Saturday, March 29, 2008

Water's Edge at West End

For a photo of the proposed development, see this Vox site.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

104 Apartments for Bardon

First, there was Roma Street Parklands. Then Sherwood Parklands. My guess is that next, the Pradella Construction Group will launch Bardon Parklands. Pradella owns the Bardon Conference Centre.

"Brisbane City Council is assessing an application by the Pradella Group to rezone the 3.4ha site from a community purpose and conservation area for redevelopment. The proposal, lodged with the council in September 2006, features four three-storey buildings to house 104 apartments and 20 attached units, with 248 car parks."

See

http://mountcoot-tha.greens.org.au/media-centre/interviews/centre-rezone-ask-for-units

http://www.thebardoncentre.com.au/assets/bardon-map.pdf

http://www.pradella.com.au/web/pdf/news_2007_issue1.pdf

http://www.pradella.com.au/content/news/press_display.asp?id=141

Would you live in Charlotte Towers?

I visited Charlotte Towers recently. It was built and sold by Devine as an apartment building, and sold as "residential apartments". However, it is now an Oaks Hotel. There are still some people living here on a full time basis. But it is not nice. Four things that I saw on my visit:

  • room service plates and trays left in the hall
  • cleaners with trolleys blocking halls and elevators
  • a hotel guest who was very frustrated, who had a bad check in experience, and could not find her way to her "room" - she took her frustrations out on me
  • the driveway to the car park blocked with people trying to check in -- there were four cars trying to get in and two cars trying to get out -- but it was blocked by a car of guests checking in.

An agent said that it was better now, as the facilities got less use -- before Oaks, there were many students in the building, often illegally overcrowding apartments. Oaks, he said, is now focusing on short stays for executives. The agent said that Oaks had over 90% occupancy during the week.

Online, I could reserve a one bedroom apartment for $150 a night.

RP Data Report

RP Data reports that Brisbane Apartment prices increased about 28% last year. Growth, however, is slowing.

See http://apr.cpmresearch.com.au/apr/Portals/0/MR290208.pdf

This valuer's report is also interesting.

Brisbane Westin

The Empire Square development is now in pre-sales. It is called The Residences at the Brisbane Westin Empire Square.

"The building area will be approximately 85,000m2. It is designed to be 250 metres high with 68 storeys and 62 habitable floor levels. Currently there are only 2 other buildings in the Brisbane CBD of comparable height.

The building architects Cottee Parker Architects Pty Ltd have designed an iconic structure which will be a signature building in Brisbane, with an ultra-modern tower and timeless qualities adding to the elegance of the city skyline.

Internally, the design aims to create a pleasing and peaceful ambiance in keeping with the elegance of the structure, whilst providing modern and practical solutions.

The development will be located on a land area of almost 2,000m2 at the upper end and southwest side of Elizabeth Street Brisbane.

The building will also feature 23 floors of "A grade" office space from levels 5 to 27. The office section will have a separate foyer and dedicated lift bank.

The building will also incorporate 104 strata titled residential apartments over 16 floors from floor 47 to 62. The current proposal is to integrate the apartments within the ´5 Star Hotel´. Through the integration concept, the apartments will be complementary to the Hotel and benefit from a wide range of premium facilities offered by the Hotel including; swimming pool, gymnasium, sauna, steam bath, relaxation lounge, food and beverage, house-keeping and laundry services.

The development will provide a range of accommodation choices from two bedroom apartments (some with study) to three bedroom sky homes and double storey penthouses. Prices start at $1,300,000.

The Hotel will occupy 20 levels of hotel rooms and facilities, which will incorporate 306 luxury hotel rooms and suites, including a presidential suite overlooking South Bank.

Level 30 will feature the hotel´s recreational facilities including pool, his & hers gyms, beauty centre and day spa. Meeting rooms and a business centre will also be available to guests.

Bar and dining facilities will be available on the mezzanine levels."

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Trilogy Tower

French Quarter in Alice Street

From the Devine website, which shows that three towers are planned:

"Devine Limited has recently obtained control of a 7,252sqm parcel of land in the Brisbane CBD directly opposite the Botanic Gardens."

