Showing posts with label hilton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hilton. Show all posts

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Hilton Gold Coast Capital Losses

"According to RP Data, since January last year 66 apartments have sold in the Boulevard Tower, with resales making up a small proportion of the total.  

Unit 10504 was bought off the plan for $850,000 in February 2008 and sold on May 30 this year for just $505,000, a 40.5 per cent drop in value.  In July this year, unit 10607 sold for $435,000, a 32 per cent dip in price from January 2011 when a buyer paid $647,000.  A unit on the 21st floor was purchased for $910,000 in January 2008 and sold in November last year for just $525,000."


An agent is quoted as saying losses of 30% on the Gold Coast are not unusual.  Take care when buying!

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Hilton Surfers Paradise Price Slice

Hilton Surfers Paradise Apartments advised "up to 34% off":
  • Level 29, 2 bedroom, 119 sqm, was $1,185,000, now $840,000
  • Level 38, 3 bedroom, 147 sqm, was $1,750,000, now $1,300,000
  • Level 30, 2 bedroom, 100 sqm, was $1,000,000, now $685,000
According to Ray White Surfers Paradise, "the Chinese and Singaporeans have saved the Gold Coast property market" because "Australians have stopped buying over the last three years" in projects such as The Hilton and The Oracle.

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.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Surfers Paradise

I visited Surfers Paradise this weekend to look at the Hilton and Soul apartment buildings.  The local area was no paradise.  The beach was great, but the built environment was horrid.  Closed or run down shops.  Poor quality shopping.  Fast food restaurants.  Topless bars.  Bad street-cape.  Not a nice place to visit with the family or for a romantic vacation.  No wonder prices have fallen, and according to Matusik, they still have a way to go to reach bottom.  Hilton tower illustrated above.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Gold Coast Hilton

The Gold Coast Hilton development (originally developed by Rapits, a company that went bankrupt during construction) still has unsold apartments.  They are advertised as starting at $475,000, with two bedroom apartments with ocean views for sale at $565,000 and three bedrooms with ocean views for $765,000.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Gold Coast Settlements Off the Plan

The Hilton and Soul (Sea Temple) apartment complexes at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast have many off the plan apartment sales that are to settle now.  It seems that settlements are taking a long time, and that about 25% of the people who signed contracts are unable or unwilling to settle.  See The Australian.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Soul and Mirvac and Oracle and Hilton

LISTED property trust Mirvac Group will operate a luxury hotel at Juniper Group's Soul apartment complex on the Gold Coast.

It is understood Juniper had been speaking to potential operators about incorporating a hotel/resort in the development which had originally been planned as purely top-end apartments.

Juniper and Mirvac are close to finalising an agreement, industry sources say.

Apartment values on the Gold Coast have fallen by up to 50 per cent due to oversupply of projects, many of which were started before the global financial crisis.

The resort in the Soul complex will compete with Mantra's five-star Peppers Hotel at the newly- built $700 million Oracle Broadbeach tower and also the Hilton Surfers Paradise Hotel and Residences, which was part of a development launched by failed Gold Coast developer Jim Raptis.

There is a total of 20,000 hotel rooms on the Gold Coast.

The Hilton hotel is on the market with price expectations of more than $60m on behalf of receivers acting for ANZ.

Oracle was also placed in voluntary receivership in December by Michael Nikiforides, a director of South Sky Investments, a Niecon-related company.

It was also suggested Mirvac briefly looked at takeover target Oaks Hotels and Resorts, for which Thai-based conglomerate Minor International is now a majority shareholder.

Mirvac was not available for comment yesterday.

It is understood that at least 200 apartments in the Juniper Group's Soul apartment project at Surfers Paradise are due to settle in stages from July.

Industry sources said Juniper had been marketing the Soul apartments in Asia with the promise of three-year rental guarantees on a $2m apartment, equating to $2000 a week. There are still 92 apartments remaining for sale at Soul, according to the Midwood Report, although the group provided no details on sales in the complex during the February quarter.

The yet-to-be-completed 77-level Soul tower fronts both the beach and Surfers' main retail strip, Cavill Mall, on the corner of The Esplanade and Cavill Avenue.

The Australian

INVESTORS who bought into the failed $700 million Oracle Broadbeach development on the Gold Coast have been trying to offload their apartments at auction, but are finding no buyers, according to real estate sources.

It bodes unfavourably for the 200-plus pre-sold apartments in the Juniper Group's Soul apartment project at Surfers Paradise, due to settle in stages from July.

It is understood Juniper has been marketing the Soul apartments in Asia with the promise of three-year rental guarantees on a $2m apartment -- equating to $2000 a week -- and has involved a corporate advisory firm.

Market sources said the apartments at Oracle, on Elizabeth Avenue, Broadbeach, had been put to auction after the investors had settled with the receivers. But the apartments had not sold, mainly because of an expectation receivers would put more stock on the market at steeply discounted prices.

