The Commons in Brunswick is being touted as one of Australia’s leading ethical and environmentally friendly residential buildings. With its unique design, rooftop veggie patch and communal beehive, the building has been known to buck a trend or two – including one that is seeing its sustainable, off-the-plan apartments sell for a profit.

Previous trends in inner-city Melbourne had shown off-the-plan apartments were reselling at a loss.

In fact, research by BIS Oxford Economics released last year showed more than 50 per cent of all Melbourne off-the-plan apartments made a loss when bought and sold within five years between 2011 and 2016. People were better off buying an established apartment. However, it seems that is now changing.

The most recent sale in Melbourne at The Commons saw an apartment in Florence Street, Brunswick (with a 7.5+ star rating) sell for $750,000 at the weekend. It was originally bought for $480,000 in 2013.

BIS Oxford Economics senior manager, residential property Angie Zigomanis says the upwards trend is not only about sustainability – and not only happening in Melbourne.

It follows a national trend towards more people wanting to be owner-occupiers rather than investors in off-the-plan apartments. It means they will pay more for an apartment they call home, rather than buying for the rental market.

“If you look at the market, the weakest part is the investor market … so the ones that perform the best appeal to an owner-occupier,” Mr Zigomanis says.

“There’s a couple of things going on. From a demographic perspective, Generation Ys, over the past 10 years, are getting into their 30s – they’re evolving, and a lot of them are starting to enter a different life stage with marriage and kids and all that sort of thing.

“They’re wanting to stay in the same area but buying a house is beyond their financial means.

“So an apartment is more affordable for them. There’s an element of downsizers too who have kids who have left the nest, and they want a low-maintenance lifestyle.”

Mr Zigomanis says sustainable buildings would appeal to Generation Y, often referred to as a more environmentally conscious generation than those before them.

It’s no surprise then that apartment buildings like The Commons are not alone in this upwards profit trend. Developer Milieu has seen similar profits for buyers of their apartments with 7+ star ratings in Fitzroy.

Milieu is currently working on a 7.5-star rated development, Breese Street, which happens to be around the corner from The Commons building in Brunswick.

Milieu co-director Shannon Peach says buying and building with sustainability in mind, especially in the inner city, has been important to off-the-plan purchasers in recent times.

“In terms of how we are positioning our offering [in Brunswick], we understood socially, and environmentally responsible design has been at the forefront of purchasers minds over the past 10 years,” Mr Peach says.

Buyers are willing to pay extra for more sustainable add-ons like the inclusion of green or solar power or community gardens rather than the usual inclusions of pools or gyms, he says.

“People are starting to see the value in it [sustainability]. It was always overlooked by developers and builders in the past because there wasn’t a demand to pay extra for green initiatives.

“If it’s thought about and built right, it won’t add too much to the purchase price, but it will add value to a property when it’s being sold.

“It puts the property apart from other properties out there.”

Adding to which, when sold off-the-plan, apartments like The Commons and Breese Street allow purchasers to have some control over the price of their build.

Mr Peach says buyers can forgo airconditioning (relying on natural breeze and overshadowing for cooling), a separate heater (the building is hydronically heated), a separate laundry (a communal laundry is being built on the rooftop of The Breese) and even a car parking space to save tens of thousands of dollars on overall costs.