Property, Straight Up
Property, Straight Up
Melbourne property is confusing enough without someone making it more complicated. This podcast tries to do the opposite.
Hosted by Mel Dennis and Warwick Brookes — buyer's and vendor's advocates with thirty years on both sides of the Melbourne market — each episode tells you what's actually going on. Market movements, suburb spotlights, auction tactics, off-market opportunities, buying and selling strategies. What's working, what isn't, and what we'd do if it were us.
Mel and Warwick also sit down with people who know this market from the inside — agents, brokers, builders, planners, economists, developers. Not for the talking points. For the real conversations that don't usually make it to the listing description.
Whether you're buying your first home, selling the family house, or figuring out your next move — this is Melbourne property, given to you straight.
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Property, Straight Up
The Planning Changes Reshaping What Your Property Could Be Worth
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Most property owners have no idea what the planning controls on their land actually allow, or what they could allow in the future. In this episode of Property, Straight Up, Warwick Brookes talks with Laurie Rigoni, founder of Terrain Consulting Group, about the planning reforms reshaping property value right across Melbourne.
Laurie explains the 70/30 housing split, the 60 activity centres changing density near you, what rezoning to housing choice zones means for height limits, the December 2024 car parking changes, and the new canopy tree rules catching owners and developers off guard.
Connect with Laurie Rigoni, Terrain Consulting Group
https://terrainconsulting.com.au/
Property, Straight Up is brought to you by Domain & Co, Your Property People. domainandco.com.au
One thing I've learned after nearly 30 years in property is that behind every property transaction there's a story, a big decision, and often a lot more emotion and complexity than people expect. This podcast is all about giving you access to the people, insights, and strategies behind smart property decisions so you can make better moves, whether you're buying your first home, investing, selling, downsizing, or planning your next step.
SPEAKER_03Welcome back to the Melbourne Property Brief with Warwick Brooks. Today we're diving into the world of town planning and development and more specifically, the major planning changes currently reshaping Victoria's property landscape. Because whether you're a homeowner, investor, developer, or someone simply considering your future options, understanding planning controls and what may or may not be possible on a property can have a huge impact on both the value and opportunity. I'm joined today by Lorenzo Ragoni from Terrain Consulting Group. Laurie has more than 35 years experience in urban and statutory planning and has worked across residential, commercial, and industrial development throughout Victoria. Through Terrain Consulting Group, Laurie and his team work closely with property owners, developers, architects, councils, and investors to help navigate planning approvals, subdivisions, rezoning and development opportunities. With so many planning changes currently happening across Victoria, I thought this would be a really valuable conversation for anyone wanting to better understand where things are heading and how these changes may impact property owners moving forward. Lurry, thanks so much for joining me.
SPEAKER_02Thanks, Warrior. Pleasure to be here.
SPEAKER_03So Laurie, how did you first get into town planning and what drew you to the industry?
SPEAKER_02Well, I've always had an interest in geography and society and how those areas form our cities. So it was a it was a logical career path to get into town planning.
SPEAKER_03So after more than three decades in the development industry, what do you still enjoy most about your work?
SPEAKER_02Well, town planning is a very multidisciplinary profession. Every day is unique. No day is the same, whether it's for the first phone call, the inquiry, there's always an interest there. And the way I see it is what we do in our profession, we we can make a difference because it's looking at making our cities and our towns a a really good place to live.
SPEAKER_03So for for people who are listening, hearing the term town planner may not fully understand what that role involves. How would you explain what you actually do?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, town planning is one of the few professions that actually has a lens to the future. So we look at demographics, we look at population growth, we look at the analyse of the economy, mindful of the politics of the government, close to legislation and policy and all those population chains, look at architecture, and that all forms in terms of what a town planner does. So it's quite multidisciplined. It's an old saying that a town planner knows a bit about everything.
SPEAKER_03So what are you some of the misconceptions people have around town planning and development?
SPEAKER_02Probably the main misconceptions is that they're wary about when they hear the word town planning and they need to apply to council for a town planning approval. The town planning system is very complex, but if you have the right team around you that can navigate through the planning policy and the provisions, then you there's no reason why you can't get your project or development or your whatever you're proposing through the system and approved.
SPEAKER_03So people often underestimate how much planning controls can impact the value or future potential of the property?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. It's often what you don't know is what you should know. You know, it could be something as simple as people may have a a parcel of land of a particular size that don't really realise its full potential because it may be in a growth area. Or they may have a large parcel of land but it's got a single dwelling covenant on the property which would limit development. Um or more recently, with the changes that the Victorian State government's introduced, they have land, whether it's commercial or residential, whereby there's a rezoning either proposed or has undertaken that has a zoning uplift so they can do much more on the property. So having um an insight in terms of what you can do on the property currently, but also more importantly, what is a future plans, a real insightful piece of knowledge.