"A circa 54 storey high-rise development incorporating a 120 - 150 room 6 star boutique hotel approximately with circa 70 first class residential units ranging in size from 250 - 800sqm gross and valued at between $3 million to $15 million each. The development is located on the corner of Alice and Albert Streets opposite the Brisbane Botanical Gardens.

Projects Status:
The building is currently in the initial schematic design and we have run an international design competition which we believe will produce a visionary landmark design. Submissions have already been received from some of Europes finest architects. We have also run an international tender seeking expressions of interest from leading hotel operator-managers and have 12 responses from national and internationally renowned organisations in the field.
Some of those include:
The Park Hyatt
Intercontinental
The Regent
Conrad Hilton
Shangrila
Mirvac
TAJ
A development application will be lodged over the site once the new Brisbane City Neighbourhood plan has been adopted in 2008."

Drawings

Promotional Video: Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_ECTk24lxg to see Devine's proposal.

Hamilton Harbour - Over 200 Apartments Planned

From Devine's website:

PROJECT SIZE
Mixed-use development comprising approximately 250 apartments, 30,000m2 commercial office space and 1500m2 retail space.

PROGRAM
A preliminary development application was lodged over the site in January 2007, which is currently being processed by Brisbane City Council and is anticipated to be approved in early 2008.

PROJECT END VALUE
$400 million

ANTICIPATED COMPLETION DATE
FY 2011 (stage development)

ANTICIPATED CONSTRUCTION START DATE
Last quarter 2008

Drawings

REIQ Apartment Price Report for Brisbane

REIQ Unit Report - see http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/media/prices.pdf

Brisbane City - medium price is $469,000 for December 2007 quarter, which is a 8.7% change of the quarter. A number of suburbs have a higher medium price.

From the Brisbane Times this week:

The median sale price of units and townhouses in the inner-city suburb of Milton almost doubled last year, beating growth seen in Hamilton and New Farm.

A suburb known for its student population, proximity to a brewery and a miniature Eiffel Tower, Milton left other city hotspots for dead in 2007. ...

A scarcity of potential development sites in the inner-city area had seen Milton placed "in the firing line" of developers because of its location, he said.

As a result, industrial and commercial lots in the suburb could soon be replaced with new apartment projects, he said.

Units in Milton represent almost 39 per cent of all dwellings, with a higher proportion of older properties built between the 1960s and 1990s.

"The median unit price since 2004 has experienced significant fluctuations, particularly when new apartment stock dominates the total number of transactions," Mr Rivera said.

Prices in the area had performed "exceptionally well" lately thanks to the introduction of high-rise apartments, which achieved a much higher price than mature unit stock, he said.

Planned developments in the area confirmed Milton as a "strategic location" for residents and businesses, as it was likely to bring new infrastructure and improve liveability.

One such project is FKP's Union Milton development situated above the train station, and is proposed to include a 30-storey residential building of 214 apartments.

Along with the residential component, the developer plans to include a hotel and 10-storey office space.

While there was a drop in sales in the December quarter, Mr McGrath said investors would likely return to the market as yields improved over the course of 2008.

Brisbane Auction Results for early March 2008

Evolution Discounted

Received in the email today:


"
... the developer is offering a limited offer to all purchasers of 2bed, 2bath, 1car and 2bed, 1bath, 1car apartments in Evolution as a part of our Grand Opening.


A type Apartments 2bed, 2bath, 1car apartments
  • 1 year, 5% rental guarantee
  • $50,000 rebate to purchaser at settlement
C type Apartments 2bed, 1bath, 1car apartments
  • 1 year, 6% rental guarantee
  • $30,000 rebate to purchaser at settlement
This offer valid for sales where the SAF is received by 31 March and the contract is unconditional on or before 14 April, 2008."

I guess this means that Evolution was overpriced or is not selling well or the developer is worried about a market downturn.

