Showing posts with label student. Show all posts
Showing posts with label student. 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.

Friday, October 17, 2014

Student Accommodation and Serviced Apartments - Good Investments?

"In summary, it’s difficult to recommend pursuing an investment in either a serviced apartment or student accommodation. While they both provide good cash flow, investors are likely to encounter resistance in obtaining finance, plenty of fees, a weak aftermarket and a need for ongoing in investment."

See AFR article - the type of property to be wary of

At present in Brisbane, there is an oversupply of apartments built for investors to rent to students.  Rents are decreasing, vacancy rates are increasing, and there are less students looking for such accommodation.   And non-students are not interested in living in or buying such apartments.  Take care!

Saturday, June 14, 2014

China Impact

Four recent articles in the AFR are of interest in relation to the impact of China on Australian property.

"Spike in approvals for foreign investment in housing" (AFR, 12 June 2014, p. 36): The FIRB has approved a big jump in applications to buy Australian housing.  In dollar terms, the investment approved is up 67%.

"Chinese buyers key to market: Triguboff" (AFR, 12 June 2014, p. 36):  Meriton raised the issue of whether those who were allowed to buy homes because they were temporary residents, sold them when they ceased to be Australian residents.  In the 2012-13 year, 43.7% of FIRB approvals were for temporary residents to buy established dwellings, because foreign buyers who do not have permanent residency, can only buy new homes.  Meriton pointed out that the annual report of the FIRB did not report on compliance.

"We are part of the Chinese market.  The buyers compare me [Meriton] with the prices in Shanghai and Beijing.  If the price falls in China, that will affect us," Mr Triguboff said.

"China's housing vacancies signal property bubble" (AFR, 12 June 2014, p. 10): A report estimates that there are 49 million vacant homes in China, resulting in a vacancy rate of 22.4%.  "Once expectations change, the high vacancy rate will puts lots of pressure on prices and we could see them collapse."

"President targets naked civil servants" (AFR, 11 June 2014, p. 14): A group of Chinese bureaucrats, dubbed the luoguan or naked officials have become the latest target of President Xi Jinping.  They move their families and money to foreign countries.  "No one know how much this new approach will affect universities and real estate markets in favoured destinations like Australia as the numbers are hard to pin down.  But they are not small."  There are estimated to be about 1.2 million naked officials at the end of 2012.

"House prices second highest in the world" (AFR, 12 June 2014, p. 5): Australia may have the world's second-most expensive housing market behind Belgium, according to the IMF.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Iglu Student Accommodation on Mary Street

At 65 Mary Street, Iglu Student Accommodation is planning to build a 23 storey building, with over 400 rooms (not really apartments).  It is a skinny block, with not much road frontage, and is right next to a government building on Mary Street.  The new development will be opposite M on Mary, which can be seen in the right on the photo below.  Details at BrisbaneDevelopment.


Monday, December 19, 2011

Chinese Buyers

A website for Chinese buyers of real estate outside China is in the process of being launched.  It is called Juwai.  There are already a bunch of Australian listings.

"The site has more than 1 million property listings from over 80,000 agents and developers in the US, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan.   Schwartz says there a “huge need” for such a site."  See Property Observer.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Migration to Queensland

Bernard Salt from KPMG has a very interesting article in The Australian today. It says that interstate migration to Queensland is slowing. But this decline has been offset by international migration to Queensland and a higher birth rate. According to Salt, this means that the rental market will be good but the residential sales market will be adversely impacted in the short term. An extract:

"This time around, super is looking sick and older workers believe there's better value in working longer. The upshot is a diminution in interstate migration outflows and inflows.

This has affected the demand for property in states such as Queensland and Western Australia, where the economy and property industry have been geared around interstate-migration-supported growth. Take away interstate migration and these states are impacted, Western Australia less so than Queensland because of the mining boom.

But how long will this trend last? The answer is both simple and complex.

The slowdown in interstate migration to Queensland will last for as long as people have diminished confidence in their ability to achieve the shift. There needs to be time and positive consumer and workplace sentiment between the GFC and the recovery.

I'd suggest that, all else being equal, that timeframe would be three to four years, which means that recovery might not arrive until mid next year. But "demographic recovery" for Queensland could also be tempered by the floods and Cyclone Yasi as well as by further changes in policy settings coming out of Canberra.

And then there is the issue of negative media sentiment, which will continue for as long as the ABS reports show demographic decline."

Full story here. It is worth reading.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

South Bank Student Accommodation

Urbanest is operating a student dormitory accommodation building at South Bank, near the TAFE. It has a total of 713 rooms and studios, which are furnished and air-conditioned. The rooms are small and tight -- for example, 5 bedrooms will share a kitchen. And the pricing is amazing -- for example, a studio for one person is listed on the website as being $435 a week, or a bedroom in a 4 bedroom hallway is $336 per week.

For $650 a week, you could rent a large two bed furnished apartment in the Arbour on Grey, or for $750 a luxury two bed furnished apartment in Saville South Bank. So two students sharing a two bedroom apartment would do much better than renting in Urbanest.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Brisbane Report

"The Redcliffe peninsula was a stellar performer through the 2003 boom. The pointy end of Brisbane’s northern beaches appeared to be an undiscovered wealth of natural riches that went from obscurity to belle of the ball. Council was gung-ho in getting plenty of capital invested in the area and, on the whole, it has awoken this sleepy centre. The downside is the current and continuing oversupply of new units in the area, particularly in the high rise sector. Local government took on a flexible approach to development submissions where many projects were assessed on an individual basis with such items as public space contributions affecting the allowable density of a site. Much of these large scale attached unit developments also take advantage of water views and a cafĂ© lifestyle that drives demand in so many other centres. The area saw a rush of investors from all around the country eager to take advantage of this now revealed gem. Unfortunately, oversupply is knocking the wind out of the areas sails (and its sales). Capital growth for new unit buyers has been a touch subdued and it looks to continue in this disappointing vein for a little while yet.

A surprise disappointment has been the multiple tenancy properties in greater Brissy. Multi room student complexes, genuine purpose-built flats buildings and boarding houses haven’t sparked as expected over the past year. The income sure looks good but its fair to say that some steam has escaped the rental market and future income potential is a touch more tarnished than it was 12 months ago. These properties probably have some good potential in the long term as long as you stick with the fundamentals - good location and a ready tenant base.

Infrastructure upgrades are another area that has lowered buyer expectations in locations that deserve a little more respect. Kedron is a good case in point. Almost overnight the Northern Busway turned sections of the suburb into a dust laden construction site – not the thing you necessarily want to wake to each day. The works have caused quite a bit of inconvenience and put off a few purchasers. The upside for those willing to take the plunge and grin and bear it is that, if finished right, these areas will benefit from improved transport access and useable community infrastructure."

HTW October Report

Monday, September 15, 2008

Brisbane Students Forced Out of Housing

See recent article in Brisbane Times.

As an aside, a new apartment complex is to open in Indooroopilly in October. Called Riverbend Towers, it has 35 apartments, all of which will be rentals. The majority are three bedroom apartments, with 11 two bed apartments. The apartments are relatively large. Rents range from $500 to $550 per week for a 2 bedroom apartment; $650 to $750 for a three bedroom apartment; and $950 for a penthouse.