Village Homes Realty
Sales, Marketing and Communications Update
From where we’re sitting, the view is pretty amazing at the moment, both literally and figuratively. Largely removed from the ongoing Covid turmoil that continues to engulf parts of the world, the general consensus from Margaret River locals seems to be that there’s absolutely nowhere else on earth they’d rather be living right now. Surrounded by nature, one can’t help but feel immense gratitude for this beautiful place of forest, sea, pasture and river in which we can move freely and go about our lives with few restrictions.
The burgeoning Witchcliffe Ecovillage feels like a distillation of all that earthy goodness and community cooperation. Judging from the incredible response from buyers to our Stage 1 and recent Stage 2 lot releases, the Ecovillage vision is captivating many like-minded people who want to call this place home.
To date, we’ve sold 75 lots across stages 1 and 2 without any marketing or advertising, beyond our database. More than 60% of the sales are to cash buyers, and for those seeking bank finance, all of the bank valuations have come in on target, which confirms our pricing. Several of the valuers have also commented that they think the lots are excellent value. It’s an incredible result in light of the challenging and uncertain climate in which we all find ourselves. But more than that, we are overjoyed with the diverse mix of future residents who are all so friendly, community-minded and multi-skilled. Within Stage 1 alone, we have:
- singles, couples, young families and families with older children
- business owners, professionals, tradies, local workers, people working from home, stay-at-home parents and retirees with many skills
- people moving from Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Townsville, Perth, the greater South West region and Margaret River locals
One thing they all have in common is their enormous enthusiasm for life in the Ecovillage and their intention to commence building immediately in 2021. Many are taking advantage of the generous government building stimulus grants, for which applicants must have a signed building contract in place by 31 December 2020. The grants certainly offer a financial boon to buyers but are already putting the local building industry under significant pressure, which we are doing our best to navigate and manage.
Visiting the Ecovillage site
It’s wonderful to have so many people enquiring about Ecovillage site tours and we are looking forward to being able to take people on guided group tours again from November. However, as of 19 October, Wormall Civil will resume working from Mon-Sat each week on stages 1-3, which means those work areas are a construction zone and are subject to strict safety protocols. Henceforth, we will only be able to conduct group site tours on Sundays. Everyone who comes on to site must wear appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and be accompanied by an Ecovillage staff member during this construction period.
It’s important to reiterate that people are not to walk or drive onto the Ecovillage site unaccompanied and without the permission of an Ecovillage staff member, even if you have already purchased a lot.
If you would like to visit the Ecovillage site, please ring the office on (08) 9757 6688 or email [email protected] to make an appointment at least a week in advance.
Stage 2 lots open for sale
Stage 2 residential clusters 2A (23 lots) and 2B (22 lots) are flying off the plan since they were released two weeks ago. Pricing and plans are available for viewing and PDF download on our website here. Stage 2 is located on the north side of Stage 1. Cluster 2B enjoys close proximity to and views of the beautiful ‘stingray’ dam and cluster 2A is located in the heart of the action, close to the main entry road, commercial precinct and Village Square. Lot titles for Stage 1 and 2 will be available at the same time in late October and we anticipate residential construction will kick off in early 2021.
Please contact us on [email protected] or call the Sustainable Settlements office on (08) 9757 6688 if you would like to know more or are ready to purchase a lot in Stage 2.
Civil construction resumes
The rain has been stubbornly persistent well into spring this year, which has delayed the resumption of civil works longer than we’d hoped. However, with fingers crossed for drier weather ahead, Wormall Civil will be back on site on 19 October with a mandate to finish the civil works (roads, drainage and services) of stages 1-3 by the end of January 2021 to enable Ecovillagers to get cracking on their house builds.
Read more in Wayne’s Construction Update article.
House & Land Packages available now
It should now be common knowledge that there are 16 Ecovillage house designs up on our website ready for you to make your own. We’ve had a huge response to these designs already as many buyers are moving fast to ensure they can meet the building grants contract deadline of 31 December.
Read more about the house designs in Jeff’s article here.
