95 posts tagged “brisbane apartment”

"Buyers are again looking to units and townhouses with sales numbers surging over the June quarter.  The REIQ June quarter unit and townhouse results show sales numbers have rebounded in this segment of the market.  REIQ June quarter preliminary sales numbers show that the number of sales in Brisbane were up 36 per cent; 22 per cent on the Gold Coast; 14 per cent on the Sunshine Coast; and increased a very impressive 48 and 46 in Ipswich and Logan respectively."

"“While sales numbers are up and there has been some price growth in some areas, this represents a property market in transition from the very tough conditions of the past year,” Mrs Bennett said.  “These results show that outside influences are starting to no longer burden our market and that confidence is also beginning to return.”

"In Brisbane, solid performers for units and townhouses over the quarter were the inner-ring suburbs of Auchenflower, Toowong and Yeronga.  Auchenflower’s median is up 11.8 per cent to $450,000 over the quarter, Toowong’s is up 12.7 per cent to $448,000, and Yeronga experienced 14.7 per cent median price growth to $393,500. Auchenflower and Yeronga also had healthy price growth over the year.  Auchenflower and Toowong are both located within 5km of Brisbane’s CBD and have a mix of established and new unit complexes available. Yeronga is 7km south of the city and is in a prime position along the Brisbane River."

Brisbane City - Median Price June Qtr 09 - $351,000 - down 5.8% over one year.
Indooroopilly -  Median Price June Qtr 09 - $391,500 - down 6.1% over one year.
New Farm - Median Price June Qtr 09 - $435,750 - down 15.7% over one year.
Sherwood - Median Price June Qtr 09 - $342,500 - up 2.3% over one year.
Taringa - Median Price June Qtr 09 - $398,800 - up 1.6% over one year.
Toowong -  Median Price June Qtr 09 - $448,000 - down 4.6% over one year. 

Recent sales in Admiralty Two in Brisbane in May to July 2009

• Apt 20, level 4, 2 bed, 2 bath, 1 car, 103 sqm - $725,000
• Apt 80, level 14, 2 bed, 2 bath, 1 car, 103 sqm - $725,000
• Apt 97, level 17, 2 bed, 2 bath, 1 car, 116 sqm - $780,000
• Apt 106, level 18, 2 bed, 2 bath, 1 car, 116 sqm - $750,000
• Apt 137, level 24, 2 bed, 2 bath, 1 car, 116 sqm - $815,000

Source:  Email from Alan Caughey, Harcourts

• What will happen to the inner city Brisbane apartment market if foreign students stop coming to Brisbane?
• When interest rates rise, will Brisbane apartment prices fall?
• Will Meriton build a building in Brisbane that is lesser quality than Devine?  Is that possible?
• When will Felix have its river views blocked by development?
• Will returns to owners in Oaks buildings decrease this year?
• Will apartment prices in Brisbane continue to fall into 2010?
• When first home owners stop buying, will sellers who have not sold become desperate?
• Are the only investors buying at present the vultures and bottom-feeders?
  

Over the first seven months of the year Australian home values increased across every capital city, rising by 5.9 percent nationally.

Combined Brisbane house and apartment values up 3.8% to $437,175 for first 7 months of 2009

Brisbane Apartments were high performing, and outperformed Brisbane houses.

Brisbane Units - days on market = 26 days (almost the best in the nation)

Brisbane Units - 7 months to end of July increase - up 6.25%

Brisbane Units - 12 month Year on Year increase (at end of July) - up 6.58%

Brisbane Units - July 09 increase - up 3.26%

Based on Australia’s largest property database, owned by rpdata.com which includes roughly 145,000 sales for the first seven months of 2009, Australia’s housing recovery has continued in the month of July with solid across-the-board capital gains.

According to the market respected RP Data-Rismark Home Value Index, Australian home values rose by +0.9 percent in the month of July 2009. This brings total capital growth in the first seven months of 2009 to 5.9 percent.

Underpinned by historically low mortgage rates and only small rises in unemployment, Australian home values have now risen 1.8 percent past their February 2008 peak.

Rpdata.com national research director Tim Lawless, said, “Not only has Australia’s residential property market outperformed the other major western markets, it has also provided superior returns compared to shares, commercial property, superannuation, hedge funds and private equities. Australia’s residential market has been further supported by low mortgage default rates, at just 0.6 percent, compared with 5 percent in the US and 3 percent in the UK.”

“Every mainland capital city has experienced solid growth during the first seven months of the year. “ Mr Lawless said.

French Quarter in Alice Street Brisbane

"Continuing to progress the submission of an application for a development approval for this exciting future redevelopment opportunity."

Hamilton Harbour

"Excellent market response to the first stage of the “Hamilton Harbour” residential development"

"Development approval now received and marketing of first stage of residential commenced March 2009. First stage 86% sold."