Oracle was placed in voluntary receivership in December by Michael Nikiforides, a director of South Sky Investments, a Niecon-related company. Niecon, of which Con Nikiforides is the chief executive, developed Oracle.

One Oracle apartment owner said then he was aware of people who had bought apartments for $3.5m and had since sold them for $2.5m. As at January, it was believed the developer had secured about $160m from more than 400 pre-sales in the 505-apartment complex, and between October and January about 180 of those had settled.

The value of Gold Coast apartments has typically fallen by 30 per cent since the global financial crisis.

The Oracle project is believed to have cost about $700m, with up to $550m in loans from a syndicate including National Australia Bank, Westpac, Suncorp and Bank of Scotland.

Juniper's Soul, which unlike Oracle is not insolvent, has 92 apartments remaining for sale, according to the latest data from the Midwood Report, although the group provided no details on sales in the complex during the February quarter.

The Australian

Friday, December 24, 2010

2010 Brisbane Apartment Awards

These are our awards for 2010:

1. Wildest Advertising Claim
FKP Properties wins this for their overpriced The Milton development. Their sales agents are giving out printed information to potential investors about future property values. They have a sheet of paper showing investment returns for a 2 bed, 1 bath apartment listed at $650,000. The prediction is that this apartment will be worth $807,500 on completion of the project in 2013, and will be worth over $1M by 2016. The predicted rent is over $720 a week in 2013.
2. Worst Investment
This is a hard one. Many investors who purchased off-the-plan in 2006 or 2007 had to settle this year. Some were unable to get bank valuations anywhere near settlement. The contenders for this category are:
  • Mirvac's Tennyson Reach
  • Niecon's The Oracle at Broadbeach
  • Raptis' The Hilton Surfers Paradise
  • Evolution.
I think they are all bad investments, so maybe a four way tie!
3. Biggest Delayed Development
Again, a number of contenders for this category. There are many big developments that have been delayed indefinitely -- Trilogy, Evolution, Empire Square, FKP's Albion Mill. South Point is another contender here -- although it looks about to finally begin.
But the winner is El Dorado at Indooroopilly. Construction has been about to start for years now. What is going on at this development?

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Gold Coast Collapsing

Story from the AFR on Friday last week - "Banks judge Gold Coast apartments as vulnerable".

"Westpac Banking Corp has a particularly cautious view, especially of luxury properties worth more than $3M on the Gold Coast, which is described as a key area for 'additional risk management focus'. There are hundreds of apartments on the Gold Coast priced at more than $3M. At the Oracle development at Broadbeach, there are at least 50; at two other projects coming to completion - Juniper's Soul and Brookfield's Hilton - there are more than 100."

Story from The Australian today: "Gold Coast High Rise Stress Underestimated"

"MAJOR bank Suncorp estimates that less than 10 per cent of buyers are defaulting on several major apartment projects on the Gold Coast.

Gold Coast property agents have claimed the estimate was extremely optimistic. ...

"They'll be celebrating in the streets if it's only 10 per cent default," one Gold Coast agent said.

"There's a lot of rumours around about settlements, but it's all looking very slow."

Soul has been on the market for five years and, while the market boomed for the first three of those years, the global financial crisis cut the value of these units substantially."

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Gold Coast

Although this blog focuses on Brisbane, a number of Brisbane investors also purchase on the Gold Coast. As the Brisbane market is flat, such investors are less likely to purchase on the Gold Coast at present. There are three big developments completing in the next year. First will be The Oracle at Broadbeach, then Hilton at Surfers Paradise, and then Soul. All are completing in two stages.

Here is a nice video showing The Oracle at Broadbeach. (Click here for full size video.)



Here is a link to photos showing Soul and the Hilton project, courtsey of defec8R of SkyscraperCity.



Friday, February 6, 2009

Raptis Goes Bust

Gold Coast and Brisbane developer, Raptis, went into administration today. Also, the developer's $700 million Hilton Hotel redevelopment in Surfers Paradise was put into voluntary administration this week. See CM

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Raptis and Surfers Paradise

There are rumors that Raptis, who is developing the Hilton hotel and apartment complex at Surfers Paradise, is in significant trouble. I wonder if the Gold Coast Hilton will get off the ground?

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24252689-664,00.html

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24247597-664,00.html

The Gold Coast apartment market is not doing well at present. New apartment are not selling, as existing owners are cutting prices, and rental returns are not good.

"Mr Juniper said Soul would breathe new life into Surfers Paradise. "It's the transformation of the Gold Coast; a brand new Surfers Paradise is being delivered right now," he said. "To have the Hilton being built next door is fantastic. It reassures everyone that Surfers Paradise is still moving ahead in these times at the moment. "They have achieved fantastic sales. We have achieved fantastic sales and it just shows the strength of the Gold Coast market."

He said unlike the Hilton, where sales had been to predominantly offshore interests, Soul had attracted mostly local buyers.

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2008/08/13/14912_gold-coast-business.html