Knockdown rebuilds vs. renovations
There's been a significant increase in the time it takes to build a home, according to REA Group Economic Analyst Megan Lieu.
“Recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that average build times in the 2024 financial year were 13 months for houses, 16 months for townhouses, and 33 months for apartments,” she said. “It takes four months, almost 50% longer to build a home now than in 2020.”
At the same time, the cost to build a new home reached $465,000 at the end of December 2023, after jumping 41% over four years, according to Oxford Economics Australia. Meanwhile, homeowners invested $11.4 billion on alterations and additions in the year to June 2024, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
If you’re weighing up whether to do a knock-down rebuild or a renovation, here are the pros and cons of each option:
- Knock-down rebuild: You can customise and modernise the house from top to bottom. But building from scratch is a more protracted and expensive process than renovating.
- Renovating: The process is faster and cheaper. But a half-old-half-new home can feel disjointed. Also, you may uncover costly problems – such as poor foundations or substandard wiring – during the renovating process.