Top Headlines Week 27, 2022
- Posted By David Brown
Lewis Land Group has submitted plans for the second stage of the $1.5B residential masterplan located in Biggera Waters, North Gold Coast. The three 12-storey apartment buildings will offer 250 apartments, wellness amenities, 5000sqm of communal space and basement parking for 440 cars. The project is offering two, three, and four-bedroom designs across the three buildings. The building is still awaiting approval, sales are expected to launch soon, with construction anticipated to start by the end of the year. The project will generate up to 500 jobs over the next 10 years. This development is a part of the six-stage masterplan, known as Harbour Shores across a 15.7ha canal-front site. When the project is completed it will offer 2,000 apartments, villas, and penthouses, which will home more than 4,500 residents. The masterplan will have more than 1.4km of water frontage along the widest canal frontage on the coast. The project will also feature tennis courts, multiple swimming pools, and additional resident facilities including space including park and children’s playground, retail and commercial space, public waterfront walkway.
In an off-market sale, an architect-designed home located in Currumbin has sold for $7.5 million setting a record for a non-beachfront property sale in the suburb. The property was sold 18 months ago at auction $4.25 million. That’s more than a 76% increase in price. Mr Bell from Ray White Surfers Paradise said, “there had been a shift in mindset with savvy high-end buyers increasingly prepared to move away from traditional beachfront locations to secure the right luxury property”. We are now seeing a broadening in geography at the upper-end of the market, the idea that luxury properties must be waterfront is starting to shift. “The slate has been wiped clean. It’s no longer about the suburb, it’s about the property and the lifestyle that goes with it and this home was a good example of that” commented Mr Bell. The home was named one of QLD’s Top 50 homes in 2021. The home features six-bedrooms, five-bathrooms and incorporates natural materials such as spotted gum timber floors, Blackbutt shiplap feature walls, and marble features. The home is set upon a 1,138sqm block and borders a conservation reserve while also offering stunning ocean views.
In the past decade Australian Governments have spent more than $20.5 billion to assist first home buyers. This has resulted in property prices increasing and making existing homeowners richer. Therefore, making housing affordability worse. The assistances have been offered in many ways from cash grants to stamp duty concessions. Stamp duty concessions have more than doubled over the four years prior to the pandemic from $1.2 billion to more than $2.5 billion. The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute’s study found that Australia offered demand-side support instead of increasing the supply of homes available, there is also a lack of strategic framework and little improvement to the stagnant homeownership rate. The report claims that the cash grants that were handed out over the past decade by state and federal governments have ultimately contributed to rapidly increasing house prices, and this money could have been spent more wisely without having the same housing inflationary effect.
The RBA has not been shy in increasing interest rates over the past few months and they are showing no signs of easing off. This has led some experts to predict that there will be a boost in apartment sales across Australian due to the large gap between the median price of houses and units. The week the Reserve Bank increase the cash rate by 50 basis points, being the interest rate over 1% to 1.35%. This has reduced buyers borrowing power and this evident across the property market. Since March 2020, the average increase of unit prices has been 9.8%, whereas houses have seen a 24.7% increase on average. For some time now the price gap between houses and apartments has been widening, with the rise of interest rates it will force buyers to re-evaluate their budgets and purchase accordingly.
Developer Travis Pegg spent 18-months planning, designing, and constructing his new home which prioritises energy efficiency. “The design from Dane Power of Koda Design ensured the house was created as efficient as possible energy wise” he said. “This included using window orientation and selection to capture the sun and heat the polished concrete slab but also allow breezes and having a one-piece roof to facilitate a 20kW solar system to be installed facing north to power the house”. With energy costs increasing, more and more buyers are looking for homes that are more energy efficient. Many buyers are asking for solar panels and systems in newer homes. Although building or renovating your own home is not as simple and affordable as it was pre-pandemic. What used to cost $1 million to build is now costing over $1.5 million, plus there are longer wait times than before to start and complete construction. For a good builder buyers could be waiting up to two years for the beginning if construction.