Lilly Edwards feels very lucky.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 19 year-old apprentice hairdresser and bartender has scored one of the eight granny flats for rent in the Teneriffe estate on Mary's Mount Road.
The flats are attached to four-bedroom houses, also all for rent, and all of them were snapped up in record time.
"I'm very luck to have gotten such a nice house at so great a price!" said Ms Edwards, whose last rental cost $350 a week.
"I like that it's got storage and is big enough to not feel like your typical granny flat.
"It has everything I need and I'm allowed to have my dog."
The set-up is a deliberate attempt to introduce more affordable rentals into a market crying out for them, while providing investors with a better return than a single renter would produce.
"We've just handed over eight to the real estate agent," said builder David Quick, from Prestige Land Development.
"All the granny flats were rented within a week to a wide diversity of people - single parents, older people, individuals."
For 53 year-old Mark Thompson, the new style of accommodation moving into the Goulburn rental market is "an absolute godsend".
Going for about $290 a week through Raine and Horne, Goulburn, the granny flats are at the lower end of the price scale, but Mr Thompson said it's the quality that really sets them apart.
"It's impossible finding a rental in Goulburn that's reasonably priced and not a dump," he said.
"But these are nice, brand new and very comfortable, and Goulburn needs more like them.
"A couple of blokes have had a look and said, 'How do I get one?'"
Which is why Prestige have five more on the go in Teneriffe and another 12 slated for development at St Joseph's Gate.
"People love the privacy of a granny flat over a townhouse, or an apartment," said Mr Quick.
"That's what we've found, and there's huge support for them."
Prestige are building the properties for Hibernian Wealth, an investment company that specialises in dual occupancy properties as a way to maximise yields.
READ ALSO
Prestige and Hibernian have introduced them successfully in towns such as Orange and Bathurst, and they identified Goulburn as a place where such an arrangement would be welcome.
"It gives investors an extra rental yield, and two sets of rental dwellings into market - it's a win-win for investors and renters," said Hibernian Wealth managing director Ultan Mooney.
"Also, because they're new constructions, locals are employed in the building process."
He said he believes Goulburn, due to its location and its facilities, will emerge as a new tree-change hot spot.
"As Sydney expands through to the south-west, which is the only way it can go, Goulburn will get closer," said Mr Mooney.
"We're bringing some badly needed new builds and accommodation into town, with another 15-20 planned for next year."
He said despite some doubters thinking country towns had no appetite for dual occupancy living, the rentals always went "like hot cakes".
"We think people are underestimating the number of people who are downsizing, and the number of young people who don't want to share if they don't have to," he said.
"Without this sort of option, they might be forced into three or four bedders and pay more than they want, or have to sub-let a room.
"People think the rules are different in the regions, but the big demographic trends affect them the same.
"So when there's a good supply of land at fair prices, low vacancy rate and a need for the product, we go for it."
And it's not just about investors.
Prestige's Mr Quick said they would be willing to build similar dual occupancy properties for individuals as well.
"If someone came to us and asked us to build that product then we'd love to do it - it would be a great choice for a young person who can then put the granny flat money towards their mortgage," he said.
Did you know the Goulburn Post is now offering breaking news alerts and a weekly email newsletter? Keep up-to-date with all the local news: sign up below.