St George Bank's Prediction regarding housing price growth

Despite the healthy state of the Australian economy, with positive terms of trade helping to boost incomes and household spending power, uncertain financial conditions may limit any benefits for property growth.

St George says that, on balance, it's unlikely that the residential housing market will remain unharmed.

"For this reason, despite fundamentals such as lower vacancy rates and higher population growth rates, we have downgraded our forecasts for average house prices," chief economist Steven Milch says in the latest property market update.

Australian house price growth is now expected to be between 5 and 10 per cent over the next year, with Perth the only possible exception - possibly below the 5 per cent mark.

"It should be noted, however, that a cooling in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide (where prices increased by a minimum of 18 per cent over the past 12 months) might actually assist in avoiding a boom-bust cycle," Mr Milch says.

The bank says history shows the last five housing cycles lasted for an average of five years from base to peak.

"The trough of the current cycle was end-2004 so the possible timing of the next peak is end-2009," Mr Milch says.

See news.com.au

Bardon Parklands - 104 apartments planned

First, there was Roma Street Parklands. Then Sherwood Parklands. My guess is that next, the Pradella Construction Group will launch Bardon Parklands. Pradella owns the Bardon Conference Centre.

"Brisbane City Council is assessing an application by the Pradella Group to rezone the 3.4ha site from a community purpose and conservation area for redevelopment. The proposal, lodged with the council in September 2006, features four three-storey buildings to house 104 apartments and 20 attached units, with 248 car parks."

See

http://mountcoot-tha.greens.org.au/media-centre/interviews/centre-rezone-ask-for-units

http://www.thebardoncentre.com.au/assets/bardon-map.pdf

http://www.pradella.com.au/web/pdf/news_2007_issue1.pdf

http://www.pradella.com.au/content/news/press_display.asp?id=141

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Brisbane Apartment Market is Hot

Extract from SMH (Full article) March 4, 2008

According to BIS Shrapnel forecasts, Brisbane is projected to show the best growth over the next three years and by 2010 will have the leading long-term growth average of Australia's capital cities.

While preferring not to elect individual suburbs as growth hot spots, BIS Shrapnel senior economist Jason Anderson says the imbalance between supply and demand in Brisbane is set to affect apartment prices. Anderson believes the capital will soon face a dire shortage of apartments, especially for renters.

"[The imbalance is] going to get even worse in the inner-ring suburbs ... so in that sense there's a leaning towards that end of the market - particularly if you're looking at the volume of demand, which will rise substantially as new office developments are completed in 2009 and 2010."

...

Most people buying an apartment within Brisbane aspire to purchase within the inner city or areas near the city, Lawless says. He believes these areas provide the highest level of amenity, such as shopping, restaurants, nightclubs and cafes.

Both Lawless and McNamara believe the city will offer good returns in the medium term. "Essentially, it's important to be close to the CBD - and where apartments overlook the river and are close to the city you'll probably have good capital growth," McNamara says.

"Brisbane is starting to become expensive and many Gen Ys are going to be looking to rent in quality apartments in the city where the action is, as opposed to buying, because property prices where they want to live are somewhat out of their reach."

...

SUNSHINE COAST

McNamara says Noosa Heads is "the signature place - the place to be on the Sunshine Coast" and believes that of all the areas in the region, this is the one where strong demand will continue.

Noosa's median apartment price rose from $500,000 in 2006 to $549,000 last year. McNamara also likes Mooloolaba, which has a thriving local economy and attracts many holiday-makers. Median prices rose from $355,000 in 2006 to $375,000 last year.

Skyline - How much is unsold?

From Ariadne's report to the ASX dated 27 February 2008:

The 192 unit Skyline project was completed in October 2007. As at 31 December 2007, the project was 65% settled. Currently, 24 units remain to be sold.

Ariadne expects a degree of volatility in the SEQ property market over the next 12 months.

(On 13 November 2007, Ariadne reported that the Skyline project was 80% sold and that settlement was expected on the week starting 26 November 2007.)

Why, if it was 80% sold as at November, was it only 65% settled as at the end of December? Did 15% of the sales fail to settle? Or are these insider sales with delayed settlement?

