Showing posts with label Casino Towers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Casino Towers. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Recent Brisbane City Apartment Sales

M on Mary
Apt 1506, 1 bed, 1 bath, no car - $310,000

Charlotte Towers
Apt 4011, 1 bed, 1 bath, 1 car - $390,000
Apt 2804, 1 bed, 1 bath, no car - $311,000
Apt 3602 - 1 bed, 1 bath, 1 car - $410,000

Casino Towers
Apt 2306, 1 bed, 1 bath, no car - $310,000

Riverplace
Apt 277, 2 bed, 2 bath, 1 car - $600,000
Apt 157, 2 bed, 1 bath, 1 car - $552,000
Apt 175, 2 bed, 1 bath, 1 car - $552,500
Apt 234, 2 bed, 2 bath, 1 car - $772,000

Aurora
Apt 528, 2 bed, 2 bath, 2 car - $808,000

Admiralty Towers Two
Apt 3, 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 car - $975,000
Apt 95, 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 car - $1,350,000
Apt 100, 2 bed, 2 bath, 1 car - $730,000

Felix
Apt 216, 2 bed, 2 bath, 1 car - $520,000

Admiralty Quays
Apt 49, 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 car - $1,075,000

More the most part, these prices are similar to prices that were being achieved 7 years ago.  Riverplace has had the biggest increase in value over this period.

Monday, January 4, 2016

Brisbane apartment market looking grim

According to the CoreLogic RP Data Home Value Index, dwelling values were absolutely flat across the combined capitals during December, with negative movements in Sydney, Adelaide and Canberra being offset by a rise in dwelling values across the remaining five capital cities. The Sydney housing market was the main drag on the December results, with dwelling values down 1.2%, while values were down 1.5% in Adelaide and 1.1% in Canberra, and down 0.5% for Brisbane apartments.

See full report here.

Brisbane apartment prices (to 31 December 2015):
December 2015 - down 0.5%
Quarter - no change
Year on Year - up 1.8%
Median price based on settled sales of Brisbane apartments over the quarter - $390,000

This is not a good result for the Brisbane apartment market for 2015.

The long term view for the Brisbane apartment market looks very uncertain.

There are a huge number of apartments being constructed.  There are also a number of new hotels opening, which impacts the short term rental markets (for example,  negatively impacting rents in apartment buildings such as Charlotte Towers, Aurora, Felix, Casino Towers and Festival Towers).  At present, from my informal survey, rents are decreasing in Brisbane and vacancy periods are significantly increasing.  This will only get worse.  I am not the only one say this.  See AFR article.

It is likely that valuations for new apartments sold off the plan in Brisbane will come in lower than the contract price, which may impact whether non-cash buyers will be able to settle.

My prediction for 2016 is that we may see values fall in 2nd tier buildings and remain flat in prestige buildings.  Rents will likely continue to decrease.  It looks grim.  What happened to the Gold Coast about 5 years ago (remember, Soul, Hilton and Oracle) may happen in Brisbane this year or next.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Recent Brisbane City Apartment Sales

Some example recent sales in Brisbane city apartment buildings.  Some buildings are tightly held and have few sales.

Quay West - 132 Alice Street
  • Apt 88, 1 bed, 1 bath, 1 car, park views - $512,000 in June 2015
  • Apt 50, 2 bed, 2 bath, 1 car - $705,000 in February 2015
Admiralty Towers 1 - 35 Howard Street
  • Apt 119, 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 cars, river front - $1,240,000 in February 2015
Admiralty Towers 2 - 501 Queen Street
  • Apt 78, 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 cars, river front - $1,100,000 in March 2015
Charlotte Towers - 128 Charlotte Street
  • Apt 3701, 1 bed, 1 bath - $368,000 in July 2015
  • Apt 2504, 1 bed, 1 bath, 1 car - $436,000 in July 2015
  • Apt 1702, 2 bed, 2 bath, 1 car - $545,000 in Juune 2015
Casino Towers - 151 George Street
  • Apt 2101, 2 bed, 2 bath, 1 car - $872,000 in July 2015
  • Apt 1506, 1 bed, 1 bath, 1 car - $334,000 in July 2015
  • Apt 2104, 1 bed, 1 bath - $384,750 in June 2015
  • Apt 1307, 2 bed, 2 bath, 1 car - $480,000 in June 2015
Riverplace - 82 Boundary Street
  • Apt 288 - 2 bed, 2 bath, 1 car - $740,000 in July 2015
  • Apt 38 - 2 bed, 2 bath, 1 car - $677,500 in June 2015
Soleil - 501 Adelaide Street
  • Apt 5501, 2 bed, 2 bath, 1 car - $695,000 in July 2015

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Recent Brisbane City Apartment Sales

Based on recent apartment sales in the Brisbane CBD area (resales, not off the plan), it looks like the market is strengthening.

