Grey Street South Bank

The Brisbane Convention Centre is upgrading and rebuilding on Grey Street at South Bank.

See this video.

This can only improve the values of apartments in South Bank.

Brisbane Apartment Prices to Grow

Real-estate experts are anticipating unit sales will outperform houses throughout 2009, with first-home buyers expected to be the market's driving force.
Brisbane Times

Best Buys for Brisbane Suburban Apartments

I have looked around this weekend, and these apartments seem to be good buys:

• Ciana at Indooroopilly has about 15 new apartments left for sale from developer. Three bedroom apartment for less than $565,000; large two bedroom apartments from $485,000 to $600,000.
• Parklands Sherwood - large two bedroom with 2 cars and views $535,000
  
• Fresh Toowong - large new 2 bedroom garden apartment at $520,000
• El Dorado off the plan: 2 bedroom apartments less than $600,000
• Precinct Toowong - mid size furnished two bedroom listed at $529,000
• Encore Toowong - 1 bedroom garden apartment listed at $339,000

There is also Tennyson Reach, where off the plan purchasers are trying to sell 2 bedroom apartments for $1,200,000 and three bedrooms from $1.6M. Ouch!

Recent Apartment Sales in Brisbane City

Skyline - Apartment 344 - Level 34 - Two bedrooms - $600,000 (highest bid, did not sell, relisted at $650,000 and did not sell. Current owner paid $695,000)
Aurora - Apartment 439 - Level 43 - Two bedrooms - $460,000
Club Lodge - Apartment 51 - Two beds, two cars - $440,000
Vue - Apartment 2409 - Two beds - $445,000
River City - Apartment 3802 - Two beds - $403,220
Flow West End - Apartment 80 - Four beds - failed to sell at auction

Rive Apartments Hamilton

If you have thinking of buying in Hamilton Harbour, have a look at Rive Apartments first. Similar location, larger apartments, and a lower price.

See also http://www.vecchio.com.au/news/2009-03-04.pdf

Harbour One Launch!

Ken Woodley, the Marketing Director for Devine, left the Harbour One sales office in Hamilton this afternoon with a big smile on his face. As he drove back to his large apartment in the Mirvac Quay West building in Brisbane, he was no doubt thinking about the 85 apartments that his team "sold" by way of expression of interest over the past two weeks in the Hamilton Harbour development.

The glossy brochure for Hamilton Harbour given out at the sales office is very impressive. You can feel the quality in the brochure. It is a shame that the brochure is misleading. There are nice PhotoShopped photos (i.e., fake photos) that show happy people on balconys with impressive river views. However, no apartment in Harbour One will have a balcony with the designs shown in the brochure, and the views will not be anywhere near as impressive (because there are buildings between Harbour One and the river.) And is it correct to say "Waterside Living" for a building on Kingsford Smith Drive that is two blocks back from the river with no direct river views?

The apartments with the best views face West, which is not great in a Brisbane summer.

The apartments are small and expensive. There are only three elevators for 238 apartments! There is no gym included -- you can join a commercial gym being built on the site. The living areas for most apartments have popcorn ceilings with oyster lights -- not the highest quality. Many one bed apartments do not have a car park. And a number of the one bed apartments do not even have a laundry -- not even a cupboard with a washing machine or dryer.

Type A One bedroom
41 sqm internal, 50 sqm total
No river views.
No car park.
No laundry.
Kitchen is a strip of cupboards in living room.
No room for dining table inside -- plan shows dining table on balcony.
Sliding doors to bedroom.
Price range - $295,000 to $385,000.
Price per square metre for most expensive of this design - $7,700
But if you add $50,000 for lack of carpark, then price per square metre is $8,300.

Type C One bedroom plus "extended living space"
54 sqm internal, 64 sqm total
Potential river views.
Kitchen is a strip of cupboards in entry way.
No room for dining table inside -- plan shows dining table on balcony.
No bath - shower only.
Price range - $405,000 to $495,000.
Example: Level 7 apartment is $430,000
Price per square metre for most expensive of this design - $7,734

Type E Two bedroom
73 sqm internal, 84 sqm total
Potential river views.
Second bedroom not near second bathroom
Both bedrooms at front
Price range - $555,000 to $695,000.
Example: Level 10 - $640,000
Price per square metre for most expensive of this design - $8,273

Type F Two bedroom
84 sqm internal, 98 sqm total
Largest two bed apartment
End apartment.
Potential river views.
Excellent glass-fronted wall to ceiling living space -- should give this apartment a wow factor!
Bedrooms at side or back -- second bedroom looks into blank wall.
Price range - $605,000 to $805,000.
Examples: Level 10 - $690,000; Level 12 - $745,000
Price per square metre for most expensive of this design - $8,214

It would be interesting to track re-sales in the recent Devine Charlotte Towers, to see if the apartments were priced too high when sold off-the-plan.

