37 posts tagged “brisbane river”

As previously reported on this blog, a number of off-the-plan purchasers at Mirvac's Tennyson Reach failed to settle, and are being sued by Mirvac.  Mirvac is now selling these apartments by auction.

"A very frenetic listing week has culminated with the official listing of nine riverfront apartments (under instructions from Mirvac Queensland where the buyers have not settled).  These apartments are to be auctioned in a line on Saturday the 14th November at 12 noon.  Our clear instructions are that these quality riverfront apartments WILL BE SOLD.

Elsewhere, buyer activity in the middle and upper ends of the market continues to increase as we move into one of the busiest sales times of the year.

http://city-north-news.whereilive.com.au/news/story/residents-oppose-river-tower/

HAMILTON: More than 100 Hamilton residents will challenge Brisbane City Council this week to object to a proposed 15-storey riverfront development on Kingsford Smith Drive. Tenants from 101 units at Bretts Wharf Apartment Complex in Harbour Rd have sent submissions to the council. They say the multi-unit dwelling, which features short-term and hotel accommodation, will be inconsistent with the area and create traffic chaos.   ``Fifteen storeys is a joke in such a tiny area,’’ Tony Hall, who lives on the eighth storey of Windermere tower, said.

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

Photos of the Admiralty apartment precinct, on the Brisbane River.  From left to right, the apartment buildings are Admiralty Towers Two, Admiralty One, Admiralty Quays and River Place.  Note that Skyline and Macrossan are not river front building.  Skyline is the gray building behind Admiralty One.  Macrossan is still under construction behind Skyline and cannot be seen.

AdmiraltyBrisbane

Admiralty

Two apartments went to auction today at Mirvac's Tennyson Reach.  Both were 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment on level 3.  They have river and mangrove views. 
See Apt 4108 listing and Apt 3205 listing.
For both apartments, there were no bids.  Passed in.
This does not bode well for Tennyson Reach.  So far, there have been no resales, even though there are about 30 apartments listed for resale.  In addition, from what I can determine, between 15 and 20 apartments failed to settle.
When compared with similar quality apartments located in inner city areas, I would say these apartments are worth less than a million, but I am not a valuer.  I suspect that the owners (who paid more than $1.3M) will take a bath if they sell.
A warning against buying of the plan during a boom.

There are four apartments for sale on the one floor in Riparian -- for about $15 million total.  Thus, you can buy the whole floor, and have 12 bedrooms and 14 carparks!

I visited the display apartment at Mirvac's Tennyson Reach apartment complex.  The apartment was on the 6th floor of the Softstone building -- it is a 3 bedroom apartment -- a floor through apartment with the main bedroom and a balcony at the front and two bedrooms at the rear.  The view from the main bedroom, with floor to ceiling glass, was absolutely fantastic.  A great view up river towards Indooroopilly, and you can see the city in the other direction.  The quality of the apartment was A1 plus.  Plenty of room.  The lighting was particularly clever.  I loved the apartment and the view to the river.  The view out the back was so-so.  If the apartment was not so expensive (about $1.7M for the display apartment) and the location was not so remote, then I would definitely buy!

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!

Parklands Drive

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).

Mirvac's Tennyson Reach project sold extremely well to start, but appears 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.

The first two buildings on the site, 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 is now $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.