Recent Brisbane Apartment Sales

• Admiralty Quays, Apt 164: 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 cars - $2,200,000
• Admiralty Quays, Apt 90: 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 car - $580,000
• 212 Margaret Street, Apt 47, 2 bed, 1 bath, 1 car - $465,000
• Willahra Towers, Apt 26, 2 bed, 2 bath, 1 car (76m2 internal, 36m2 external. Total area 112m2; white-goods included) - $435,000
  
• Parklands 3, Apt 4073: 1 bed, 1 bath, 1 car - $365,000
• Charlotte Towers, Apt 2305: 1 bed, 1 bath, 1 car - $354,000
• Casino Towers, Apt 3304: 1 bed, 1 bath, 1 car - $339,998
• River City, Apt 1005: 1 bedroom, no car, view straight into neighbouring building - $305,000

Oaks "Hotels"

If you are thinking of buying or renting in an apartment managed by Oaks, then you should read the online reviews written by people staying in the building, who are short stay "hotel" guests. The problem with Oaks buildings is that they were built as cheap apartment buildings (not as hotels) but a large number of rooms are rented out (often for a night at a time, via Wotif) to people who think they are staying in a hotel. Thus, both residents and "hotel" guests are often not happy.

Example Reviews:
Aurora
212 Margaret
Festival Towers
Casino Towers
Charlotte Towers
Felix
Lexicon
River City

Similar issues for M on Mary.

No More NorthBank

The Premier axed the NorthBank development on the edge of the Brisbane CBD.

See Sunday Mail - it was front page news.

People in Casino Towers and the west side of Quay West are happy no doubt.

Sales and Auction Results for Brisbane Apartments

Felix

• Apt 294 - highest bidder = $395,000

Skyline

• Apt 254 - passed in
• Apt 422 - passed in
  

Riverplace

• Apt 32 - highest bid - $640,000
• Apt 304 - passed in

Aurora

• Apt 583 - highest bid $900,000
• Apt 584 - highest bid $900,000

Casino Towers

• Apt 3104 - sold for $316,000

River City

• Apt 2105 - sold for $375,000

Find Me A Home

Residex have launched a new service, FindMeAHome.

From my quick review, it is not very user friendly or accurate.

Using a map interface, it lists properties for sale. First, the list is not comprehensive. Second, it lists properties for sale that have been sold.

When selecting a property, it gives an indicative value. For the apartments that I looked at, the indicative value is not very accurate.

For example:

• A two bedroom apartment in Quay West - indicative value given as more than $1,348,000. This apartment would be, at best worth in the $800,000s.
• A one bedroom apartment in Charlotte Towers - indicative value given as more than $731,000 to $837,000. This apartment would be, at best worth $400,000 (most likely $360,000.)
• Casino Towers, Apt 3702, indicative value given as more than $1,166,000. This apartment recently sold at auction for $705,000.

There are many other examples, including for suburban houses. John Edwards has clearly got this wrong.

Recent Sales in City

Casino Towers, Apartment 3702, Level 37, 2 bedrooms, 2 bath, study, 2 car spaces, 125 sqm, probably the best position in the building, sold at auction by Chris Hinds for $705,000

Aurora, Apartment 419, level 41, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1 car, great views, sold for $485,000

Recent Sales

Casino Towers, Apartment 3702, Level 37, 2 bedrooms, 2 bath, study, 2 car spaces, 125 sqm, probably the best position in the building, sold at auction by Chris Hinds for $705,000

Aurora, Apartment 419, level 41, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1 car, great views, sold for $485,000

Housing Market Flooded in Brisbane, but Few Buyers

From The Courier Mail, 5 July 2008:

"STRESSED home owners and investors are flooding the market with thousands of houses but agents say they can't find any serious buyers for some properties.

As home mortgage lending in Queensland dives for the second consecutive quarter, the number of houses for sale is up 150 per cent compared with the same time last year.

There were 4750 new listings added this week - 1842 in Brisbane.

Almost 40,000 residential properties are listed for sale across the state, compared with 15,900 last year.

Auction clearance rates are suffering in the slowdown.