SPEAKER_03If people are looking to buy a property and they might be wanting to develop it, or they're buying a family home that they want to extend, how important is it that they speak to someone like yourself before they buy?
SPEAKER_02Well, from a pre-purchase advice, I give a lot of advice to um buyers' agents and vendors' agents. The way I look at it is that speaking if there's any query about the development side of what you do on a property from a town planning perspective, um, that's your insurance pre-purchase. You wouldn't drive a car without insurance, and it's the same thing I think as part of your due diligence. Why wouldn't you get, as part of the due diligence, some planning advice of what you can and can't do on the property? And that could be the difference of whether or not you purchase the property.
SPEAKER_03There's obviously an enormous change happening in Victoria in the planning system. What are some of the biggest reforms currently taking place?
SPEAKER_02I've often said when I do do presentations that I've been doing this for 37 years, and this is the biggest changes across the Vic government in the last 30 years. So the emphasis the government now has is on a 70-30 spit, 70% of housing, and they want in the established metropolitan area, 30% on the growth areas. What the government's also done is they've rolled out housing expectations right across the state, not just metropolitan, Melbourne, metropolitan focused. So each council has higher housing targets that they're expected to achieve by 2050, and also regional Victoria, even the small towns around the state. The other major change that's occurred is the matter of focus on activity centres. We've got 60 activity centres that the government's rolled out, and in those areas there's a lot more multi-level apartments, mixed-use developments, and also development on the fringes that there's expected of change. So there's a lot, there's a lot of change. It's in the winter.
SPEAKER_03So those new activity centres. So for somebody who owns a a block of land that's now in that area, what does it mean for them?
SPEAKER_02You could have a property in the general residential zone. This is what's a typical zone in Victoria, or perhaps the neighborhood residential zone. The general residential zone has a three-story height control, 11 metres. In those areas surrounding the activity center, within about an 800 walking distance, those residential zones are e-marked to be rezoned or have been rezoned already to what's called housing choice transport zones. In the first 400 odd metres, they become housing choice transport zone one. So what was a three-story height limit, perhaps 11 metres, like a flats, perhaps, double-story home. There could be anywhere between four to six stories if the land is large enough and you'll do about a thousand square metres. If it's less, it's about four. If you go a little bit further out in the neighbourhood residential zones, which was only two stories, nine metres height, same um uplift. Um their default height is now three stories. And if it's a thousand square metres, four stories. So not just the activity centres that core, but also the residential areas the state government's identifying and has rezoned land to facilitate a lot more development. And uh that this is right across um metropolitan Melbourne.
SPEAKER_03So out of those kind of areas that you've seen, are there areas that are kind of taking off more than others?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so in in terms of strategically, uh they're mainly focused around the train stations, the rail corridors. There's a lot along the southeast rail corridors. There's less so in the northern parts of Metro Melbourne. But the corridors such as um Heatherton, Oakley, Nunawadding, Ringwood, Campwell Junction, Q Junction, even though it hasn't got rail, it's identified as one. There's just a few that comes comes to mind. But there's generally on the the rail corridors on the southeast and the northern areas. That's they're the focal. The government does have maps on their um on their website where you can find exactly where these corridors are located and where the zones apply where you can focus on potential opportunities.
SPEAKER_03I find it interesting. The you mentioned Q. So there's a lot of development happening here. The old Vic Road site. The Leo supermarket is another big one that's happening. So they're they're pushing a lot of big developments into that location that already has traffic issues. Are they taking into account cars when they do these?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's it's an interesting observation. I mean, there was a change that happened on the 18th of December last year, suffice to say, was somewhat unexpected in the industry, whereby government legislated and changed the car parking provisions, which effectively, in many cases, halved the rate depending on where you're located. So in those activity centres close to the trains and really well serviced with public transport and amongst the commercial areas, it's not unusual that you would possibly find for apartments, for example, zero car parking. The view is that you use the trains, you use the trams, you use the bus network more. And as you go further out, the rates would modify. But even then for a townhouse development, pre-18th of December, it was two spaces for a three-bedroom townhouse, one space for a one and two-bedroom. Now it's simply 1.2 spaces per dwelling, in some cases down to one. So and they've also removed the notion for visitor parking. So it is interesting, and the the what the way the government's looking at is to promote development to make it cost effective on the basis that it's walking distance to the public transfer system, we don't have to provide as much parking.
