23 posts tagged “meriton”

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.

Meriton has applied to build a second apartment building in Brisbane.  It is located at 43 Herschel Street, Brisbane, near Roma Street Station.  It is 73 stories, with over 400 apartments, and a basement 10 floors underground parking.

Herschel Street

Herschel Street2

Skyline is selling new 3 bedroom apartments for $650,000. This is less than some of the two bedroom prices in Skyline. These apartments were recently marketed for $720,000 plus. They are nice city apartments, but will be crowded out by Meriton's Soleil and Macrossan towers.