Granny flats big business down under

Lack of affordable housing throughout the Sydney real estate market may perhaps be behind the growing trend for granny flat additions to family homes.

In a recently published report on local development councils throughout  New South Wales reported a huge increase in granny flat applications. In the year 2008-09 councils approved 1365 requests this had climbed to just above 1520 during last year.

The addition of a self-contained unit to a residential property not only increases the value of the original residence by thousands of dollars in the case of family homes the extra space is ideal for either an elderly relative no longer able to maintain a larger property or as a first step to independent living for a teenager unable to afford the going rate for rented accommodation. Or for investors the extra space can be used to increase the rental return on existing properties.