SPEAKER_03It's going to be interesting in the inner city locations for those the older houses that don't have parking already, where getting a park at night time can be a challenge. Once these get built, um, what the impact is going to be at night time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you're right, Warwick. And it's I I suppose the market will determine if you've got apartments in the inner city where parking on a street is competitive. But if none of those apartments have car parking, then it may well be that the purchase of those apartments, a particular market wouldn't have a vehicle. You'd rely on the public transport bicycles or perhaps the go-get share car scheme. So I th I think that's a philosophy and theory by the government. I understand that, but we'll see what occurs when they roll out.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, well, we all understand the government's theories and philosophies don't always align with the real life. But yeah, I think it's going to definitely increase the value for houses with car parking, because it's going to make them more and more in demand in those locations.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's right. And we look, we're we're telling to our clients when the regulations came in the 8th of December, we put it to them that your project, whether they're warehousing or commercial or residential, the rates are now not as significant. But we put to them, whilst you could perhaps only put one space per dwelling, you need to ask yourself, but what's the market asking for? Well, and many of them are still providing more car parking than what the rates would indicate. But time will tell what the market would adjust to.
SPEAKER_03And I think with these new changes and people not knowing most people won't know that these changes have happened. They won't know the potential of their land. And when they go to sell, most real estate agents actually don't understand it. And all they put on their advertising copy is STCA and do go and kind of if you want to have a look in it. Do you think for people wanting to sell, it's worthwhile kind of doing a bit of research so that they can actually say or know what their site is capable of and provide that to the real estate agent to say, look, you can do this with this site?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. And look, we often speak to technically um vendors' agents and we encourage real estate agents that if if time allows and the vendor wants to get a premium price and petition for the property, there's no harm at all value adding to the property. So um if it's a case that one can obtain a planning permit, four or five townhouses on a property, or or just simply a dual occupancy, or value at a property through a an apartment project, then put it on the market. Well, you don't have to say STCA and the advertising board, you can say prime development site in the middle of an activity centre or a pristine street, or plans and permits approved for four dwellings or five dwellings. So yeah, I often say think about value adding if the opportunity arises that um we can assist with that process.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think one of the most important things is the whole what how many can you put on a site. Because that's one of the most confusing, especially when we're looking at sites for clients, kind of and we use programs like Archistar, they're kind of a little bit hidden-miss. But yeah, understanding okay, what is the true potential of that site can make a big difference to the offer you make and ultimately if that's going to be a profitable exercise for you.
SPEAKER_02That's correct, yeah. Yeah, but and it's what snowing's on on the property. You know, you know you you need to look just beyond the size of the land and the width of the property. You need to look at the slope of the land, you need to study the title, are there any easements, are there any covenants? And particularly these days, with um legislation was introduced last October, I think governments increase the emphasis on tree canopy and vegetation. Yes, okay. Yeah. Um so we need to be mindful of that. So if you've got a large tree on your property, one can't assume that um you can remove that tree. You should need to get it surveyed and get an arborist table look at it. The challenge is how can you do that before the purchase of the property?
SPEAKER_03Yes. Trees are the bane of my um property searching existence. We always do an aerial look and then we do a street view, and sometimes we can't get a clear picture. So we drive out there and then we look at it and go, no, they're not gonna get that through. So I think another big thing that's kind of happening is the government are trying to get things faster through the system. Because councils are notoriously slow. What changes are they kind of implementing there?