Waterfront Newstead

Mirvac's first mailout for their Waterfront project at Newstead has taken place.

Construction of the sales centre on Evelyn Street is underway.

Mirvac plans to release two buildings with the Pier area in the first half of this year.

The website at www.mirvac.com.au/waterfrontnewstead/ states one building will be 5 storeys and the other will be 8 storeys, and will comprise premium 3 and 4 bedroom apartments.

There will be a lake, a 6 hectare park, and a total of 650 apartments across all buildings when complete in 2015 -2017.

Demand for Brisbane Apartments Set to Rise

Extracts from the SMH. (Full article) March 4, 2008

"The coast may be fashionable but Brisbane remains the most popular location for interstate migrants, attracting the largest proportion of Sydneysiders ready to call Queensland home.
...

The growth in employment has affected housing supplies, says senior BIS Shrapnel economist Jason Anderson.

"There has been a huge amount of employment growth in south-east Queensland, particularly in office markets," Anderson says. "Vacancy rates in Brisbane are negligible and there has been a lot of office construction. Sites once mooted for residential use are snapped up for offices."

As a result, Anderson says, there is little new apartment construction happening and supply is very constrained.

"Office construction is going to draw a lot of people into the CBD for work, and demand for accommodation in inner-ring suburbs is going to increase sharply over the next two years," he says. "There are not going to be enough new apartments for them to occupy."

He says this situation means the outlook for inner-Brisbane apartments is positive. He also predicts a perception shift in the value of apartments in the middle and outer suburbs.

"We'll see more construction and acceptance of the value of having new apartments in middle and outer-ring suburbs close to transport infrastructure," he says. "There's not going to be enough rental housing in the inner ring, so demand will spill into the middle ring. This will change people's expectations of returns over the next two to three years."

...

"The recent stockmarket jitters might see more investors returning to the 'tried and true' property market," Timchur says. "With so many new unit projects about to launch in the Brisbane market, developers will need to keep their fingers on the pulse and make sure they are providing what the market wants.

"Things are going to get competitive this year."

PRICES SOAR FOR NEW UNITS

The average price of a new unit within five kilometres of the Brisbane CBD rose from $597,000 in June last year to $725,417 in December, an increase of 21.5 per cent.

The figures were released by Colliers International Brisbane research analyst, Alison Timchur, who reports there are at least 10 big projects due to hit the Brisbane market this year.

These 10 developments account for more than 2400 units, with a building cost of $2.8 billion. More than 50 per cent are expected to be two-bed units, with a further 35 per cent one-bedders.

Timchur says this highlights how developers have been guided by market activity last year to determine current and emerging living trends, and are planning new developments to cater for the expanding single and couple inner-city market, which has dominated the Brisbane marketplace during the past year.

"One thing we may expect to see in 2008 is the continued escalation of new unit prices, driven by factors such as increased demand, larger living spaces and the increasing popularity of inner-city apartments for owner-occupiers and investors alike," she says.

THE ONLY WAY IS UP

· A PRDnationwide Brisbane unit report shows 2007 was a turnaround year for Brisbane's new apartment market.

· After the slowest year in more than a decade, there was an upswing of activity in new unit sales last year.

· During the year, $732 million of new apartments were bought and sold in inner Brisbane (a total of 1065 units).

· The average price of a new unit in inner Brisbane during last year was $687,000.

Not A Good Week for Auctions in Brisbane

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Auction Results for Charlotte Towers

Apartment 2703 in Charlotte Towers recently went to auction and was sold for $461,000.
This apartment was originally listed for sale at $518,000, prior to completion of the building.
Details from original online advertisement: 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1 car, "this fantastic unit enjoys a total internal area of 71m2 with a further 11m2 allocated for alfresco dining".