According to REIQ, the medium Hamilton apartment price for December Qtr 2008 was $415,000, which is down 11.6% on the previous quarter. Buying an existing apartment may be better value, or even Portside. For example, a two bedroom apartment in Admiralty Two, with direct river views and absolute river front, can be purchased for less than $650,000 (106 sqm) and is less than $6,000 per sqm. A one bedroom in Quay West, where Ken Woodley lives, is about 74 sqm, includes a car park, and is about $440,000 (less than $6,000 per sqm).

Gold Coast Still Not Golden

Queensland development group Pikos Group has announced it will slash prices by 25 percent, or up to $600,000, on all beachfront apartments in its three Gold Coast projects so it can keep its staff and contractors employed and pursue further beachfront acquisition opportunities.

The Brisbane-based company, headed by Pedro Pikos, has responded to the property market slowdown by discounting prices on all remaining stock. Source

REIQ Apartment Price Report for Brisbane - Dec Qtr 2008

As house prices escalated, units and townhouses were the most affordable – and often the only – option for first home buyers. But with the $14,000 and $21,000 boost monies now available, many first-time buyers can now afford to buy a modest house instead.

“This trend, plus investors not yet comprehensively returning to the market, means the unit and townhouse market has been affected by lower overall demand in the December quarter. Over the year, however, most areas recorded steady price growth,” REIQ chairman Peter McGrath said.

Brisbane City - Median December 08 Qtr - $460,000, with 2.2% increase over the Dec 07 results.
Indooroopilly - Median December 08 Qtr - $375,000, with 6.6% increase over the Dec 07 results.
Taringa - Median December 08 Qtr - $365,000, with 10.4% increase over the Dec 07 results.
Toowong - Median December 08 Qtr - $342,500, with 14.9% increase over the Dec 07 results.
West End - Median December 08 Qtr - $524,000, with 7.9% increase over the Dec 07 results.

French Quarter - Site Plan

Devine is proceeding with the French Quarter development, on Albert, Alice and Margaret Streets in Brisbane. Devine has applied for Council approval for a commercial tower (tower 3) at 111 Margaret Street.

Gold Coast:: Heading Up or Down?

A recent story in the Gold Coast Bulletin, which seems to try only to have positive stories about Gold Coast real estate, states:

"New apartment sales slumped during the December, 2008 quarter with just 77 unconditional transactions taking place for a total of $62.6 million, according to Colliers' latest Gold Coast Apartment Report. The figure was the second lowest on record since the research was first compiled in December 1996.

The research found sales in the December 2008 quarter, dropped significantly from the two previous periods, with 121 sales recorded in the September quarter and 448 sales in the June quarter. It was the worst quarter on record since December 2000, when 74 sales were recorded for a total of just $28.5 million. In the past two years, the number of sales per quarter has averaged 356. The report found the level of stock had also increased, with 2259 new apartments now available for sale, approaching the record figure of 2574 available in June 2007."

The story is titled "The only way is up for unit sales" and the remainder of the story rationalizes why this is the bottom of the market on the Gold Coast, and why it will get better for the remainder of this year. I disagree. My view is that the Gold Coast apartment market is still overpriced, and will see a significant decrease in price over the next 9 months.

Soleil Tower Price List

SELLING APARTMENTS OFF THE PLAN - Soliel Brisbane
Prices as at 9th Feb 2009
All apartments for sale start from level 31

One Bedroom apartments priced from $346,000
Two Bedroom apartments priced from $489,000
Two Bedroom plus study apartments from $529,000
Three Bedroom apartments priced from $774,000

Expected settlement at the end of 2011.

Water's Edge Progressing But Slowly

Pradella reports as follows:
"Waters Edge has received a fantastic response since its October launch late last year and has now achieved 50 sales in total to date. Despite the uncertain times, investors are regaining confidence and returning to the property market. Waters Edge, located on the river at West End, is testament to this with 2 apartments sold within the last week, with a further 3 expressions of interest obtained."

Resort Corp

Resort Corp, which is developing the Quay West Noosa Resort, has gone bust.

