When you think of a house – in terms of its price, the ways available to pay for it, the advantages and disadvantages of its location, the infrastructure surrounding it, upkeep and maintenance, flexibility of use (it has two bedrooms, you need four?), its life expectancy and the likelihood to resell it easily and without loss when the need arises – you start to realise the complexity of the economics of housing.

For example – did you know that conventional mortgages are only available on homes in cities and towns – not for farmhouses or mobile homes? The home you built twenty years ago in Sydney for $100,000 will most likely be demolished by its new buyer to make way for a $250,000 building – the buyer has calculated that the cost of the block of land with old house plus new house will easily enable a fat sales profit, even in the short term. So apart from driving the price of housing forever upward this cycle promotes building standards that do not make for durable buildings. Rateable valuation – on which annual taxes are assessed - is based on value of land plus buildings, thereby increasing annual taxes.

As population increases, demand for housing increases, driving up the price of limited urban and suburban building blocks. Already urban retirees are taking the inflated prices for their old homes and resettling in rural towns, able to afford new houses and still have a substantial nest-egg from the sale to live on. Young people – usually with parental help – get a deposit on a small residential unit, and sweat the mortgage for five years or so before selling to finance purchase of a larger residence – with a larger mortgage, of course. These have been the norms in Australian housing for some time now.

Think of how much more affordable housing would be if there was no cost for the building block, which is usually more expensive than the building erected on it. If the land was free, not only would you not have to pay for it – you would not have to pay the interest on that money, or the bank fees to borrow it or the state land taxes extorted in buying it. But the land costs plenty, because you have to pay for the infrastructure – planning permits, provision of water, sewage and power reticulation, roadways, marketing costs, developer profits … need we say more? ARK offers you this ‘free building block’ but there is a charge, a demand on you – you need to stop thinking about housing only in the accepted or ‘traditional’ way; you have to open your mind, to see the new horizon available to you. No urban terrace for you, no suburban McMansion hell-hole – a different living environment, a different lifestyle; a longer commute, perhaps, but to compensate you could have your home paid out in quarter the time of other options!

In today’s technological and social environment, ARK offers a viable and exciting opportunity to acquire a good quality, durable, economically and environmentally sound home - and lifestyle. It’s not for suburban use – goodbye Ramsay Street – but can be located close to urban centres for easy commuting. It is ideal for those who can work from home, offering inexpensive spacious accommodation in a tranquil, natural location – benefits the city can’t match.

For the rural dweller, ARK offers a durable, tasteful replacement for a traditional home as well as security – especially in locations such as flood plains. For the farmer, site availability is not a problem.

Land – ARK bypasses building land shortages and inflated housing block prices by being self-contained, independent of external services and designed for conventionally unusable or unwanted (and therefore cheap) locations.

Structure Cost – ARK’s precision modular prefabrication provides many benefits, but in cost terms two dominate:

• Economies of scale of production of wall and flooring units mean these are far lower in cost than any equivalent option; and

• Site preparation and on-site assembly requirements are minimised with resulting minimised costs.

Taxes – since ARK does not connect to any Council amenities, it is not liable for any rates or taxes. Since no house block is required for floating ARKs, there is no land cost, thereby saving not only capital but also the interest which that would have cost, and the borrowing fees and government purchase taxes, transfer fees, stamp duties etc. Currently the only tax liability attached to purchase of ARK in Australia is GST.

Permits - Although ARK does not get 'built into' the landscape, and does not connect to any utilities, siting ARK most likely requires planning and/or development approval from local Council.

Durability – Being constructed of hi-tech materials – HySSIL concrete panels and advanced plastics – the ARK shell has a minimum life expectancy of 100 years under normal usage, which includes flood surges, abrasions etc. It looks good and it's tough as they come.

Resale – of course you want to know if your home will retain – or even increase – its market price, like conventional houses in the city. The answer is – yes, your ARK will retain its value, even improve if you are selling it in its present location. It would be costly to disassemble for relocation – a buyer would find it cheaper to buy a new ARK. However, a floating ARK can be towed to a new location without much problem – extra buoyancy can be added to navigate shallower waterways. But the remarkable price increases achieved by city residential properties over the past decades are unlikely to be experienced by ARKs, since these are mainly the result of investors pressuring limited supplies of sites in particular locations.

Finance – conventional town mortgages are not normally available for ARK purchase. However, chattel mortgage and similar finance products are available. The novel nature of ARK will initially attract a premium interest rate for buyers, which should resolve itself over the first years of ARK availability. To get over this threshold period, the developers of ARK will offer a purchase finance package which will ensure that finance for ARK purchase is within 2% of current city mortgage rates for the first five years after purchase.

The first ten ARK homes will sell for a fixed AU$195,000 each, including assembly, but excluding transport to your location. GST must be added to this.

Our reason for offering these superb 400+ square metre homes at this price is to underwrite our development and tooling - no small costs in such a precision endeavour.

Batteries are not included
The ARK house price above includes shell only - utilities such as water purifiers, generators, nightsoil treatment units, watertank etc are not included. Windows and doors as described are included, balconies and rainwater collection systems are not.

To initiate a sales enquiry, please go to the Contact Us page.