Other recent sales (according to Ray White):

172/170 Leichardt Street, Spring Hill - $441,000 (Oxygen Apartments)

83/82 Boundary Street, Brisbane - $660,000 (River Place)

46 & 47/293 North Quay, Brisbane - $360,000 (North Quay)

1206/128 Charlotte Street, Brisbane - $320,000 (Charlotte Towers)

14/22 Barry Parade, Fortitude Valley - $510,000 (The Hub)

Admiralty Two - Recent Sales

Market Forces

My theory is that if a building has too many apartments for sale at any one time, this negatively impacts the value of the apartments. First, it shows high turnover (which could mean dissatisfaction. Second, it drives the price down -- as purchasers can play each seller off. On the other hand, scarcity drives values higher.

I have tried to work out how many apartments are for sale in certain buildings as at today, looking at various sources, and this what I conclude. I did not count anything reported to be under contract. The details are probably inaccurate, but the overall picture is probably about right:

Brisbane City

  • Admiralty Towers One - 0
  • Admiralty Quays - 1
  • Admiralty Towers Two - 2
  • Quay West - 2
  • Metro 21 - 4
  • River Place - 5
  • Felix - 6
  • Casino Towers - 8
  • Skyline - at least 26 (plus what the developer has not yet sold)
  • Festival Towers - 32
  • Charlotte Towers - at least 40 (plus what the developer has not yet sold)
  • Aurora - 41
  • M on Mary - more than 100
South Bank area
  • Saville South Bank - 0
  • Arbour on Grey - 2
A Niche Realty Newsletter reports the following regarding number of sales and median sales price over a six month period (1 May 2007 to 30 October 2007):


By comparison, in the whole of Indooroopilly, there are 12 apartments/units currently listed for sale, of varying age and quality.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Brisbane Videos

These interesting videos show future developments for Brisbane. So take care when buying -- some existing buildings will loose their views; and there will be a huge influx of apartments into Brisbane in the future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmGWIbOYZmU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l687g1Ub5qM&feature=related

Trilogy Tower

Wickham Terrace & Turbot Street (Central Station)

Vision

Tennyson Reach

NorthBridge (office development, which will block some views from Evolution)

Brisbane Now, from PleaseTakeMeTo.com

Trilogy Tower & Mirvac

APH is spreading the rumor that Mirvac will be managing its new apartment hotel complex at Trilogy. Pricing is said to start at $480,000 for a one bedroom furnished apartment without a river view.

I hope that APH will do a better job than it did on Aurora, where there are many unhappy residents and unhappy owners.

Aurora Becomes A Hotel

Another Brisbane apartment building is being turned into a hotel. This time it is Aurora.

Owner residents and tenants are upset and complaining.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2008/02/01/1201801005451.html

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/hotel-boom-will-push-rents-up/2008/01/31/1201714119885.html

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/hundreds-face-high-rise-eviction/2008/01/30/1201369225722.html

See prior posts.:

Casino Towers Falls to Oaks

Charlotte Towers to Become Hotel

Turning Apartments into Hotels

When will the Council stop this?

A number of buildings are adding anti-Oaks provisions to their by-laws. The latest to do this is Admiralty 2.

Gabba Central

Three Year Leases For Brisbane?

As reported in the Brisbane Times:

http://www.domain.com.au/Public/Article.aspx?id=1202760269214&index=NationalIndex&headline=Three-year%20leases%20

"Changes to Brisbane's rental market in coming years could see the introduction of a US-style system where three-year leases are quite common, one property analyst believes.

The shortage of rental accommodation in South-East Queensland is unlikely to improve in the short term, signalling a need for change, according to Michael Matusik from Matusik Property Insight.

In the US and some parts of Europe, tenants take out leases that can stretch for years - and sometimes generations.

A similar system would work in Brisbane where soaring prices and plummeting vacancy rates are stretching the rental market, he said.

Currently in Brisbane, the most common lease length is six months - but Mr Matusik believes an increase to at least 12-month minimums is on the horizon.

....."

See article for more detail.