Skyline, 30 Macrossan Street
  • Apt 242, 2 bedrooms - reported sold at $725,000
  • Apt 73, 2 bedrooms - reported sold at $660,000
  • Apt 121, 3 bedrooms - reported sold at $715,000
  • Apt 113, 2 bedrooms - reported sold at $602,000
  • Apt 125, 1 bedroom - reported sold at $347,000
  • Apt 173, 2 bedrooms - $588,000
M on Mary, 70 Mary Street
  • Apt 2202, 1 bed plus study - no car - $362,500
Aurora, 420 Queen Street
  • Apt 245, 2 bed, 1 bath - $620,000
  • Apt 435, 2 bed, 1 bath - $556,000
Riparian, 71 Eagle Street
  • Apt 4305, 3 bedrooms - $1,850,000
Riverplace
  • Apt 215, 1 bed - $510,000
  • Apt 37, 2 bed - $690,000
Casino Towers, 151 George Street
  • Apt 2002, 2 bedrooms - $690,000

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Brisbane Apartments

A Brisbane real estate agent who sells CBD apartments (Hannah Schuhmann) produced an interesting map that shows some of the larger apartment buildings in Brisbane city.  Those buildings were designed for residents and long term tenants.  However, most of these buildings are now mixed -- the onsite manager is running a short term rental pool, and is pretending to operate a hotel.  (Oaks is the predominate manager of the listed buildings on the map.)

It is interesting that this same real estate agent, who is selling an apartment in Metro 21 states, as a feature of Metro 21:

"No hotel-style accommodation within the building".



Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Casino Towers Large Apartment

Apartment 3501 in Casino Towers is for sale.  It looks like two apartments were combined, as this apartment has two kitchens.  This apartment is somewhat unique.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Echo looking for massive casino site in Brisbane

Echo Entertainment is looking for a massive casino, hotel and ballroom site in Brisbane.  See Seven News.  It will be interesting to see if the plan includes an apartment complex.  The current Treasury location is not big enough.  So the Casino Towers apartment complex may not end up being near the casino.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Recent Brisbane Apartment Sales

Recent sales:
  • Riparian, 71 Eagle Street, 3 bedrooms on level 44, sold for $2.3 million
  • Charlotte Towers, 128 Charlotte St, Apt 1903, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, sold for $465,000 (after being on the market for some time)
  • River City, 79 Albert St, Apt 2706, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, sold for $420,000
  • River City, 79 Albert St, Apt 2106, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, sold for $430,000
  • Admiralty Towers One, 35 Howard Street, Lot 110, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, sold for $535,000
  • Roma Street Parklands, Apt 6008, 3 bedrooms, sold for $1,220,000
  • Riverplace, 82 Boundary Street, Apt 82, 2 bedrooms, sold for $645,000
  • Casino Towers, 151 George Street, Apt 1604, 1 bedroom, sold for $347,000
  • Festival Towers, 108 Albert St, Apt 3402, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, $495,000
  • Aurora Towers, 420 Queen St, Apt 568, 2 bedrooms, $750,000

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Rental Crash Coming?

I wonder if a rental crash is coming?  From my review of listing portals, there is a build up of property for rent in Brisbane.  Some landlords are reducing rents.  I am not sure if this is seasonal, or part of a trend.  There are less students renting in Brisbane at present, and less consultants doing government work.

A reader sent me this via email:
"Enjoy reading your blog, just wondering if you have noticed the huge rise in listed apartments for rent in Brisbane. The price also seems to have fallen, seen 2b2b1c furnished in Bowen Hills/Kelvin Grove for $520. Casino Towers 2b2b1c for $480 Emporium has gone from 2 apartments available 2 weeks ago, to over a dozen. Not sure you keep stats on these things, but would be interesting if you could post them if you do."

