33 posts tagged “charlotte towers”

Oaks Hotels & Resorts Ltd net profit was down 33.3% to $9.8 million in the year to June 30, 2009, on revenue up 11.5% to $120.9 million.

• 38 properties under management
• 4,788 serviced rooms under management (12% increase over last FY)
• occupancy rate down 2.11% to 84.38 for CBD properties
• average room rate $151 for CBD properties
• new central reservations team -- I wonder what owners are being charged for this?

I spoke with some Oaks managers recently.  They were not keen to take on new apartments into their rental pool in Brisbane, and the rent that they offered/guaranteed is not as great as last year.  So if you invest in an Oaks building, take care, because as time goes on, you may not get as good rent as you would like.

• Admiralty Quays, Apt 164:  4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 cars - $2,200,000
• Admiralty Quays, Apt 90:  1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 car - $580,000
• 212 Margaret Street, Apt 47, 2 bed, 1 bath, 1 car - $465,000
• Willahra Towers, Apt 26, 2 bed, 2 bath, 1 car (76m2 internal, 36m2 external. Total area 112m2; white-goods included) - $435,000
  
• Parklands 3, Apt 4073: 1 bed, 1 bath, 1 car - $365,000
• Charlotte Towers, Apt 2305: 1 bed, 1 bath, 1 car - $354,000
• Casino Towers, Apt 3304: 1 bed, 1 bath, 1 car - $339,998
• River City, Apt 1005: 1 bedroom, no car, view straight into neighbouring building - $305,000
  

If you are thinking of buying or renting in an apartment managed by Oaks, then you should read the online reviews written by people staying in the building, who are short stay "hotel" guests. The problem with Oaks buildings is that they were built as cheap apartment buildings (not as hotels) but a large number of rooms are rented out (often for a night at a time, via Wotif) to people who think they are staying in a hotel. Thus, both residents and "hotel" guests are often not happy.

Example Reviews:
Aurora
212 Margaret
Festival Towers
Casino Towers
Charlotte Towers
Felix
Lexicon
River City

Similar issues for M on Mary.

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).

Have a look at:  http://www.dip.qld.gov.au/resources/newsletter/newsflash-327-guideline.pdf

How will this impact Oaks, and buildings that were designed for residential use but that are being run as hotels (such as Aurora and Charlotte Towers)?

See also:  Oaks

See Courier Mail blog

• Felix:  342/26 Felix St, 2 bed, 2 bath, sold for $495,000.
• Festival Towers, 1901/108 Albert St, passed in $450,000
• Festival Towers, 3508/108 Albert St sold prior to auction, reported at $555,000 or $445,000??
  
• Charlotte Towers, 1502/128 Charlotte St, 2 bed 2 bath, passed in on vendor’s bid of $420,000
• River Place River Terrace House:  1/82 Boundary St was passed in at $1.35 million, now listed at $1.5M
• Skyline, 12/30 Macrossan St, three bedroom unit passed in at $900,000, now listed at $1,240,000
  
• Aurora Tower Penthouse:  651 and 656/420 Queen St passed in at $2.4 million, now listed at $2.6M
  
• Soho, 416/8 Cordelia St, 1 bed, South Brisbane was passed in at $280,000
• SoHo, 615/8 Cordelia St was passed in for $465,000, looking for offers above $500,000
  
• SoHo, 108/8 Cordelia St passed in at $505,000
• Euro, 1308-2-6 Manning St, South Brisbane, 2 bed 2 bath, passed in at $400,000
• Trilogy, 336/51 Hope Street, Spring Hill, 2 bed, 2 bath passed in at $540,000, sold after for $550,000 (vendor was off the plan owner who had paid $595,000)
  
• Stradbroke Tower, 74/2 Goodwin St, Kangaroo Point passed in at $875,000
• 1/24 Brisbane Street, St Lucia, sold for $414,000
• 6/211 Baroona Rd Paddington, 2 bed, 1 bath, sold for $431,000
• LeftBank, 64/35 Buchanan St, West End, passed in at $1.15 million

"Hundreds turned out to the convention centre on Sunday to see 80 properties offered for sale as part of the Ray White Property Auction Spectacular.  There was a wide range of units and houses was on offer but properties sold under the hammer for prices well below what would have been expected six months ago.
Chief auctioneer Philip Parker said he pleased with the lacklustre clearance rate of almost 30 percent but said those who sold at auction realised they were not going to get what they thought their property was worth before the economic downturn.  He said while no-one was happy with the current economic climate, sellers realised if they wanted to move a property they had to meet the market.
``Out of those that sold today, only one buyer didn’t go down on their original (minimum) price,’’ Mr Parker said.
He said the vendors who didn’t budge, didn’t get a sale.  Negotiations are continuing on several properties offered for sale."  http://blogs.news.com.au/couriermail/publicproperty/index.php

A lot of people seem to think that it is the end of the world as far as property investment is concerned.  These are my thoughts.