Mirvac's Results

Mirvac's results release yesterday included the following information:

  • Tennyson Reach QLD - $203m in exchanged contracts
  • Queensland residential pipeline forecast for apartments - $1,865m
  • Housing market construction activity through FY08
    - Strong: VIC, QLD
    - Moderate: WA, SA
    - Recovering: NSW - but still below long-term trend through 2008
  • Inter-state economic outlook
    - Strong: WA, QLD
    - Moderate: VIC
    - Recovering: NSW

http://www.mirvac.com.au/investor/pdf/20080212_WebPres.pdf

TENNYSON DEVELOPMENT: Acquired Aug 05, Project Value $574m, Total Lots - 393; Released Lots - 207; Exchanged Lots -126
Tennyson Breakdown:
Softstone & Lushington Project Value $191m; Total Lots: 115 Released: 115; Exchanged: 115 (Settlement Apr 2009 to July 2009) Price Range: $940,000 – $4.9m
Farringford Project Value $126m; Total Lots 92; Released Lots 92; Exchanged: 11 (Settlement Sep 2009 to Jan 2010) Price Range: $805,000 – $4.9m
Pamphlett Project Value $109m; Total Lots: 82 (Settlement July 2010 to November 2010); Price Range: $695,000 – $3.2m
Parsons Project Value $96m Total Lots 67 (Settlement July 2011 to Nov 2011); Price Range: $885,000 – $3.3m
Somersby Project Value: $53m Total Lots 37 (Settlement July 11 to Nov 2011) Price Range: $885,000 – $3.3m

Newstead River Park: 631 apartments, settlement not until June 2010 to June 2014: Price Range: $800,000 – $6.0m

http://www.mirvac.com.au/investor/pdf/20080212_HYReport.pdf

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Someone was not happy

The CEO of APM was not happy with this post on another blog.

Brisbane Construction

As reported on SkyScraperLife (including projected completion date and name of builder):

Under Construction:
Centary Square [108 Wickham St] -- Feb-08 <<>>
Evolution - [18 Tank St] -- due Apr-08 <<>>
Green Square [503 St. Paul’s Tce] -- Jun-08 <<>>
Tribune [199 Grey St] -- Jun-08 <<>>
WBC Annex [199 George St] -- Jun-08 <<>>
Devine Office [333 Ann St] -- Sep-08 <<>>
Wesly Mission [110 Ann St] -- Sep-08 << ???????? >>
545 Queen St [545 Queen St] -- Nov-08 <<>>
Petrie Barracks [Given Tce] -- Nov-08 <<>>
Central Plaza 3 [80 Eagle St] -- Dec-08 <<>>
NAB Annex [308 Queen St] -- Dec-08 <<>>
53 Albert St [53 Albert St] -- Mar-09 <<>>
Brisbane Central [140 Elizabeth St] -- Mar-09 <<>>
Matisee tower [110 Mary St] -- Mar-09 <<>>
NorthBridge [31 Tank St] -- Mar-09 <<>>
AM60 [42 Albert St] -- Mar-09 <<>>
The Macrossan [475 Adelaide St] -- Jun-09 <<>>
Suncorp Tower [179 Turbot St] -- Jun-09 <<>>
Icon Place [270 Adelaide St] -- Jun-09 <<>>
Sky Campus [400 George St] -- Dec-09 <<>>
NorthBank Plaza [275 George] -- Dec-09 <<>>
Vision [131 Mary St] -- Jun 2012 <<>>


Pending Start: (real Projects with construction contract, due to start soon)
Trilogy [480 Queen] -- <<>>
111 Eagle St [111 Eagle St] -- <<>>
Union [Milton Station 150 Milton Rd] -- <<>>
Westminster Hall [145 Ann St] -- <<>>
Southpoint [Collins Place] -- <<>>
Meriton [495 Adelaide St] -- <<>>
550 Queen St [550 Queen St] -- <<>>

Not all of these are apartments. Will these block views of existing apartments?

Meriton's Brisbane Plans

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

M on Mary

Admiralty One - Two Bedroom

Apartment 101 in Admiralty is listed for sale at $610,000. This is one of the apartments at the back of the building. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, one car. This same apartment was listed for sale with the same agent in October 2006 for $450,000. Now thats a good capital gain!

