Pricing

At Nightingale, we do not add meaty profit margins that increase the cost of homes. As a not-for-profit, we add a modest fee that covers our cost and ensures the continued success of this housing model. Some typical project costs include:

• Purchase of a site close to the city and public transport
• Architect fees
• Consultant fees such as fire services, engineers, ESD, acoustic, quantity surveyors, geotechnical, town planners, surveyors, lawyers
• Authority approvals such as planning and building permissions, power, water, traffic management
• Cost of financing the project
• Construction to high thermal, environmental, spatial, acoustic and efficiency standards
• Nightingale charges a percentage fee of the total project cost in order to keep us doing what we do. We do not add a developer profit margin to the cost of Nightingale homes.

We work hard to keep apartment prices as low as we can while delivering excellent quality. Our low price-point Teilhaus homes are designed to help first home buyers enter the market. From there, pricing per apartment will vary between projects, depending on location, projected cost of construction, number of bedrooms, orientation and elevation.

Before balloting each project, we run two commitment-free information sessions for prospective purchasers. At the second information session, detailed pricing is provided for each individual apartment.

Deposits

Commitment agreement and fee
After a successful ballot, we’ll send you a commitment agreement to sign that secures your apartment. The commitment fee of $10,000 is due at the same time. This commitment fee is held for you in trust, and forms part of your deposit. See our How to purchase page for more details on the purchasing process.

New apartments
Shortly before construction begins, you will sign a contract of sale and pay a 10% deposit, which is held for you in trust. Your commitment fee forms part of this deposit. For example, if you are purchasing an apartment for $600,000, the deposit will be $60,000. As you will have already paid your $10,000 commitment fee, you will only need to pay a further $50,000 when you sign the contract of sale.

Settlement — when you take out your mortgage (if needed) and officially take ownership of your apartment — will likely be 18–24 months after signing the contract of sale, depending on the project’s timeline. About 3–6 months before settlement, you’ll need to talk to your bank about a mortgage. As a rule of thumb, it’s good to have about 20% of the full purchase amount (including the deposit already paid) when you take out a mortgage, although banks may accept a lower deposit. First home buyers may also be able to access the First Home Guarantee to purchase with a deposit as low as 5%.

Concessional deposit for first-home buyers
Where possible, a concessional deposit of 5% (instead of 10%) will apply for first-home buyers who are purchasing Teilhaus or one-bedroom apartments. Whether this is possible depends on the particular project, and will be announced during the project information sessions and published in the resident information package.

Note that this concession only applies to the deposit required for signing Nightingale’s contract of sale. The lender (bank) of your mortgage may require funds totalling more than 5% of your purchase price in order to issue the loan. You should speak with a financial adviser, a broker, or a bank to find out what deposit you require at settlement.

Resales of existing apartments
Each year, a small number of existing Nightingale apartments are resold under the resale deed. Purchasing these apartments is like purchasing any property, except that the maximum resale price is capped. The settlement period will depend on what you and the vendor agree, but is typically between 30 and 90 days.

Stamp duty

The stamp duty payable depends on your personal circumstances. Please seek advice from your conveyancer or a qualified adviser.