Council to boost house sales

STRUGGLING house land sales at Dandenong’s Metro 3175 estate have prompted the Greater Dandenong council and VicUrban to review their marketing strategy for the estate.
A report to councillors this week on the council’s financial performance for March 2007 showed a $204,000 deficit for the month in Development Services.
A note attributes the deficit to ‘Metro 3175 sales being slower than expected’.
Dandenong North Ward councillor John Kelly fired questions at council directors, asking why prime real estate in Dandenong was not selling as expected.
“Property in central Dandenong is doing quite well, sales are good,” Cr Kelly said.
“Why are (Metro 3175 sales) slower?”
Greater Dandenong CEO John Bennie said it was clear that VicUrban and the City of Greater Dandenong needed to review their marketing strategies.
“We will discuss the different marketing options available to progress (sales) further,” he said.
Keysborough South Ward councillor Peter Brown added to the Metro 3175 debate by saying he withdrew plans to purchase a house and land package after he discovered the same design could be built for up to $100,000 less by another builder.
But Cr Brown said that under an agreement between VicUrban and a clique of builders, other builders were excluded from building in the estate.
“The land component was relatively cheap,” he said.
But Cr Brown said the house was ‘significantly overvalued’.