25 posts tagged “meriton”

In April 2008, I listed apartments buildings that were planned for Brisbane.

Here is an update of that post. Times have changed!

1. Trilogy Hotel - 192 apartments - being sold off the plan, but project on indefinite hold
2. Trilogy Skyhome Apartments - 109 apartments - on indefinite hold
   
3. Westin Residences (Empire Square) - 104 apartments - project abandoned.
   
4. Waters Edge at West End - 220 apartments in the first 2 buildings to be released - earthworks have started
   
5. Union at Milton - 213 residential apartments and 127 hotel rooms - status unknown
   
6. French Quarter - about 70 apartments and 150 hotel rooms - project abandoned
   
7. Hamilton Harbour - about 250 apartments - stages one and two being sold off-the-plan; construction finance not yet obtained
   
8. Meriton Tower - 200 serviced apartments plus 200 residential apartments - now called Soleil, and all apartments -- no hotel or serviced apartment component.
   
9. The Mill at Albion - likely to be cancelled
   
10. Waterfront Newstead - 631 apartments - two buildings under construction
    

Off-the-plan buildings being marketed in April 2008 and under construction

1. Vision (400 apartments) - cancelled
   
2. Iceworks at Paddington (47 apartments) - complete
   
3. Parklands at Sherwood (82 apartments for sale now; 211 apartments planned in total) stages one and two complete
   
4. Tennyson Reach (393 apartments) - two buildings complete, and a third building under construction
   
5. SL8 (112 apartments) - complete
   
6. Ciana Indooroopilly (132 apartments) - complete
   
7. Portside Hamilton - three buildings complete, one building in off-the-plan sales
   
8. Riverpoint West End (280 apartments) - under construction
   
9. The Macrossan (42 apartments) - under construction
   
10. SW1 (57 apartments) - complete
    
11. Fresh Toowong (92 apartments) - complete

"HIGH-rise king Harry Triguboff, confident that the Brisbane and Gold Coast apartment markets are heading for a price surge, is to step up his quest for new development sites and hasten the launch of two major projects.

The veteran developer is putting sites in the Brisbane CBD and central Gold Coast 'under the microscope'.

He says he will bring forward the launch of a 77-level Brisbane tower, Infinity, by several months to the middle of 2010.

"Prices in Queensland will, I am sure, follow suit and that will happen sooner rather than later.  They may not reach Sydney levels but the gap will close.

"That's because apartment supply levels in Brisbane and the Gold Coast are falling and, with the credit squeeze forcing many projects to be shelved or deferred, supply will get even tighter.  That means rents will go up, with rent pressures being further increased by strong migration to south-east Queensland."

He ventured into the Brisbane market in 2007 when he acquired a site on the corner of Adelaide and Boundary streets in a move he described as 'the opening of a third development front'.  Construction of Soleil, a 74-level tower which will be Brisbane's tallest apartment building, is under way on the site and due for completion by late 2011.

Meriton has sold 82 one, two and three-bedroom apartments in Soleil, where prices start at $310,000 and peak at $900,000.

New project, Infinity, is a 77-level tower on a $25 million Herschel Street site and will include 209 apartments, 422 serviced apartments, and office and retail space.

Mr Triguboff says he is looking closely at a third Brisbane development site -- one on which another major developer has shelved plans for a sizeable project."

Source

There are very few new apartment developments in inner city Brisbane under construction and nearing completion.  This is good news for owners of existing apartments, as the number of apartments available for sale will not increase dramatically in the next few years.  This is my list:

• 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?
  

Meriton has nice drawings of its proposed new building in Brisbane, which will be near the Courts.

http://www.meritonapartments.com.au/default.asp?action=article&ID=21698

From an email to me from Meriton:

"We do not have a time frame yet on when we will release our other development onto the market in Brisbane CBD, it maybe at the end of this year or early next year. The top 10 levels of Soleil are currently not for sale and will be kept by Meriton to lease out. Also we are now selling the apartments from level 2 to level 64 and there will not be any serviced apartments/hotel component in this building anymore. Meriton were going to keep levels 2 to level 30 and use these apartments for Meriton Serviced apartments but due to a lack of new development on the market, Meriton have now decided to sell all the residential apartments up to level 64."

"Meanwhile, one of the apartment sector's great survivors, Meriton boss Harry Triguboff, is on the look out for a third Brisbane apartment site as the Sydney-based billionaire considers shifting more of his development north.

"When we came to Brisbane, we couldn't sell at all," he said.  "But I believed what I had to offer was what the market wants." Mr Triguboff said he had been helped by the fact that other Brisbane CBD apartment projects had been shelved.

The Australian

"And so while Triguboff might be making money in the short term, he knows that long term if NSW keeps shooting itself in the foot, the population will leave for the greener pastures of Victoria and Queensland where they can buy a house or apartment for a fraction of the Sydney price."

Business Spectator

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.  Virtual property tour

At the beginning of 2008, I made a number of predictions in this post.

The predictions were mostly wrong!

The Brisbane apartment market did not grow significantly in 2008, and took a minor step backwards.  At present, there are fewer buyers and more sellers.  For some off-the-plan developments, no sales have been made for months.  Second tier buildings and buildings with more than 200 apartments have not done well.

So I will be careful with my predictions for 2009:

I still believe that quality inner city apartments in Brisbane will do well in 2009.  Provided there is no significant unemployment and foreign students continue to come to Brisbane, vacancy rates will remain low. 

In 2008, only four new inner city apartment buildings completed and settled.  These were Evolution (over priced), M on Mary (which has mostly 1 bedroom apartments, and the developer is now in liquidation), Flow at West End and Iceworks at Paddington.  In 2009, no new large inner city apartments will settle.  Groundwork has started on Mertion's Soleil and the Trilogy Tower project, but these will no complete until 2012.  Mirvac's Tennyson Reach project will settle two buildings in 2009, and FKP's SL8 at West End will also probably complete in 2009.  So not much new stock.

So here are some predictions for 2009:

• The price of a good quality 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment in Brisbane, with views, will range from $780,000 to $850,000.
• The price of an average quality 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment in Brisbane will struggle to pass $550,000.
• Average rent for an unfurnished 2 bedroom apartment will rise to $600 per week.
• Investors will return to the market, as interest rates are falling and rents are rising.
• 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.

• The Gold Coast apartment market will tank even more.  The Sunshine Coast apartment market will remain steady.

See post below.

Here is a floor layout, as submitted to council by Meriton.  It shows 10 apartments per floor, with a mix of studios, 1 beds and 2 bedroom apartments.  The apartments have no balcony, and are small.  The 1 bed hotel suites in Trilogy Towers are larger than the 1 bedroom apartments in this proposed building.

Meriton

More photos and images here.