SPEAKER_02Years ago, if I look at private building surveying, for example, in the 90s day, they privatized it. So you didn't have to go to a council building surveyor, you could go to a private building surveyor to get your building. Now it's not at that position yet. But what the government has done is they've made the regulations, particularly from a housing perspective, a lot more prescriptive. What they've done is they've removed the notion of neighborhood character. So a lot of the delays at councils used to be quite subjective. We want a setback here and a recess there and a colour of a wall there and a different type of material and et cetera. That's all removed now. So influence that council offices have on neighbourhood character by legislation is now removed. That's all being done to make a more efficient build. If you build ground floor, first floor on top of each other, it's more efficient than low-bearing beams with the recesses. What they've also done is they've introduced the notion of deemed to comply provisions. What that means is if you design a development to particular provisions, in the case of three units plus, whilst you need a planning permit, when it's advertised if there were objectors, the objectors can't take that further to the tribunal. In the case of two dwellings on a block, the mixed mart provisions we introduced in August 25. That all means is that if you design the two dwellings or two lots subdivision to the deemed to comply provisions, the relative clause 55 for multi-units or clause 56 for subdivision, whilst you need a planning permit, it's actually exempt from public notification. There's no third-party involvement. And the provision therefore says that by legislation, regulations indicate the council should be issuing that two dwellings on the block under VIX mail or two lots sub under 10 statutory dates. So when I mention that, it surprises a lot of people. I mean, I've got an old saying, you can go to Europe and back, and by the time you get back, you could have your planning permit in your mailbox, so to speak. So that that's unheard of. That was now the last time there was something similar to that would have been in the early 80s where we had as a right dual occupancy, we didn't need a permit. They haven't gone that far. But the interesting thing is that uh yeah, the 10th statute, so we're getting a lot of the a lot of interest and a lot of activity for that those type of projects through our consultancy at the moment because it gives people certainty.
SPEAKER_03When you mention they've taken away the character, do you think that is going to have a negative impact on and the councils were strict to try and make it look, in their opinion, better for the area? Do you think relaxing those rules is going to be a negative in some for some developments in from the perspective of surrounding people?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, look, it's a it's a really good question. And when the provisions and remove enabled character was first announced in March 25, the whole industry was asking that question. And I suppose time will tell. One would think if there's a developer or investor putting two, three units or ten or twenty on a block, they will design to what the market response would be. And it's fairly competitive out there. So one would think that the architects in association with the developer would design something that they're proud of. That would be the expectation. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I mean you go to certain locations around Melbourne and the townhouses all of the same.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's right. And look, and and probably some of the smaller projects, perhaps not with the most skilled designer, or perhaps the developer that is really cutting courses, yeah, budget conscious feasibility. Yeah, corners will be cut. Um and look, there will be those circumstances, but I would hope, and you have to have faith in the market. The market will determine what actually works and what doesn't. And those mistakes wouldn't be repeated.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it will be interesting because now that there's forcing investors to just buy new builds, it will create a demand for the people building the lower quality investment stock. So they may not have to react to the market as much because they won't be selling to homeowners, they'll be selling to investors. But we'll see how that kind of pans out.
SPEAKER_02I've thought a lot about this for the last couple of weeks since the federal budget. And on one hand, I was thinking if developers weren't building because of construction costs the week before the budget, why would they build now? But I've been thinking lately, perhaps the incentive of negative gearing with new dwellings, investors may then gravitate to that new stock.
SPEAKER_03Which is going to be significantly more expensive than it used to be. So it's Yeah, I think it's going to have a negative impact of what the government's wanting to do. It's going to push the price of all new stock up, which is going to make it harder for people to get into housing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and the the big unknown is what impact will it have on the rental market? Because if landlords are divesting because of land tax and that's what's happening, and landlords aren't buying existing stock post federal budget because the negative gearing benefits aren't there, um, what does it then provide the opportunity for renters and supplies? So it's a concern.
SPEAKER_03Inner city renters are going to be slugged with higher rent and um more competition. So you I'm gonna jump onto clause fifty-four and fifty-five for a second. Can you explain the challenges around these clauses and why they're important?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so clause fifty-four, you'll hear them from town planners and architects and designers. 54 deals with single dwellings, 55 deals with multi-dwellings, they're two or more. Both clauses still have matters related to overlooking, overshadowing, setbacks, open space, etc. Hand in hand with that, a lot of those provisions have been tweaked and they're not as stringent. But the common thread between both of them is as I mentioned previously, neighborhood character has been removed. The only exception would be if you're in a heritage area. If you're in a heritage area, the barbell is still as high as it's always been. And there's a fine balancing app between achieving what you want to achieve for your first floor extension to accommodate the family V meeting, the setback provisions and sight lines from a heritage perspective. But heritage matters aside, neighbourhood character in both instances is the major change. And as I mentioned previously, the the deemed to comply provisions whereby third party involvement is limited. They could still object, but they can't take the matter to VCAT, which therefore means that if the they can't take to VCAT, there's less appeals by objectors, and therefore there's more circumstances if a planning permit would be issued at council rather than a notice of decision and go through nine to twelve months through the tribunal process. So definitely in my experience, our office and across the industry, the the cases at VCAT has dropped significantly because of these provisions. And that's a good thing because that gives certainty for people developing sites. Objectors, it may not be a good thing because their involvement is less. So again, like you said before, Warwick, we'll see what happens once they're built in the next year or two to see what the outcomes come through.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, well I just want to jump back to trees for a sec, because as I said, they're the bane of my life. So for somebody who's owns a site that has the potential, that they're living in it, they're not planning on selling, but does have the potential in the future to be something. And they have trees on their block that may not be At a size now that is a problem. But in 10-15 years, when they might want to sell it, they will become a problem. From your perspective, are they better just to get rid of them now?