"Strong pre-sales of residential units in Hamilton Harbour stage 1 with 86% of 257 units now sold. (This project is also a JV with Leighton Properties)"

Commencement Dec Qtr 2009
Est. Completion Staged development over approximately 5 years

Source

"Brisbane Brisbane’s housing market has been relatively subdued in comparison with Sydney and Melbourne. Home values are up just 1.4 percent over the first half of the year compared to the national increase of 4.5 percent. Despite the fact that South East Queensland remains the population growth epicentre of Australia and the city is home to some of the largest infrastructure projects in the nation, growth in home prices has been relatively subdued. Market conditions are improving, however, with houses and units taking just 29 days and 27 days respectively to sell. Brisbane’s unit values, at $337,003, are the most affordable of any mainland capital city providing a very strong value proposition to potential buyers."
RP Data

"Meanwhile recent investor confidence has buoyed Brisbane's luxury apartment market, according to analysts."

"Development group Pradella has sold 73 per cent of the 54 apartments off the plan at West End development Waters Edge."

Brisbane Times

"However, the forces affecting Brisbane are similar to Melbourne but the Gold Coast has an apartment oversupply. Both Melbourne and Brisbane are feeding on the fact that Sydney dwellings are just too expensive and the shortage is making the situation worse."

Business Spectator

"Instead, many prefer the cheaper priced units and apartments, which also often are closer to the CBD. The affordability is especially a growing factor this year, as that section of the market has become the dominant force in the property market. ...  With the growing market share, units have also shown a stronger capital growth than houses in nearly every capital of the country. In Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra, units showed positive 12 month growth in median value up to February this year, compared to negative growth for house median values. ...
Another key is to make sure there is a parking spot included, something that can make a huge difference in demand, especially if the unit is in an area with few street parking opportunities. “No matter where you buy an apartment, never ever buy it without allocated parking,” says Wakelin.

What not to buy

There are, however, areas where demand is not so strong. For one, stay away from high-rise apartments, particularly in areas of overdevelopment such as the Gold Coast, the Sydney CBD or the Docklands in Melbourne, say experts.

“We find for investment purposes, high-rise apartments do not work,” says Wakelin. “They are very generic, so there’s little scarcity value with them.” Ryder agrees, saying investors should not be swayed by the magnificent views from atop beachfront high-rises in the Gold Coast. Investors should remember they won’t be living in these properties, and in the long run, they don’t show as much capital growth.

“There’s a lot of glamour in buying a high rise, but history shows it’s generally a poor investment,” says Ryder. “Put aside the emotions, and just look at the sums. You’re better off not buying something with an ocean view like in Surfer’s Paradise.”

He also says buying a used apartment is better than buying a brand new one.

“There’s a huge price differential with a new product and equivalent second-hand product,” says Ryder. “That’s simply because the cost of development is so high. The research shows there’s commonly a price difference between 30-40% between new and old apartments.”

That ultimately means for an investor that it’s harder to get capital growth out of a newer product. It might look nicer, but it will cost you in the long run. There’s also little scarcity in some areas for new product, such as the Gold Coast, where new apartments have been built without abandon. And once its no longer new, you actually lose that tag and that value.

“There’s a lot of risk in committing to buy something now and paying two years later, whereas the market can go in the wrong direction in that time,” says Ryder. “Plus developers tend to build that (expected value growth) into today’s prices these days.”

REA

On the Gold Coast, there were 79 new unit sales in the three months to May 2009, compared with just 49 the previous quarter. But it is a long way from the boom times of 2007 when 369 new units sold in the August quarter.  The latest Midwood Queensland Investment Report says at current take-up rates there is more than four years' supply of new unit stock.  In the past three months, nearly half of the new unit sales were in Meriton's Brighton on Broadwater project.

Midwood report author Bill Morris said most of these deals were in the sub $500,000 range, where the market was fairly steady.

Median price data from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland released yesterday reveals no change in the median price for units in the Gold Coast local government area.

The median of $345,000 for the March quarter is 3.4 per cent down on the previous year.

Real Estate Institute of Queensland chief executive officer Peter McGrath said price discounting had helped bring buyers back into the market at the upper end.  "We've seen some receiver sales where people who bought a unit off the plan for $2.5 million, being sold for $1.6-$1.7 million," Mr McGrath said.

"Units that had previously been selling for $900,000 were getting $750,000."

In Brisbane, the unit market also is showing signs of improvement despite the median price for the Brisbane statistical division dropping 1.4 per cent over the quarter to $345,000.  Over the year, the median has increased by 2.6 per cent.

There were 28 unconditional new apartment sales in Brisbane during the May 2009 quarter, the highest number since February last year.  For the past 18 months, new unit sales have averaged 13 every three months.

The median price for all unit deals in Brisbane city has fallen 4.3 per cent to $440,000 in the three months to March 2009. Over the previous 12 months the median increased 1 per cent to $450,000.

The Australian and GC