Showing posts with label sqm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sqm. Show all posts

Friday, February 3, 2017

Student "Apartments"

There is a social media advertising campaign underway for Atira Student Living in South Brisbane.  The rooms are extremely small:
  • 16 sqm for a studio
  • 21 sqm for a twin studio
  • 33 sqm for a 2 bedroom apartment
  • 55 sqm for a 3 bedroom apartment.
A typical apartment bedroom (4m x 3m) is 12 sqm.  A typical hotel room is about 33 sqm.  A small two bedroom apartment in a low quality complex is about 75 sqm.   There are many two bedroom apartments in Brisbane that are 110 sqm and larger.  These Atria rooms are small.  And they are charging more than $460 per week for a studio.  (A furnished one bedroom that is 72 sqm in a good location is about $550.)

Students are best advised to look at regular apartments on realestate.com.au and compare against student apartments before renting.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Buying Activity and Capital Gains Not Strong

But not everyone is as optimistic about Queensland’s prospects.
Property analyst Louis Christopher of SQM Research said the state’s comparatively sluggish economy meant “buying activity hasn’t been strong”.
“If Brisbane is so good, why aren’t we seeing capital gains now?” he challenged.
“Yes, we are bullishly positive on the southeast Queensland market, and it’s a lot more affordable than Sydney — but there are reasons for that,” Mr Christopher said.
He said that the Queensland economy was still suffering from the austerity of the former Liberal Government, along with the mining downturn.  But there were hopes the new Labor Government would “open up its purse strings” and kickstart a recovery.
“There’s still a lot of stock about, and the economy is still quite patchy,” Mr Christopher said.
“Nevertheless, we are a little bit more positive on the market. We do agree it’s more affordable, on a rental basis and on an absolute price-to-wages basis.”
He said the Gold Coast was likely to see capital gains of between seven and 11 per cent over the next 12 months, but that Brisbane would be more restrained.
Source:  News.com.au

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Austin Apartment Sale

Aria developed a property at 77 Grey Street, South Brisbane, overlooking the Queensland Museum, called Austin.

Apartment 1807 is currently listed for sale at just less than $700,000.  The apartment has a nice view of the roof of the museum (which is not so attractive) as well as the river and city skyline.  This part of Grey Street is busy, often with traffic jams.  The location is a very short walk to downtown Brisbane.

The apartment has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and is 80 sqm internal, with a small 9 sqm balcony.    So this works out to be over $7,850 a sqm.  To me, that is very expensive.

If you are considering buying an apartment off-the-plan, it is worth looking at this apartment to see what an 80 sqm apartment is like.  For example, look at the photo below -- there is no place to put a TV, unless you put the TV or the couch in front of a window, and the coffee table has been pushed up against the couch to make the room seem bigger.  The kitchen is not really a room, but a row of floor tiles.  The bedrooms are tiny, at 3m by 3.1m; or 3.05m by 3.3m.  Typically, you would not want a bedroom less than 3m x 4m.

Keep in mind that two bedroom apartments with good views can be as large as 130 sqm, so remember to compare apples with apples when looking at apartments.  That is why price per square metre is a good comparison measure.