Monday, January 14, 2008

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

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Devine's Plans for Alice Street

As reported in the Courier Mail in late December 2007:

BRISBANE is about to get its most expensive apartments, as local developer Devine prepares to launch a French-inspired project boasting units priced at up to $15 million.

The price tags will far exceed the $12.36 million being asked for apartments in a proposed Kangaroo Point development, Scott Street, unveiled earlier this year.

Property records reveal the highest price paid so far for a Brisbane apartment was the $7.37 million shelled out for the penthouse in Riparian Plaza, while several units at New Farm and another at Hamilton have all topped $5 million.

The yet-to-be-built Vision tower between Mary and Margaret streets has a two-level apartment that sold for $3.89 million.

Penthouses in Skyline, on Macrossan St, are expected to bring $5 million-plus.

Devine managing director, David Devine believes the Brisbane market is ready to accept apartments of this value.

The apartments will be part of a French Quarter precinct on sites Devine owns on the corner of Albert, Alice and Margaret streets in the city heart.

The first stage will feature a tower with a luxury six-star hotel, the apartments on top, retail and commercial space on the lower levels and Parisian-style cafes and walkways.

An international design competition for the building has been whittled down to a shortlist of three.

Devine marketing director Ken Woodley hopes a final decision will be made on the design early in the new year.

He said there would be 70 to 90 residential apartments above the hotel on the Alice St site. These would range from 300sq m to 800sq m and cost $2.5 million to $15 million.

Mr Devine said while there would be only one penthouse, luxurious sub-penthouses were expected to fetch $12 million to $15 million. Another international competition will be held to design the interiors of the apartments, which Mr Devine said would feature the highest quality finishes available.

The building will incorporate the latest in "technomenities" – the latest generation smart home technology.

This will include automated systems for lighting and climate, in-home entertainment and electronic concierge services.

Mr Woodley hopes work will start on the development in the second quarter of 2009, with completion in late 2012.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

What will 2008 have in store for the Brisbane apartment market?

First, how did the Brisbane apartment market do in 2007?

The results were mixed.

It is hard to get reliable information about "the state of the market" when looking at inner city apartments in Brisbane. Agents only seem to remember the last two weeks -- if they made some good sales in the past 2 weeks, then the market is booming; if they didn't get new listings or a contract collapsed, then the market is heading towards a bust.

Information providers, such as RP Data and PRDColliers, have good information, and this information is often used by the media to make general conclusions. However, general conclusions are often not useful when considering a particular apartment building or apartment.

Capital Gains

Some apartment buildings did very well, and others did not. Overall, a good building had at least a 10% capital gain in 2007.

The buildings that had good capital gains include:

• Riverplace, where the average 2 bedroom apartment increased from about $500,000 to over $600,000.
• Admiralty Two, where 2 bedroom apartments increased from about $650,000 to $720,000 (with one now listed at over $800,000).
• Quay West, with a 2 bedroom apartment selling to a senior Devine employee at auction for over $800,000.
• Metro 21, with high floor 2 bedroom apartments increasing from less than $460,000 to more than $500,000.
• Arbour on Grey, with 2 bedroom apartments now in the low $700,000 range.

Buildings that have been disappointments include:

• Charlotte Towers and Festival Towers - with Oaks taking over management. Many developer apartments still remain for sale in Charlotte Towers. Investors who purchased off the plan have had a hard time getting good prices on resale, with over 800 pokey poor quality student apartments in these two buildings, where the views will likely be lost as buildings grow around them and there will always be competition amongst sellers.
• Casino Towers, also taken over by Oaks, and with North Bank plans taking out the river views.
• Aurora, a poor quality ghetto building.
• Vue, at Milton, with apartments that sold off the plan in the mid $700,000s reselling at auction in the mid $500,000s.
• Koko, that still has not sold out, and the complex feels like a ghost town. The developer overpromised and under delivered.