If anyone has any evidence on this topic, please let me know.

The economy is not strong in Brisbane.  Some government departments are doing forced redundancy programs, where 30% of employees and almost 100% of contractors are being let go.  Small business is hurting, with costs increasing and revenue decreasing.  My guess is that the actual inflation rate and unemployment rate is higher than being reported.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Brisbane Northbank Redevelopment

Campbell Newman is proposing new plans for the North Bank area of the Brisbane River, including George Street.  It seems like the hotel and casino proposal for the old State Library site has been put on ice by the new government.

See stories on Brisbane Development and Brisbane Times.

According to Newman, re the image shown above: “It’s just an artist’s impression to give people a feel for the excitement we have for the revitalisation of the precinct.”

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Casino Towers Auction Result

A sub-penthouse in Casino Towers (Apt 3803, 151 George St), recently sold at auction for just over $800,000.  This was a large two bed apartment, about 130 sqm internal.  It faced East, and did not have river views.

The owner/vendor purchased this apartment in August 2006 for $875,000, and so lost money.

The first owner purchased this apartment off the plan from Devine for $840,000 in 2005, and so over 6 years, this apartment went down in value.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

New William Street Building

Echo Entertainment, who operate the Treasury Casino and nearby Treasury Hotel, are planning a new 5 star hotel at 159 William Street.  The published renders show Casino Towers in the background.  It appears that Oaks Casino Towers will have some of its river views blocked by this 400 room hotel.


Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Old State Library to Become 400 Room Hotel

The Old State library building will become a 400 room high rise hotel. This will impact the river views from some apartments in Casino Towers. See Brisbane Times.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Casino Towers - Recent Sales

The following are all reported sales from December 2010 to now in Casino Tower. (If you ignore the last two digits, the remaining digits in the apartment number give you the floor level.)

Casino Towers - 151 George St, Brisbane

Apt 2206, 1 bed, $362,500
Apt 1602, 2 bed, 2 bath, river views, $640,000 (and 1902 sold in early 2010 for $660,000)
Apt 1107, 2 bed, 2 bath $478,000
Apt 2203, 2 bed, 2 bath, river views, $580,000

Example apartments for sale
Apt 2307, 2 bed, 2 bath, $610,000, or here for $585,000
Apt 3504, 2 bed, 1 bath, $455,000

Friday, May 6, 2011

Oaks

The Oaks Group manages a number of Brisbane apartments, including Charlotte Towers, Aurora, Festival Towers and Felix.

The Australian reports:

"Auditors had also warned of "inherent uncertainty" regarding Oaks's ability to continue as a going concern, with the company owing more than $70m to ANZ and NAB banks."


"The directors of Oaks yesterday proved they had not given up, issuing a brief statement to say that the company had been presented with a counter takeover offer believed to be pitched at 60 cents which it was examining."


Saturday, January 29, 2011

Oaks In Financial Troubles?

Oak's financial model is very precarious. Oaks makes its profit from renting apartments owned by others. All owners of apartments that Oaks manage as their real estate agent can terminate their appointment of Oaks on 90 days notice or less.
Extension to Finance Facilities
Oaks has successfully obtained an extension of its finance facilities to 28 February 2011 as it works through a refinancing process. Oaks' debt levels as at 31 December 2010 is approximately $76 million. Oaks is trying to raise not less than $15 million to be applied towards debt reduction.
Receivers appointed to one of Oaks' substantial shareholders
On 27 January 2011, a notice was lodged with ASX by the receives and managers of The Oaks Apartment Management Pty Ltd and Centrepoint Holdings Pty Ltd, companies associated with the CEO of Oaks, Mr Brett Pointon. These two companies hold over 36% of Oaks' share capital.
Oaks' shares dropped 23% on Friday. See The Age & Courier Mail story.
Colin Archer from Archers Body Corporate Services is a director of Oaks.
Oaks is the onsite caretaker and letting agent for Charlotte Towers, Festival Towers, Casino Towers and Felix.
Oaks profit crashed from $9.7m (2009) to $3.9M (2010). As a result, Oaks did some restructuring, including centralisation of all reservations (which is not always good for the landlords who have appointed Oaks to manage their apartment) and the formation of Housekeepers Pty Ltd as a profit centre in its own right to replace external cleaners and lift levels of service (which sounds like an admission that housekeeping and maintenance was not well done in the past). This raises issues for the body corporate and owners, if the onsite caretaker (Oaks) is contracting Housekeepers to do maintenance paid for by the body corporate.
Brett Pointon's company, Collections Enterprises Pty Ltd, purchased 4 management rights from Oaks in 2009, including 212 Margaret, which was badly damaged in the flood, and Lexicon.
Lots of related party transactions. Not good financial management by Pointon. He is trumpeted as the brains behind Oaks. Sounds like one should avoid doing business with Oaks or investing in Oaks!

