Buying land to build on

Most people buying land to build on choose the block first and think about the build second. It is the natural order, and it is the wrong one — because the block decides a large part of what the build costs, and by the time that becomes clear the land contract is signed.

This covers where land actually comes from, what makes a cheap block expensive, and the contract terms specific to buying land before it exists.

On-market, off-market and pre-release

Land reaches buyers through three routes, and most people only ever see one of them.

• On-market. Publicly listed, advertised, available to everyone. What you find searching online. The most competition and, in a tight release, the least room to negotiate.
• Off-market. Not publicly advertised — a lot being resold, a stage being quietly cleared, a developer moving stock without a campaign. You generally hear about these through someone with a relationship with the developer or agent.
• Pre-release. Stock being allocated before a stage is publicly launched. Frequently the best lots in a release, and frequently gone before the advertising starts.

The practical consequence is simple: if you are only looking at what is advertised, you are seeing what did not sell first. That is not always bad — plenty of good lots sit on market for ordinary reasons — but it is a smaller pool than the one that exists.

What makes a cheap block expensive

Blocks are priced on frontage, area and position. They are not priced on how much it costs to build on them, which is why two lots at the same price can differ by a large amount once a house is on them.

The things that move it:

• Fall. Slope drives earthworks, retaining and sometimes a different slab or a split level. The single largest variable.
• Soil classification. Reactive clay needs a more heavily engineered slab. Common across much of South-East Queensland, and only knowable from a soil test.
• Easements. A drainage or services easement reduces the buildable envelope, sometimes severely, and it will not be obvious from the sales plan.
• Orientation. Does not change the build cost, changes the cost of living in it. A west-facing living area is a lifetime of cooling.
• Frontage and depth. Narrow lots restrict which plans physically fit, which can force a more expensive design or a double storey.
• Overlays. Flood, bushfire and vegetation overlays impose construction requirements that have nothing to do with your design choices.
• Service distance. The further the house sits from connection points, the more trenching and conduit.

None of these is a reason to avoid a block. All of them are reasons to know the number before you sign rather than after.

See how our land sourcing works →

Titled, untitled and the registration wait

Titled land is registered and can settle now. You can proceed once finance and approvals are in place.

Untitled land is sold before registration. Settlement waits on the developer finishing civil works and the plan being registered. Estimates are given in good faith and they move — a delay of several months is ordinary.

That matters in two specific ways:

• Your build price generally cannot be fixed until you can start, so a long wait exposes you to price movement between signing and commencing.
• Finance approvals expire. A long gap can mean re-approval under whatever conditions exist then, not now.

Ask what stage the land is at, what the registration estimate is, and what happens to your build price if that estimate moves. Get the last one in writing.

Sunset clauses and contract terms

A land contract for untitled stock will carry a sunset clause — a date by which registration must occur, after which the contract can be terminated.

Worth understanding before you sign:

• Who can terminate under it — you, the developer, or both
• What notice is required
• What happens to your deposit
• What happens to your build contract if the land contract ends
• Whether the developer can vary the lot — dimensions, area or position sometimes change between contract and registration

Estate covenants and design guidelines

Almost every new estate carries a covenant and design guidelines, enforced through a design review before you can start. They vary by developer and by estate, and the detail is specific to each one — but they typically govern facade materials and treatment, roof form and colour, minimum floor area, fencing, driveway finish, landscaping standards and a deadline for completing it, and often a window within which you must start and finish construction.

None of this is unreasonable, and it is much of why these estates hold their appearance. It is also a real cost, it is not optional, and it is regularly missing from the budget people arrive with. Get the guidelines for the specific estate and read them before the land contract, not after.

Buying the land and the build separately

A house and land package pairs a plan with a lot and settles as two contracts. It is convenient, and for plenty of buyers it is the right answer.

Buying them separately takes longer and gives you something the package cannot: the ability to choose the block on its merits, then run several builders at it and see what each would charge for the same house on that specific ground. Where a block has any complexity — fall, reactive soil, an unusual shape — that difference is usually worth more than the convenience.

The package is not a worse product. It is a bundled one, and bundles are priced for the average case rather than yours.