Suburban Sydneysiders selling up en bloc

Sydney

AFTER spending half their lives in a four-bedroom house in the suburbs of Sydney, the Dunkerleys are selling the family home to a developer, who plans to build 141 apartments on the site.

"We're very happy with the price," said Chris Dunkerley, a 64-year-old retiree who joined forces with seven neighbours to negotiate the best price for the suburban Sydney houses slated for demolition and stand to get as much as A$3.8 million (S$4 million) each. "But we wouldn't move to an apartment. Maybe a townhouse in Sydney, or a house in the country."

The Dunkerleys' changing fortunes stem from plans by the New South Wales state government to allow developers to build thousands of flats on sites curren…