The Australian

Coastal Apartment or Working Class House?

"There are few more iconic sea-change destinations than the Gold Coast, which has earned a reputation as the king of population growth in Australia.

But it's a long way short of being the king of capital growth.

Capital growth on the Gold Coast over the past five years has been half that achieved next door in downmarket Logan City, according to Real Estate Institute of Queensland figures.

The Moreton Bay region, a municipality that encompasses cheap mortgage-belt suburbs in Brisbane's north, has achieved considerably higher capital growth than the Sunshine Coast next door.

Within the Sunshine Coast municipality, the market leaders on capital growth are the railway towns in the hinterland (such as Beerwah and Landsborough), not the sexy coastal locations Noosa and Mooloolaba."

See Terry Ryder

Hamilton Harbour Floor Plans

Devine has released floor plans for Hamilton Harbour.

The apartments are small.
Example one bed sizes are:

• 41 sqm internal, 50 sqm in total
• 45 sqm internal, 53 sqm in total
• 54 sqm internal, 64 sqm in total (see plan above).

Example two bed two bath sizes are:

• 73 sqm internal, 84 sqm in total
• 74 sqm internal, 90 sqm in total
• 84 sqm internal, 98 sqm in total (see plan above).

All have fully ducted air conditioning. There appears to be 22 levels of apartments, with about 12 apartments per floor.

"The residential buildings Harbour One and Harbour Two are each placed to take best advantage of river views. While being 22 and 19 storeys respectively, the buildings make a deliberate effort to present architecturally appealing building facades to the nearby neighbourhood while providing occupants with the best available living environment within the apartments."

Warning from NZ

"Sunshine Coast Remax real estate agent Michael Knights said the local housing market had dropped between 10% and 20% in the last 12 months, and the apartment market had been the hardest hit.

``A lot of the apartments that have been bought off the plans say 18 months to two years ago are selling for $100,000 to $200,000 less than people paid for them because there's just an oversupply."

See www.stuff.co.nz/4861361a20975.html

Water Leak in Skyline Apartments

I have never been a fan of Skyline apartments in Brisbane. They were marketed as river front, when they are not. The apartments are generally small and poky. The quality of the fitout was average. The Courier Mail reports on Saturday that there was a major water leak in the building, impacting a number of apartments, and doing a huge amount of damage. "Apparently about 48 units in the Watpac-built complex were affected, with the builder blaming the subcontractor and so forth..." One resident on level 23 reports more than $100,000 of damage to her apartment. Does not bode well for this building.

Roma Street Parklands Sale

A recent Brisbane apartment auction:

7041/7 Parkland Boulevard, Brisbane
3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 car parks
In 2006, it was listed for sale for $685,000.
Sold at auction on 21 February 2009 for $730,000

Disputes over Body Corporate Fees

Many buildings are changing the way body corporate fees are allocated amougst unit owners, causing disputes when penthouse apartments end up with lower fees.

See Courier Mail

Oaks Ok

"Mr Pointon said occupancy rates in Oaks's regional properties during January were 80-90 per cent and while its Sydney properties recorded 90 per cent, Melbourne 75 per cent, Adelaide 85 per cent, Brisbane 70 per cent and Auckland 77 per cent."

Source: The Australian

Low Demand for Prestige Homes

"The old belief that because of scarcity these properties would not fall much in this market, while more common housing stock would have bigger losses because of the amount available, has not proved correct. According to RP Data national research director Tim Lawless, this theory held true until recently when margin calls, devalued share portfolios, low company profits and lower than expected executive bonuses brought new conditions to the prestige sector. Now there is simply less discretionary income and lower demand for expensive homes.

"Demand has virtually come to a halt in some inner city areas," Lawless says.

RP Data has a stratified median house price index that divides each market into 10 layers, allowing analysis of different price segments.

In Brisbane, the most expensive tier fell 9 per cent and the least expensive fell 3 per cent.

Because no real improvement in business conditions is in sight, demand for prestige homes will remain relatively low, RP Data says"

Source: The Australian

Parklands at Sherwood Completes

Stage One at Pradella's Parkland at Sherwood is now complete. There appear to be some good buys, including a large one bedroom for less than $400,000. There are apartments for rent too. This looks like a great development.

No Sunshine for the Coast

"Among the states, hardest hit appears to be Queensland, where 4000 new apartments are going begging: 1000 on the Sunshine Coast, more than 700 in both Townsville and Cairns, and far more on the Gold Coast.

