The state government is continuing to buy properties for the planned WestConnex motorway along Parramatta Road, months after it said it would delay the release of detailed plans for the road tunnel until next year.
The selective purchase of properties – after the government reneged on the proposed purchase of others – is adding to confusion in the area which, agents say, is depressing property values.
Vincent Butcher, practice group leader at Slater and Gordon Lawyers, said he acted for about 30 to 40 landowners along the WestConnex corridor, and hoped to resolve a number of the claims in the coming weeks.
"It is still happening," Mr Butcher said of the acquisition of property along the motorway corridor.
This is months after the government delayed the release of a preferred design for the M4 East section of the WestConnex until mid 2015.
Joe Cavallaro, a Haberfield newsagent, recently sold his family home on Ramsay Street, Haberfield, to the government after finding another property in his area to purchase as an alternative.
"You're in limbo until they give you an offer," said Mr Cavallaro, who sold his home for about $1.8 million – about $200,000 shy of what he says he would have received at auction before the motorway was proposed.
Real estate agents, meanwhile, are swooping on residents wondering what to do.
Callagher Estate Agents have letter-dropped the streets of Haberfield mooted to be heavily affected by the motorway.
The letter offers residents a free consultation about the "positive and negative" effects of the WestConnex and proposed smoke stacks on property values.
There is, however, no firm information about the location of the stacks.
"I don't think it's about scaremongering," Callagher's Ian Dawson said.
"The point is really just to try and educate people and put them at ease."
There are already indications the WestConnex is having a negative impact on property values in the area with buyers wary about purchasing in some parts of Haberfield.
In August a property at 7 Walker Avenue finally sold after five months on the market. The property was originally listed at $1.33 million but is understood to have sold for $1,255,000.
"Buyers weren't going to take a chance and spend more than $1.3 million not knowing what impact the WestConnex might have," Eddy Failla of Laing + Simmons Drummoyne said.
Mr Failla initially had the listing but it ended up going to another agent after the home failed to sell.
"We didn't get one person register to bid, we didn't even take it to auction," he said.
"We had another in Five Dock that had the exact same scenario. I have since sold it but that was a huge fluke."
Michael Tringali from McGrath was quick to point out the positive impacts of the WestConnex.
"My personal opinion is that if traffic is removed from the road and put underground . . . we could actually see some benefits from it," he said.
A spokeswoman for the WestConnex Delivery Authority said contracts had been exchanged on nine properties at the request of owners.
"There is a preliminary concept design for the M4 East and that is the process through which we have identified initial property acquisitions," the spokeswoman said.
"Where residential property acquisitions have already started, we are progressing if owners wish to proceed instead of wait until the preferred design is selected mid next year," she said.
Mr Butcher encouraged residents to start negotiations sooner to "save themselves a lot of anxiety and pressure to make decisions later down the track".
