total returns, according to a Herron Todd White report. To boost these returns, canny property owners have been investing in older (circa 1960s-1970s) three-bedroom homes on 600sqm to 700sqm of land and subsequently obtaining council approval to construct larger, purpose built ‘granny flats’ in the backyard. In Penrith and St Marys, where this trend is most prominent, the average cost of a property is around $330,000, add $70,000 for the granny flat and around $30,000 for a basic renovation of the existing dwelling and you will just scrape under the $500,000 mark once you pay the taxman.