Sunday, July 22, 2012

Hilton Gold Coast - Huge Number of Crashed Contracts

A number of years ago, I "awarded" the Hilton Residents on the Gold Coast as one of the worst apartment investments in SE Queensland.  See prior posts.  A number of years ago, there were many press releases about how successful the development was, and how many sales were made off the plan to investors.  I could not figure out who was buying these apartments, or why, as this development was not in a prime location, and surrounded by vacant shops and topless bars.

Now it has come to light that many of the investors were from outside Australia, and more than 100 purchasers have failed to settle (or about 25% of buyers).  Values have dropped dramatically, with apartments sold off the plan for $1.4M now valued at about $800,000.  (This book would have been helpful to these buyers.)

A number of purchasers who did settle have not put their apartments into the onsite rental pool with Hilton, and offsite agents are making under the name "H Residences".  This shows that rental returns are likely to be poor.

Many apartments on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts have decreased in value since 2008.  I know of a recent Juniper beachfront apartment that was sold off the plan for over $1.4M, that remains unsold today at $800,000.

See also this article.

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