Facts:

• Interest rates are going down
• There is low unemployment in Queensland
  
• There are few vacant rental properties, and rents are still increasing in Brisbane
  
• According to REIQ and RP Data, medium prices have fallen less than 3% in the past 6 months, and over the past year prices have still increased
  
• Property is still selling.  For example, a three bedroom apartment is Admiralty One sold in less than a week.  At auctions in Mooloolaba this weekend, which has been a tough market, there were 2 two bedroom apartments that had bids of more than $1 million:  Oceans 503 had a highest bid of $1,200,000; and Sirocco 604 had a highest bid of $1M.
• Banks are still lending money, but they have tighter lending requirements
• For most of Brisbane, there are very few delinquencies. 
  
• In outlying areas (such as Forest Lakes and Springfield) and low quality bulk highrise marketed to investors (e.g., Charlotte Towers, and other recent Devine buildings), there are distressed sellers who are selling for less than they paid.
  

Assumptions:

• Matusik, who is a very  bullish property consultant, has the following assumptions in most of his presentations, but I am not sure how many of them will turn out to be correct (and some from his September 2008 presentation are already wrong):
• interest rates to drop by 0.5% in fiscal 2009
• $A remains high – above 85 US cents
• migration to oz remains high US economy has a mild recession, mild recovery in 2009
• demand for our resources continues
• share market settles down unemployment remains below 5% and wages growth remains constrained

• Property in inner Brisbane will take longer to sell than over the past 3 years (e.g., time on market will return to a more normal period of time, from 15 days to 30 or 40 days).
• Prices for poor quality apartments will fall by 25%
• Prices for apartments that have their views destroyed (e.g., Charlotte Towers, 212 Margaret, River City, and some in South Brisbane) will fall by 25%
• Prices for apartments without carparks will fall
• Some new apartments for off-the-plan developments) are priced too high for what they are, and will have difficulties selling in the short term (e.g. Waters Edge, Empire Square, Vision)
• Anything priced over $6,000 per sqm will struggle to sell, unless it is really special
• Off the plan developments will not sell well until completion -- in uncertain times, people do not want to make bets on the future, especially where the product being sold is intangible -- people want to touch and feel in uncertain times.
  
• Really good stuff will sell, and will not reduce in price by more than 5% (if at all)
• In February 2009, the market will pick up, but will not have growth of more than 10% per year for at least two years
• Due to lack of building today, things will get better for investors in good locations in the short term
• This year, my property portfolio looks better than may stock portfolio.
  

• River City Apartments, Apt 2105, 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1 car, sold at auction for $375,000
• Aurora Skyhome, Apt 547, three bedrooms, passed in at auction with highest bid of $740,000
• Casino Towers, 3104/151 George Street, 1 bed, 1 bath, no car - $316,000
• Charlotte Towers, Apt 1705, 1 bed, 1 bath, no car - $320,000
  
• Charlotte Towers, Apt 1810, passed in at auction with highest bid of $290,000
• Charlotte Towers, Apt 3811, passed in at auction with highest bid of $310,000
• Festival Towers, Apt 2806, 1 bed, 1 bath, 1 car - no bid at auction
  

Residex have launched a new service, FindMeAHome.  From my quick review, it is not very user friendly or accurate.

Using a map interface, it lists properties for sale. First, the list is not comprehensive. Second, it lists properties for sale that have been sold.  When selecting a property, it gives an indicative value. For the apartments that I looked at, the indicative value is not very accurate.

For example:

• A two bedroom apartment in Quay West - indicative value given as more than $1,348,000. This apartment would be, at best worth in the $800,000s.
• A one bedroom apartment in Charlotte Towers - indicative value given as more than $731,000 to $837,000. This apartment would be, at best worth $400,000 (most likely $360,000.)
• Casino Towers, Apt 3702, indicative value given as more than $1,166,000. This apartment recently sold at auction for $705,000.

Talking with agents in Brisbane City, it appears that apartments in some buildings are selling quickly and at good prices, while in other buildings the prices are not holding up.