Development Applications in Dee Why, NSW

Development activity in Dee Why

I’ve been working the northern beaches for over fifteen years, and Dee Why has always been a solid gig. The housing stock here is a real mixed bag. You’ve got your classic Californian bungalows and weatherboard cottages from the 50s and 60s hugging the streets behind the beach, then those 70s brick-and-tile walk-ups, and now more and more of these big, modern townhouse developments pushing into the old blocks. The real action though isn’t the new estates. It’s the home extensions and first-floor additions. That’s where four out of every five DAs I see land. People aren’t leaving. They’re buying a dated three-bedder on a decent 500-square-metre block, and they’re staying put to add a master suite upstairs and a deck out back.

The clients are mostly upsizers and renovators. Young families who bought in when the market was a bit more sensible, or empty nesters who don’t want to move to the Central Coast. They’ve got equity in the house, and they’re willing to spend $250,000 to $400,000 on a proper first-floor addition to catch the ocean breeze and get a view of the headland. The other big ticket item is outdoor living. Swimming pools and alfresco areas are huge here. Dee Why gets the sun, and people want to use their backyards nine months of the year. I’ve done three pool-and-patio jobs in the last year alone, all on those gentle slopes off Pittwater Road. The soil is generally sandy loam, easy to dig, but you’ve got to watch for the water table near the lagoon. That adds a dewatering cost most homeowners don’t budget for.

The local council is Northern Beaches Council, and I’ll be straight with you – they are thorough but not unreasonable. Turnaround on a standard home extension DA is around three to four months if your plans are clean. They are strict on overshadowing and privacy, especially when you’re adding a first floor. You’ll get a condition about a SEPP 65 report if you’re near the coast, and they’ll make you plant screening trees. The big one builders miss is the stormwater detention. Dee Why has a lot of impervious surfaces, and council wants that water held on site. You need a good civil engineer who knows the catchment areas, or you’ll be doing revisions. Don’t bother trying to sneak a granny flat past them on a battle-axe block – they’ve closed that loophole.

Knockdown-rebuilds are less common than you’d think. Land values are so high that the economics only work if you’re building a duplex or a three-storey townhouse. Most of those are done by investors or small developers, not owner-occupiers. The real money for a builder is in the renovation market. The typical Dee Why homeowner is time-poor and cashed-up. They want a project manager who can handle the council paperwork, the structural engineering, and the subbies. They don’t want to be on site every weekend. If you can give them a fixed price for a two-storey extension with a new kitchen, bathroom, and an outdoor entertaining area, you’ll have work for the next five years.

The market right now is steady, not booming. Interest rates have taken the heat out of the speculative stuff, but the core renovation work hasn’t slowed. There are four development applications active in Dee Why as of this month, and three of them are home additions. The fourth is a small block of units near the shops. That tells you everything. The demand is for more space on existing blocks, not for new subdivisions. If you’re a carpenter or a concreter who knows how to work around a family living in a house while you build, you’ll do well here. Just be prepared for the occasional council inspection and a client who wants the job done by Christmas. That’s Dee Why.