Rents

Rents increased, and vacancy rates dropped in 2007. But the overall rental market is not as good as many newspaper articles suggest. The poorer quality buildings are full of students, often with 6 people living in a 2 bedroom apartment, on a rent subsidised by the developer who promised the first owner a rental guarantee. Many apartments are occupied by corporate renters (such as Accenture, engineers working on the tunnel, etc) who are willing to pay high prices for new furnished apartments; but this demand will not continue indefinitely. Some buildings, such as those managed by Oaks, are turning apartments into hotel rooms, thus reducing supply. Although December is not the best month to find tenants, there are many empty apartments in Brisbane awaiting tenants. Skyline and Koko, for example, have many empty apartments.

Although rents increased in 2007, the rate of increase slowed towards the end of the year. It is now hard to find a good unfurnished two bedroom apartment for rent in the inner city for less than $550.

Predictions for 2008

Quality inner city apartments in Brisbane will do well in 2008. Capital growth will continue, and vacancy rates will remain low. Reasons for this include:

▪ Brisbane population will continue to increase.
▪ International students still regard Brisbane as a desirable location.
▪ There are many infrastructure projects in Brisbane, requiring professional staff to work in Brisbane.
▪ Traffic will get worse, and many young singles and families will want to live in quality accommodation close to work and other facilities.
▪ It is becoming more acceptable and desirable to live in an apartment in Brisbane.
▪ The U.S. subprime problems will have little long term impact in Brisbane.
▪ There will be few new buildings entering the market in the next two years. M on Mary and Evolution, both second tier buildings, will be complete in 2008. That's about it. There are only six buildings listed on realestate.com.au in the developers section for the CBD, and four of these are completed buildings (Vue, Trilogy, Pinnacle, Skyline, The Hub, Evolution). It does not look like any new buildings will be ready in 2009. There will be new buildings for which marketing will commence in 2008, but these buildings will not be ready until at least 2010.

So here are some predictions for 2008:

• The price of a good quality 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment in Brisbane, with views, will be at least $800,000.
• The price of an average quality 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment in Brisbane will reach $650,000.
• By the end of 2008, it will be hard to find any modern inner city apartment in Brisbane in a good location for less than $600,000.
• New off-the-plan 2 bedroom apartments (for buildings where marketing commences in 2008) will start at $800,000.
• Average rent for an unfurnished 2 bedroom apartment will jump midyear to $620 per week.
• There will be more buyers than sellers.
• There will be more action in the inner suburbs than in the city. Prices for quality apartments in areas such as Indooroopilly and Toowong (where there is a train station and regional shopping, close to education facilities) will boom. By the end on 2008, it will be hard to find a good quality 2 bedroom apartment in these areas for less than $600,000.
• Noosa and Mooloolaba will rise again, as people looking in Brisbane for investments will see good value in the northern beaches, particularly beachfront apartments.
• 2009 will be better than 2008.

If you find any of these predictions hard to believe, for some buildings they are already true. For example, today:

• Small Off-the-plan 2 bedroom apartments in Brisbane, in Evolution, at 75 sqm, are selling for over $650,000.
• Two bedroom apartments are selling in Quay West, Arbour on Grey, Admiralty One and Admiralty Two for more than $700,000.
• Trilogy, in Spring Hill, has two bedroom apartments (less than 80 sqm, but with views) listed at more than $600,000. [However, a number of contracts have fallen through, as the valuations have come back $40,000 or so less than contract price.)
• New two bedroom apartments with river views in West End and Milton (e.g. in Flow and in Coronation Residences), which are not prime locations, are selling for more than $900,000.
• Off-the-plan apartments (two bedrooms, at least 85 sqm) are selling in quality developments in Indooroopilly, Toowong and Sherwood today for well more than $550,000.
• People have signed contracts for 2 bedroom apartments in Vision (e.g., level 35, 120 sqm) for more than $1,000,000. Settlement, if this building ever gets off the ground, will not be until 2011.
• The price range for a large 2 bedroom apartment in Mirvac's Tennyson Reach is $900,000 to $1,100,000. Settlement in 2010.
• Off-the-plan 2 bedroom apartments in Soul on the Gold Coast are, at a minimum, $1,800,000. Settlement not at least until 2011.

So I will not be selling in 2008.