It is believed many of them have fallen into the hands of the financiers, given that most developers make just 20 per cent profit on a project."

The Australian

At least 4000 new apartments are still unsold in Queensland and most of them are believed to have fallen into the hands of their financiers.

Bankers are now asking what to do with the properties, and the problem has prompted property experts to run seminars on how to deal with hotel resorts and the unsold million-dollar beachfront apartments that many now control. Mortgagee sales remain prominent on the Gold Coast, where 1383 new high-rise apartments were for sale in the November quarter. Only 37 were sold in the three-month period.

That compares with 965 for sale in the November 2007 quarter, when there were 142 new high-rise apartments sold.

The Australian

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

Brisbane Rentals

It is rental season in Brisbane, and there is strong competition for apartments. Many people are delaying a buying decision, and so are renting. Some renters have locked in long term leases, taking these apartments off the market for some time. Some investors have put their apartments into a short term letting pool for nightly "hotel" rentals, taking these away from the permanent rental market.

Rents for decent unfurnished two bedroom apartments are as high as $600 per week. One bedroom apartments in decent complexes are very popular and hard to find. Add $100 a week for a furnished apartment.

If you are looking to rent, here are some ideas:

• Ciana Indooroopilly, 2 bedroom rents range from $475 to $600 per week
• Parklands Sherwood, 2 bedrooms from $440 per week; 3 bedrooms from $540 per week,
• Fresh Toowong, 2 bedrooms about $500 to $550 per week
• Admiralty Towers One, which has large apartments
• Arbour on Grey, from $550 per week for a 2 bedroom
• Metro 21, has both furnished and unfurnished, and is not doing short stay rentals so the building is more stable and homely.

Also, have a look at this prior post.

Lawsuit Against Council over Brisbane Apartment Rates

BRISBANE unit owners have launched a Supreme Court challenge against the validity of the Brisbane City Council's rating parity factor scheme.

The scheme was introduced by Lord Mayor Campbell Newman in the 2008-09 Brisbane City Council Budget and has been strongly opposed by unit owners, particularly in inner city areas.

Paul Cassels and Darryl Penfold, the president and vice-president of the Brisbane Association for Rates Equity (BARE), filed documents in the Supreme Court in which they seek a court order declaring the new rates scheme unlawful and invalid. The action has been brought by Mr Cassels and Mr Penfold on behalf of all BARE members, who are owners of lots in community titles schemes in Brisbane.

Outside court Mr Cassels said the Lord Mayor had tried to set the rest of Brisbane against unit owners by declaring they were millionaire "penthouse owners".

He said that wasn't true and the BARE was made up of average people who were opposed to rate hikes of up to 500 per cent. "The actions of the Lord Mayor have been disgusting," he said.

Mr Cassels said he hoped the Lord Mayor would reconsider his stand before the matter had to go to a court hearing. He predicted the issue would be a major factor in the next state elections.

Mr Cassels said the parity factor was a controversial rating mechanism that dramatically increased the general rates on thousands of units and townhouses throughout the city along with commercial and retail strata title property.

He said while the initial impact of the scheme would be felt most in inner city and near city areas, the exponential value formula on which the scheme was based meant that every year more and more units throughout Brisbane would be automatically "caught." BARE has already been instrumental in a substantial re-working of the scheme.

However, BARE has made it clear that it wants the scheme dropped and the rates cap on owner-occupied CTS property (also removed last year as part of the parity scheme) reinstated immediately.

Source: Courier Mail

despite the reported gloom

"After an eventful year’s end, it’s difficult to see where residential property is heading into the new annum. Media reports daily on the poor state of the economy and the likelihood that things will get worse before they get better, yet some signals are conflicting. There are plenty of locations and sectors that still lack stock and it appears that landlords are continuing to get historically high rents despite the reported gloom."

"For those wanting to bag a bargain perhaps the best prospects lie in some of those previously difficult to enter suburbs such as New Farm and Tenneriffe. Buyers over $700,000 have been thin on the ground and tenants are finding rentals a bit pricey, so it seems demand in these golden suburbs is becoming a little tarnished. Keep your ear to the ground and you just might bag a winner, but remember to keep things in perspective. Look for capital growth over a reasonable three to four year horizon. You’re unlikely to make your killing over the next 12 months."

