Question 1

Homebuyers > Available Regions

Accepted Answer

PublicSquare is currently serving residents in selected regions of Queensland and New South Wales. Plans for expansion into other areas including Victoria are underway, with launch dates expected for late-2023 to mid-2024.

Although PublicSquare may not be available in your area at this time, we highly recommend submitting your pre-approval application now to secure your place in the queue and be amongst the first to know when our platform becomes available in your region.

To check if your region is currently eligible for our service, please refer to the table below.

All suburbs within the listed regions are currently eligible and open right now.

Other suburbs and regions will be launching as soon as possible.

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Suburbs

Serviced Regions

States

Launch date

Question 2

Homebuyers > Weekly Payments

Accepted Answer

Before you sign or pay anything, your Application Manager will work with you to determine your total weekly payment amount for the first year of the lease.

Your weekly payment amount will be comprised of your rent plus a weekly contribution, which will be equal to 50% of the rent.

So imagine you pay $600 in rent each week. Just add an additional 50% ($300) more to that as your weekly contributions, for a total of $900 per week.

The rent amount is decided by the Property Manager who will perform a rental appraisal at the beginning of each lease year. to align your rental rate with other similar properties in your suburb.

If either party disagrees with the rent appraisals, there will be options under the lease for ordering a second opinion and taking the average of the two.

For a complete picture of the costs involved with PublicSquare, we recommend checking out our calculator

Payments

Weekly Payments

Weekly Debits

Weekly Amount

Amount per week

How much

Question 3

Homebuyers > Kickstarter Contribution

Accepted Answer

To lock in your selected property, we require you to make an initial $1,000 refundable deposit.

This deposit demonstrates you are serious about purchasing a home and helps cover any costs associated with making the offer on the property.

Once your application is accepted by the participating owner, PublicSquare will assist you in entering a contract with them.

You will then be required to make another transfer. This time for 3% of the home price, minus the $1,000 you've already paid.

So as an example, if the property you've chosen is $600,000, your total Kickstarter contribution will be $18,000, and this amount will be added to your deposit which you can use in full later as a deduction on the final purchase-price.

If the don't proceed with entering an agreement with the property within 90 days, no further payments are required and your initial $1,000 will be fully refundable.

In summary, PublicSquare's 3% Kickstarter-contribution is a much easier and more manageable amount to save when compared to a home-loan-deposit which may also require LMI.

Kickstarter Payment

Deposit

Question 4

Homebuyers > Price of Home

Accepted Answer

PublicSquare will help you negotiate the initial home value.

If the property you have selected is brand new or yet to be settled, the initial home value will usually be the same as the price that PublicSquare or the participating owner has agreed to buy it for on your behalf.

if the property is being bought off the plan, and the contract price was agreed to by PublicSquare or the participating owner some months ago, it may be reasonable to expect a slight price increase by the time it comes to sign your lease.

Wherever relevant, we will make sure you get an independent valuation report to help you make an informed decision about the initial home value.

Ultimately you will always get the final say on whether you agree with it and want to proceed.

After four years, when it’s time to complete your purchase, an independent valuer will assess the property value again according to the prevailing market conditions. The sale price will be the property value stipulated by the valuer or the Initial Home Value plus 5% annual capital appreciation, whichever is higher.

If either party disagrees with the valuation, there will be options under the lease for ordering a second opinion and taking the average of the two.

For reference, Australia's national average is 6.8% for houses and 5.9% for apartments (CoreLogic, 1993-2018). However, it could be higher or lower during your lease.

If you're worried about the growth of your property dipping under 5% per year during your lease

Question 5

Homebuyers > Building Up Your Deposit

Accepted Answer

At PublicSquare, we help you build up a deposit to buy your home by paying an upfront Kickstarter then weekly contributions.

Your kickstarter is 3% of the home price, while your weekly contributions, paid on top of your weekly rent are calculated as 50% of the rental price.

The total of these accrue into your deposit, which you can use in full when you're ready to buy the home.

We aim to help you accumulate a purchase offset amount of at least 10-15% of the home's final purchase price before the end of your 7 year lease. You can also bolster this amount using your own personal savings or cash gifts you get from friends and family.

For a complete picture of the deposit you can accrue with PublicSquare, we recommend checking out our calculator

Question 6

Investors > Resale Price and Capital Appreciation

Accepted Answer

The final sale price in a Rent-to-Sell agreement is either based on an independent valuation at the time of sale or the Initial Home Value plus a minimum of 5% annual capital appreciation, whichever is higher. This method ensures that investors benefit from market growth and have a safeguard against potential market declines, guaranteeing a profitable and secure investment. The independent valuer assesses the property value according to prevailing market conditions at the time of finalizing the sale to the tenant.

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