Sydney homeowners join forces to exploit boom

Sydney

WHEN Ron Buxton bought his sprawling five-bedroom property in Sydney's Castle Hill for A$87,000 (S$89,000) in 1979, his was one of only two houses on a dead-end street, ringed by orange groves.

With Castle Hill now a bustling commuter suburb earmarked for rezoning, Mr Buxton and his neighbours have clubbed together to offer their homes as a development block for apartments, banking on a multimillion dollar payday thanks to a surge in Sydney house prices and an acute housing shortage.

"We started getting phone calls from agents and developers to help us sell the property but we decided we'd help ourselves," Mr Buxton, 73, said. "We'll certainly get better than open market individual…