"Of a related nature, good opportunities are also evident in the current market to purchase resale apartments in near new and recently completed buildings on the Gold Coast at prices which are at a significant discount on both the original sale price of the unit and also on the asking prices of similar new units. In some instances, the resale price of apartments appears to be below replacement cost of a similar new apartment."

Source HTW

Apartment Prices Dip

See Brisbane Times

Brisbane experienced a mixed December quarter, with house prices rising 3.3 per cent and units backtracking 3.5 per cent. Unit prices during 2008 dropped 6.5 per cent and house prices firmed 0.4 per cent.

More Rental Properties

"The number of available rental properties in Brisbane will increase this year as investors struggle to offload their real estate assets and become "reluctant landlords" instead, one expert predicts."

See Brisbane Times

Property Game

A new property price guessing game, which is fun to play:  www.propertyiq.com.au

Property Promoter's Opinion

"Depending where you live, property values in your state would have grown a few percent or dropped a few percent overall. Of course we all know that the value of certain properties fell much, much more than that, some by more than 20%. And some segments of the market, in particular the higher priced properties, holiday properties and rural properties, markedly dropped in value. "

See Property Update for full report.

Rentals In Brisbane

It is rental season in Brisbane, and there is strong competition for apartments.  Many people are delaying a buying decision, and so are renting.  Some renters have locked in long term leases, taking these apartments off the market for some time.  Some investors have put their apartments into a short term letting pool for nightly "hotel" rentals.

Rents for decent unfurnished two bedroom apartments are as high as $600 per week.  One bedroom apartments in decent complexes are very popular and hard to find.  Add $100 a week for a furnished apartment.

If you are looking to rent, here are some ideas:

• Ciana Indooroopilly, 2 bedroom rents range from $475 to $600 per week
• Parklands Sherwood, 2 bedrooms from $440 per week; 3 bedrooms from $540 per week,
• Fresh Toowong, 2 bedrooms about $500 to $550 per week
• Admiralty Towers One, which has large apartments
• Arbour on Grey, from $550 per week for a 2 bedroom
• Metro 21, has both furnished and unfurnished, and is not doing short stay rentals so the building is more stable and homely

SL8 Opinion part two

I drove past SL8 today in West End. I was not impressed. Although still under construction, to me it looks like a cheap motel from the 1950s. All the railings for the balconies are metal pipe rails. So from the front, it looks very uniform with railings going the complete width from left to right on every floor, without a break. From the back, it looks even worse. You may not realise, but the apartments don't have closed hallways. The door opens onto a hall that is outside -- and with the same rails going along the whole length. So you will be exposed to the the rain, heat and wind as soon as you open your door. The building looks to me like a larger version of the motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated when leaving his room.

Riparian Plaza Resales

"BRISBANE: Unit prices in an an exclusive city residential tower continue to soar in the face of economic crisis, and cashed-up investors are lining up for a piece of the action.

The Riparian Plaza in Eagle St houses three of the inner-city’s most expensive residential properties sold last year, and their values were up 27 per cent compared to similar properties sold at the same time in 2007."

See City News

Tennis Anyone?

Mirvac's Tennyson Reach project sold extremely well to start, but sales appear to have stalled. There are six apartment buildings planned for the site, at Tennyson in Brisbane on the same site as the Queensland Tennis Centre. Although more than 65,000 tennis spectators attended the recent tournament last week, no apartments were sold during the event.

The first two apartment buildings on the site, containing 115 apartments released in June 2007, sold out in three days. Prices ranged from $943,000 to $4.9M. These two buildings should be read for occupancy in the next 5 months.

The third building, currently for sale off the plan, has 92 apartments. Released in December 2007, 70 apartments still remain for sale. Originally marketed with a minimum price of $805,000, the minimum advertised price has now been reduced to $698,000.

According to the AFR, Mirvac plans to release building 4 at the end of 2009.

There are more than 10 resales listed on RealEstate.com.au. These include:

• 3 bed on 6th floor, listed at $1,820,000 (155sqm of internal living plus 15sqm of balcony)
• 3 bed on 5th floor, listed at $1,795,000 (174sqm of internal living plus 21sqm of balcony)
• 3 bed on 4th floor, listed at $1,395,000 (169sqm of internal living plus 21sqm of balcony)
• 3 bed on 2nd floor (so restricted river views I suspect), listed at $1,515,000 (162sqm of internal living plus 15sqm of balcony)

My guess is that these prices will drop, as a number of owners will not want to or can't settle, and rents for these apartments will be luck to be more than $800 a week.