Go Back To The 1930s

Illawarra Mercury

Saturday October 25, 2008

Manor house

If you're looking for your own private manor house, there's one waiting in leafy Mangerton.

Petit Manoir, in Woodlawn Ave, is an original art deco home built in the 1930s.

It boasts three bedrooms and the original architecture of curved brickwork, high ornate ceilings, cedar featurework, original wrought-iron features and a cedar staircase with a stained-glass window.

Formal areas open to recently transformed garden and terrace, featuring an antique bronze fountain, and a large, private rainforest with plenty of space for the kids.

The home is on a large 850sq m block and also offers a renovated kitchen in keeping with the character of the house.

The home is for sale through Ray White City Sales Wollongong, phone Leigh Stewart on 0412 499 971.

Industry demand

A national Herron Todd White study taking into account re-sale values shows how the industrial market has reacted to the increased global economic uncertainty.

Herron Todd White Wollongong director Jon Butler said the Wollongong commercial property market was dictated by numbers where purchases and sales revolve around yields, rentals and capital value.

Mr Butler said there appeared to be a large amount of land still available for industrial development.

"Demand appears stable and supply high," he said.

"Overall, rentals have remained steady, but no real growth has been evident for some time. The flat conditions of the local economy and continuing decrease in consumer confidence combined with uncertainty about interest rates will see a plateauing of activity going forward."

Mr Butler said the Unanderra Industrial Park contained the bulk of the smaller industrial facilities to the south of the CBD, forming part of an industrial precinct west of the Port Kembla steelworks and incorporating a mixture of newer and older style industrial premises.

"Due to the proximity of Sydney, demand for larger industrial sites are condensed as the Sydney facilities are better utilised as central distribution centres with products distributed via truck to the Illawarra and surrounds," he said.

History for sale

The 80-year-old Kembla Chambers is up for sale.

It's the second time in three years that the historic mall has gone on the market. In 2005 it was up for sale with a $2.5 million price tag.

The building, in lower Crown St, has survived a raft of changes in the precinct, including the closure to traffic in 1987 and the demolition of the original Bank of NSW building next door.

It's for sale through Raine & Horne Commercial, contact Lynda Burnside on 4224 4600.

A hot rebate

A rebate for solar panels is proving so popular there are concerns it could be axed or cut back.

Households earning less than $100,000 qualify for an $8000 rebate from the Federal Government if they install roof-top solar panels to generate electricity.

But an extraordinary surge in applications has led to Climate Change Minister Penny Wong refusing to guarantee the rebate has a future.

She won't even say if the rebate will be offered in three months' time.

The Government is receiving 30 times as many applications for the rebate as it had budgeted for, a budget estimates hearing was told this week.

Cheaper panels, special deals and concern about climate change are seeing more than 1000 applications lodged each week.

The Government had only budgeted for 6000 installations for the entire financial year.

In this year's budget, the Government decided to means-test the rebate to reduce demand.

Code review

NSW Planning Minister Kristina Keneally has agreed to review aspects of the controversial housing code.

She told the NSW Parliament general purpose committee last week she was concerned that the code be "user friendly" and that it took account of regional variations.

The department had intended to gazette the new regulations this week and have them in force on November 3.

A draft of the housing code for single-storey dwellings and alterations and additions on lots larger than 600sqm was released on May 8, with codes for other types of residential development yet to come.

The document lays down standard rules for "complying development" which must be approved by the local council in 10 days.

But the code has been condemned as too complex and unworkable by local government peak bodies, council planners and private certifiers.

A trial of the code by 11 councils showed that it is, according to the Local Government and Shires Associations, "more complicated and confusing than existing approval processes".

COLEDALE'S TOP SALES

1 Northcote St

$2.6 million (2007)

17 Coledale Ave

$2.565 million (2006)

10 Hyde La

$2.25 million (2008)

13 Coledale Ave

$1.51 million (2008)