Phil Johnson wanted to buy his own home but didn’t want to be stuck with a mortgage or to be in debt.
The 63-year-old, who was living in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast hinterland in late 2022, had never heard of the tiny community of Paruna in South Australia’s Riverland when its former Methodist church appeared on the market.
Mr Johnson decided to buy it on a whim. It set him back just $55,000 and he made the big move down south to make the 88-year-old church his new home base.
“As I start my renovations, I’m really happy with the place. It’s got a lot of potential and I’ve been really welcomed into the community,” he said.
“I’ve been looking at churches for a long time, the prices went through the roof during COVID, but this was extremely well priced at $55,000.
“I’m 63 and didn’t want to get into a position where I was getting a mortgage, so I’m debt-free and have money to do the renovations.”
‘Thinking outside the box’
Melbourne man Campbell Michell bought his own slice of rural church life for just $26,000.
Six years ago he had packed up his city life and moved to the small South Australian community of Pinnaroo, just over 240 kilometres east of Adelaide, on the Victorian border, after purchasing the town’s 111-year-old Methodist church.
It was his “thinking outside the box” way of securing a home.
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“My friends [in Melbourne] are buying houses for $700,000–$800,000 at the moment and there’s no way I could afford to do that,” he said.
“The opportunity came up … I met [my now wife] Caroline about halfway through, and we did the restoration together.
“We’ve been living in there for about 18 months now and it will hopefully become our family home.”
Across the country
Real Estate Institute of Australia president Hayden Groves said more people were buying and converting old churches into private homes in regional Australia in recent years.
“We are seeing a lot more of this occur in the regions, particularly, where churches have perhaps sat vacant for a long period of time and do have some heritage value,” he said.
“It’s so important to see these beautiful regional churches being repurposed into housing. It’s really great for those communities.”
Restoring places of worship as dwellings not only provides people with a more affordable way to own their own home, but also preserves historical sites that were once the spiritual hubs of small towns.
Mr Groves said more sales were being seen as fewer regional churches were used for their original purposes.
“As a result of that change, we’re now seeing those buildings sitting under-utilised,” he said.
“A lot of the church parishes around the nation are looking to consolidate … so those buildings do become available.
“Because of their heritage value … it’s really important those buildings do get preserved and the best way to preserve them is for people to live in them.”
Preserving the past
Pippa Buckberry, a heritage advisor and director at Anaglypta Architecture, said turning churches into homes helped preserve historical buildings and give them new life.
“Historically, there was a little church in every town around Australia … but congregations are dwindling and some of these buildings are now surplus to need,” she said.
“I think it’s great [unused] churches become privately owned … I just hope people stop and appreciate the unique characteristics of a place and maintain it into the future.
“If a building is being used, then someone is noticing if maintenance needs to happen, so those things can be addressed before they become a big problem.”
Back in Pinnaroo, Mr and Ms Michell’s renovation has gone nationwide after being featured on the ABC’s Restoration Australia program.
“We’re on a pretty tight budget, so we still haven’t installed heating or air conditioning, but we’ll get there,” he said.
“There are also plans to put some extra bedrooms out the back … but it’s big and open and bright, it’s a really cool house.”
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