Saturday, April 27, 2013

New Apartment Developments in Brisbane

New developments:


The above is only a partial list of new and off-the-plan apartment developments in Brisbane.  Take care when buying new and off the plan, as often the pricing is much higher than existing near-new apartments in a similar location.

It is also worth reading the following book, available on the Amazon Kindle and Apple stores.  

Recent Apartment Sales in Brisbane Suburbs

Ciana Indooroopilly (all sales from original developer)
  • Apt 29, 2 bed, 2 bath, 2 cars, top floor, sold on 21 February 2013 for $555,000
  • Apt 86, 2 bed, 2 bath, 2 cars, top floor, sold on 1 February 2013 for $560,000
  • Apt 58, 3 bed, 2 bath,  top floor, sold on 1 February 2013 for $652,500
  • Apt 49, 2 bed, 2 bath, 2 cars, top floor, sold on 1 February 2013 for $450,000
Riva Indooroopilly (Pradella development)
  • Apt 5, 1 bedroom, ground floor, sold in February for $376,000 (seller had paid $245,000 in 2004)
Parklands Sherwood (Pradella development)
  • Apt 202, 2 bed, 2 bath, large study, ground floor, sold for $370,000 (seller had paid $476,000 in 2009).

USA real estate - note from a reader

This is a note that I received from a regular reader of this blog:

I’m currently visiting USA again for another 3 months.  (You’ll recall my visit to USA and subsequent visit to China last year). I like to try and get a feel of the real estate market and the economy in the U.S. since Australia appears (at least to me) to follow the U.S by about 18-24 months. Things are considerably worse here on the ground, than last year, in my opinion.  Looking at housing and units, empty units are everywhere in every town city, state, just everywhere. I researched this and read here that according to the U.S. Goverment, there are now 18.7 million units vacant in the U.S. Ref: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/08/04/9-Worst-Recession-Ghost-Towns-in-America.aspx#page1

Talking with estate agents (if they’ll engage in a conversation - most are in denial) affordability seem to be the lead problem; people cannot afford or will not commit to buy, and people cannot afford to rent at any price. Mortgage rates here are 3.25-3.75% for a 30 year fixed mortgage!. Their parents are telling them not to commit to a mortgage since they themselves now owe more than they paid for their own property and have subsequently become the “near-retirement working poor”.  Some apartment managers (if that’s what they are) are advertsing $500 in cash to sign-up to a lease. Last time I mentioned large numbers of shopping centres and motels were empty and closed up. This time round it’s more motels, an abundance of empty apartments and, restaurants. Restaurants is new for this visit, they have been hit badly, every town/ city along the way has scores of empty closed down restaurants. These were the mid-range market restaurants that offered good meals in the $15-$30 range. They’re closed. For example, where I stayed a few minutes from the Old Downtown Scaramento area, five in the street were shut along with 3 motels. I got talking with the manager of the Motel6 I stayed at which had 7 cars in the carpark on a Saturday night for a complex of 56 rooms.  On asking him the question about the restaurants, he simply stated “No one will spend any money now, even if they’ve got it. They’re all spooked and shell-shocked by the GFC. I don’t know when this will end, if it does.” he said.

I wonder if what’s occurred here will find it’s way to Australia.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Time on Market in Brisbane

Brisbane still has a very high "time on market" for apartments.  On average, 80 days to sell from first listing.  This is about double what it should be, and shows that the market is still stuggling.  Chart from RP Data.


National Property Trends

"Overall, the data highlights that although the housing market has started the year strongly in terms of capital growth nobody should expect the same rate of growth to be carried throughout the remainder of the year. This is already evident when you look at the results of the rpdata-Rismark Daily Home Value Index. Home values across the five major capital cities have fallen by -0.1% over the first fifteen days of April despite the recent strong capital growth conditions. The housing market is likely to continue along a recovery path, however, we anticipate slower capital growth conditions throughout the remainder of 2013 than those which have been recorded over the first quarter of the year and the slowdown is already becoming evident in our daily index data."

See RP Data report on seasonal trends

Recent Apartment Sales in Brisbane City

  • Charlotte Towers, Apt 1504, 1 bed, 1 car, sold on 9 April 2013 for $410,000
  • Felix, Apt 116, 2 bedrooms, sold on 30 March 2013 for $515,000
  • Aurora, Apt 234, 2 bedrooms, sold at auction on 24 March 2013 for $548,500
  • Charlotte Towers, Apt 501, 1 bedroom, 1 car, sold on 21 March for $415,000
  • Skyline, Apt 61, 3 bedrooms, sold on 13 March for $710,000

Friday, April 19, 2013

As safe as houses?

"If it's profitable and seems riskless, it's a business you don't understand."