SPEAKER_02Um, yes, if they can. And I say that because a lot of councils had already for many, many years, vegetation controls. They call vegetation protection overlay or significant landscape overlays. And they tend to be those councils just on the fringe with a lot of vegetation, which makes part of the environment. That's why the people buy these. There are some councils though that didn't have any controls that they introduced local law, local tree laws. And there was their vast way of getting some control on trees on properties which weren't subject to town planning controls. And they generally related to the height of the tree and the width of the canopy. In those local tree law circumstances, unlike town planning applications, where if you disagree with council, you can take it to the tribunal, contest it with arborist evidence. Tree laws, it's council's arborist, they assess it. If they're of the view that it should be kept, you can appeal internally back to council. Reassessment, if they say no, then that's really door shut. I think you could appeal to the Supreme Court as a means. So you need to be mindful of trees, what actually laws apply to the property. In October last year, there was a significant amendment, again, which caught the industry and the community by surprise, and that was introduced of um clause 5237. Can it be tree provisions? What that means is if you've got a large tree within the first six metres or rear 4.5 metres, and that tree five metres in height, four metres in width, and a diameter width at 1.4 metre in height, I think it's the order about 500 millimetres, that needs a planning permit. So when I tell people that if you own a property, you now have a tree control on your property. If you have a tree on the property, be mindful and go out and measure that tree. If it's five meters or higher or four metres wider, you need a planning permit. The legislation's worded in a way you can't even trim that branch down back to make it less than four metres. So that is a one hand's given and one hand's taken. One hand, the state government is increasing, decreasing the red tape to increase yield and opportunities for development. But on the other hand, they've introduced these vegetation tree controls, which is a barrier right from the outset.
SPEAKER_03Does that also apply to non-native trees?
SPEAKER_02Any tree. So if you've got a five point two-meter lemon tree in your backyard that picks it up, it doesn't distinguish. So then you've got to do the assessment, and then your arborist, the council's arborist, would consider well, is that 5.2 metre lemon tree provide any arbicultural value? You normally think it wouldn't, unless you're working making a lot of lemon cakes. Yeah, so that is pre-purchase, that's the unknown. If you're lucky enough to get a long settlement, you get a surveyor and do an assessment with an arborist within the 30-day campaign, that'll be that'll be ideal. Otherwise, um yeah, you need to do as best as you can to make a call on them.
SPEAKER_03So you've represented clients through VCAT and planning disputes for a lot of years. What are some of the biggest reasons projects run into trouble?
SPEAKER_02It's when we engage at the 11th hour. The architects, the designers run it through the system without a planning consultant. They've got the bucket load of objectives. It's going to a council meeting. By the time that occurs, it's probably a bit hard to retrieve and put it back on deck. Or we will get engaged after council has refused an application. So then go into VCAT, it's putting it back. We might need to revise plans, we make amendments through the tribunal process. Invariably there'll be costs associated with that, calling evidence, whether they're traffic engineers or agriculturists or heritage architects, and go through the tribunal process. So the message we give when we run applications through terrain consultant group, there's very few matters that go to the tribunal because we're involved at the early stages. We really work the process, we work with the council officers, we'll come within compromises but still meeting the clients. Brief, our work at the tribunal tends to be if we're not involved in that process. So thus I think the message is get your town planning consultant involved as early as possible with the planting application.
SPEAKER_03And so obviously you deal with a lot of this and architects and builders. Do you have contacts for that you know are reliable and quality?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, look, we we do work for probably about 40 odd architects across the metro area, architects and designers. If someone approaches and they don't have an architect designer, we can match them with someone that would suit their personality type and also their type of proposal. We have architects that bespoke residential additions, those that do commercial development and those that do townhouses. Also, um we've got a very wide network of sub-consultants, as I mentioned, heritage, arborists, landscape architects, traffic engineers, environmental sustainability consultants, lighting consultants, all consultants are coming to the pitch depending on the proposal. So people we've worked with, people that are renowned and reputable within the industry.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think there's gonna be with the whole negative gearing, I think there's gonna be a lot of people who are gonna start going down that path of buying an existing house and straight away getting plans and permits for side-by-side dual lock and building where they might have land banked it for quite a few years. I think this is going to now just push a lot of those people to go, okay, well, this is I want to keep the negative gearing, I want to have all those benefits, I'm just have to get through that project now. So it's gonna be really interesting to see how that kind of because we've had a few of our clients already pivot to us to say, because we were essentially looking at good sites to land bank, and now they're saying, okay, well, if we can't land bank, let's look at something that the house is ready to go now, and we'll just do it straight away.