From the Oaks website:
"The principles and ethics that firmly ground The Oaks Group were laid down by CEO Brett Pointon over many years of personal experience in strata-titled property management. The group’s impressive increase in its portfolio of properties under management since its foundation in the early 1990’s is thus anchored to astute knowledge of this unique industry. Known for his pro-active, hands on approach, Brett Pointon leads by example, creating an environment in which innovation in marketing is balanced by the utilisation of proven strategic planning systems."

Friday, December 24, 2010

Capital Growth

In December's Australian Property Investor magazine, there is a chart from Collier's that lists average capital growth and average hold years for certain Brisbane apartments, as at August 2010. The capital growth period and methodology to produce these figures is not disclosed:

Casino Towers - 5.9%, 3.7 years average hold
Aurora - 5.4%, 3.6 years average hold
Felix - 5.25%, 3.8 years average hold
Quay West - 4.9%, 5.1 years average hold
Festival Towers - 2.3%, 3.9 years average hold
M on Mary - 1.1%, 2.9 years average hold
Charlotte Towers, 0.9%, 3.5 years average hold.

My guess is that the hold period is calculated from when the off-the-plan contract is signed, not when settlement takes place.

Off-the-plan investors in Devine's Festival Towers and Charlotte Towers have clearly lost money. A word of warning for investors in Devine's Hamilton Harbour. Devine's Casino Towers has done ok, but that is unlikely to be repeated now that Jupiters is building a massive hotel across from Casino Towers that will block much of this buildings river views (but not the western sun). Out of this group, my pick would be Quay West -- only 132 apartments, with a long hold period and good capital growth, never to be built out views.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Casino Towers to Loose River Views

A new highrise hotel is to be built on the old State library site will block out river views from Casino Towers. So take care when buying in Casino Towers!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Risks With Short Term Rental Buildings

When I am looking to buy an apartment in Brisbane, I look at Trip Advisor to see if there are reviews about the apartment building and the onsite manager. As a general rule, if the apartment building is listed with TripAdvisor, I will only buy if I am seeking a non-residental investment. There is limited resale opportunities for short term non-residential buildings.

Example Reviews:

Many reviews highlight the problems -- these buildings were designed for residential apartment living, not as hotels. People ask for adjoining rooms, and don't get them (of course). Items from rooms are stolen. Linen trolleys and food trays are left in hallways, as there are no service cupboards or service rooms for hotel staff. Furniture breaks, as the apartments were furnished for residents, not using hotel quality furniture. No minibars. Parking problems. I wonder what the owners of these apartments think about their real estate agents who are managing their investment -- a real estate agent pretending to be a hotel company.

I love this recent review for Evolution: "What a disaster. We never new accomadation could be so foul .. so many light bulbs broken, Filthy carpets, No drinking glasses (even when you ring & ask a certain staff member who couldn't have been any more passive agressive they still don't come) We changed rooms which was even worse, kitchen tap fell off in our hand, no shower door as it had broken off, huge rip in the lounge, even filthier carpets, rug all ripped, more light bulbs out, TV not tuned so most of the channels hissed at you a lot like most of the staff.. broken light shades, blind pullies broken. When we checked in they held on our credit card $200 for breakages.. there was nothing left TO BREAK!! This place is not rateable unless there is a minus."

Why would anyone want to buy in this building?

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Recent Apartment Sales in Brisbane City

Casino Towers (151 George Street)
The Gardens (204 Alice Street)
RiverCity (79 Albert Street)
Charlotte Towers (128 Charlotte Street)
  • Apt 2809, 1 bed, 1 bath, 1 car passed in at auction - auctioneer's bid of $395,000