At yesterday's Ray White's corporate auction, just one of 11 properties was sold under the hammer. The three-bedroom unit in Casino Towers sold for $705,000.

It was a similar story last week, when 12 properties were put to market, and only one - a Norman Park home - was sold for $840,500.

The marketing agent for a prime residential site near the Brisbane River said a recent auction of the property failed to get any bids.

And the one buyer who showed some interest had now gone cold.

"Just finding anyone interested has been a problem - last year there would have been a handful," the agent said.

At yesterday's auction chief auctioneer Philip Parker said he was surprised when just two early bids were heard for an inner-city house.

"It's good real estate - you'd think you'd have more (bids) than that," he said...."

NorthBank

The tentative new proposed Northbank design for Brisbane includes a 30 floor building at the Elizabeth Street off-ramp. This will impact the views from Casino Tower and probably the Empire Square development.

Watch Video

Westin to Block Casino Towers and Festival Towers views

Here is a photograph that I took today from the South side of the Brisbane River.

Brisbane City

Casino Towers is the tallest looking building, in the centre of the photo. (Casino Towers is 120 metres high). To the left of Casino Towers, you can see Festival Towers. The Casino is the old building in the foreground. Number 111 George Street is on the far right (145 metres).

Below, is a similar photo, showing the planned Westin Empire Square building. As you can see, Festival Towers will be impacted (you can't even see it in the photo below), and many apartments in that building that have river views today may not have river views when the Westin is complete. The Westin Empire Square will be 62 levels and 220 metres high. Also, a number of the "back" apartments in Casino Towers will have their views taken away by the Westin Empire Square.

Westin - Empire Square

Recent Sales Website

The Ray White - Chris Hinds website has recent apartment sales in Brisbane.

Examples:

Casino Towers, Apt 2301, 2 bed, 2 bath, 2 car = $660,000
Aurora, Apt 289, 2 bed, 1 bath, 1 car = $425,000

Also, building information.

Two Bedroom Apartments Above $800,000 in Brisbane City

Some recent sales (all two bedrooms)

• Parklands, Apt 6042, $875,000
• Felix, Apt 377, $950,000
• Quay West, Apt 1901, $850,000
• Quay West, Apt 2006, $830,000

Some listings (all two bedrooms)

• Casino Tower Penthouse, $1,300,000
• Riparian Plaza, $2,200,000
• Quay West, Apartment 606, $800,000
• Evolution, Apartment 52 (level 5) (77sqm internal), $958,000
  
• Evolution, Apartment 166 (level 16) (89sqm internal), $868,500
  
• Evolution sub penthouse, Apartment 323, $1,640,000
• Evolution, Apartment 344, $1,740,000
  
• Evolution, $850,000
• Admiralty Towers Two, $815,000
• Admiralty Quays, $880,000
• Parklands, Pinnacle, 9th floor, $1,050,000
• Parklands, Pinnacle, 6th floor, $975,000
• Quest River Park Central, 29th floor, $1,400,000
• Grosvenor on Edward, $1,100,000

Casino Tower Falls

Oaks has taken over the management of Casino Towers (another Devine building) and has the aim of turning this into a short term accommodation building.

Casino Towers has many apartments with good views over the river to South Bank. But it has its share of problems, even before Oaks gets involved. It faces West. Once it was advertised as having "never to to built out views", owners are now concerned that a large building is planned for right in front on the river as part of the North Bank project. And many of the apartments are poorly laid out, with small window or windows in a room facing the wrong direction.

Oaks is taking over the bottom end buildings in Brisbane:

QUEENSLAND
Oaks Aspire - Ipswich (Opening Soon)
Oaks Lexicon - Brisbane CBD
Oaks 212 Margaret - Brisbane CBD
Oaks Felix - Brisbane CBD
Oaks Festival Towers - Brisbane CBD
Oaks North Quay - Brisbane CBD
Oaks Seaforth Resort - Sunshine Coast
Oaks Calypso Plaza Resort - Coolangatta
Oaks Anchorage - Townsville
Oaks City Quays - Cairns
Oaks Piermonde - Cairns
Oaks Lagoons - Port Douglas

And many occupiers are complaining:

http://cityboard.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=436

http://cityboard.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=272