SPEAKER_02And look, and that's the objective from a national perspective, the federal the tax what the what the federal budget from last week is all about, increase housing supply and provide the opportunity for to people buy into the market. So if you've got one house on a property, you put two or three or four, there's a net increase and rewarding those buy those homes that can still negative gear.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, well, I think the interesting factor will also be I d I I'm not sure if they're gonna be a lot of these guys are gonna be selling them because negative gearing is gonna be so the ability to have it is gonna be so powerful. And if you can keep it in a good location and not be pushed to the outer suburbs to have to get it, it might just rent them out long term.
SPEAKER_02Could be, yeah, that's a good point, which therefore means that if it doesn't go on the market, those first-home boomers or those uh those upsizes or downsizers may not have the opportunity. Look, it's what I've learned over the years that the planning is very apolitical, and when a government introduces new legislation or in this case taxes, we really won't know the outcome until years down the track. So uh it look, it's good there's been debate going on, but we'll just have to wait and see what it all means.
SPEAKER_03So to looking ahead, what do you think Melbourne's property landscape is going to look like in the next 10 to 15 years if what they're wanting to do and these planning reforms continue?
SPEAKER_02It's gonna be a lot taller, Warwick. It's gonna be a lot denser. There'll be more modern buildings, more innovation because characters being removed. As you touched on before, I think there's going to be more traffic and parking unless everyone moves away from the use of vehicles. But that's all dependent on the public transport system, of course. Our cities will be more dynamic because with this increased population, there's increased activity. So it'll be interesting how that I'm hoping will have a positive impact from a commercial sense, from an economic perspective. I do wonder though what impact it will have on the rental market, whether the rental market they'll just simply get priced out of the market because construction costs are quite high. So I think there needs to be some tweaks definitely by the government at state level and federal level to address all the taxes, fees and charges, to address construction costs, give opportunities for apprentices to get into the system, give some incentives for developers to build on properties. And a developer can be someone that just does one house at the backyard. It's not the stereotype multi-level apartment. And also the banking sector, I'm here, I'm speaking to a lot of bankers. I had a meeting with a banker from a big four yesterday, and they're just risk-averse to lending to anything other than extending your home and buying your home. So that the banks need to come on to enter the party as well to keep to lower the interest cost and lowering the lessen the barbell for the funding arrangement. So a lot of things have to happen. I think that just that needs a drive, firstly federally, but also a stake up as well.
SPEAKER_03So kind of to finish up, if somebody owns a property and has never looked into the planning potential of their site or or even if they're looking to buy one, what's the first thing you encourage them to do?
SPEAKER_02Speak to professionals, speak to trusted buyers agents, vendors agents that have a lateral strategic view about the property market, engage with town planners. All means call council and have a discussion and speak to them about what does this own mean, what this policy means. But also supplement that with speaking to a consultant, because a consultant would give some lateral strategic thinking as well. Yeah, and just just be mindful that what you see isn't necessarily what the obvious situation is. And as I said before, look at the cities in a future lens, because there's a lot of change occurring. I I mentioned a number of my seminars in my 37 years doing this session, it's the biggest changes I've seen in 30 years. And the other one observation is for the first time in those 30 years, the opponent, the property owner, has the power, so to speak. Whereas until March last year, it was the council and the objectors told you what to do on the property. They still have their say, but the influence is very much lessened. So if people are wary about buying land to develop, you don't have to be. There's some real opportunities out there. And um, there's more and more opportunities that'll come about as well.
SPEAKER_03I think what's really clear from today's conversation is just how much change is happening in the planning space right now and how significantly it could shape the future of Melbourne property. Whether someone is buying, developing, investing, or simply wanting to understand what may happen around them in the years ahead, planning is becoming increasingly important part of the property conversation. We've also put together a simple town planning and development potential checklist to help buyers and owners better understand what they should investigate before making property decisions. We'll throw that in the link below. Laurie, really appreciate you sharing your experience and helping break down what can sometimes feel like a very complex topic. Thanks for listening to the Melbourne Property Brief, and don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss the next episode.