News Corp Australia
First published 26 Aug 2024, 5:00am
Single mother Dominique Layt has downsized twice in her life – but now that she’s found an affordable apartment near the city, she and her daughter are embracing a new way of living.
Dominique Layt and her daughter Ashleigh, who downsized to a smaller home for better access to schools and shops. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail
After needing a break from work to take care of her own mother, Ms Layt had to move from her four-bedroom home in the suburbs to free up funds.
When she downsized a second time, however, it was a calculated decision: to find a cheaper apartment next to a good school for her daughter Ashleigh.
“It’s very small, but I knew that’s what we were doing,” she said. “What it’s enabled is my daughter can literally walk across the road to school … the trade off has been worth it.”
The unit is a three-bedroom apartment in Dutton Park, Queensland. Ms Layt said it’s a little cramped when all the bedrooms are filled, but perfect for her and her daughter while she grows up.
The apartment can get a little stuffy with three people using every bedroom, but it’s perfect for Ms Layt and her daughter – sacrificing size for convenience. Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail
Ms Layt said she picked Dutton Park because of its access to public transport and good schooling, while not being as expensive as some suburbs deeper into the city.
“The price was right,” she said. “And we’re one or two stops to pretty much anything, because it’s so, so close — so we spend a lot more time out doing things than we did before, because it’s just so much easier to get to everything.”
New PropTrack data has found in each state across Australia, there are several different suburbs where you’re able to grab homes for similar amounts to prices recorded in 2014.
In Queensland alone, there are seven unit markets in the inner-city Brisbane suburbs with prices marginally similar to how they were a decade ago.
This includes Dutton Park, Bowen Hills and Kelvin Grove, where apartments are priced at around $35,000-$39,000 more than they were ten years before.
Meanwhile, an average Brisbane City unit has climbed by $70,000 in the last ten years, reaching around $590,000.
Across the road, Boggo Road Village is under construction, giving Ms Layt a shopping centre she can visit right by her home. Picture: Stockwell
To get the apartment, though, Ms Layt had to be prepared. She bought the unit from property provider Stockwell in 2020, at a new development still under construction.
“Finding a three-bedroom was a bit challenging,” she said. “I bought off the plan in 2020 — so I think before we even moved in, the value had increased.”
Stockwell’s apartment complex is a short distance away from the retail centre the company is constructing on Boggo Road. Ms Layt expects to stay in this apartment long-term, with all her amenities just a short distance away.
“I’m 54 so, I see this as a really practical place for me to stay for as long as I can live independently,” she said. “It’s big enough that my daughter and I, but it’s also small enough for just me when she moves out, and goes off to do what she has to do with her life.”
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