Posted by Jennifer Duke, Urbis
on 24 June 2014
The inner Brisbane apartment market is gearing up for a record sales boom in the second half of 2014, with pre-sale stock levels moving toward the market, Urbis have recently announced.Their Brisbane Apartment Insights report noted that strong demand over the last quarter of 2013 has reduced stock levels for 2014, with demand pushing into this year.
Senior consultant for Urbis, Paul Riga, said that they’d recorded at least six development projects selling out ahead of schedule, resulting in minimal product on the market at the beginning of the year. “Developers are desperately trying to get their projects finalised, with about 40 to 45 new apartment projects expected to be ready for sale in the second half of 2014,” Riga said.
“This equates to 5500 apartments, which is a substantial amount for the market to absorb.”
“This is an exciting time for Brisbane as it undergoes a major change, and there’s a great opportunity for many to get into the market,” Riga said.
The first quarter of this year saw a surge in inner Brisbane for luxury new apartments, Colliers International’s research has recorded.
Of the 591 new apartment sales, across 47 projects, more than 25% were luxury offerings.
Director of residential for Colliers, Andrew Roubicek, said that apartments in the $750,000 plus price bracket saw the greatest sales volumes growth compared to the same time in 2013. In February, they had noted that the market for apartments in Brisbane was on the rise.
Apartments priced at $900,000 plus totaled 17% of sales.
They noted that the Abian development sold the most apartments in the first quarter, with 108 residences sold valued at $144 million, including the sale of two sky homes priced up to $5 million.
“On top of the robust demand from owner occupiers, the investment market remains a key driver of apartment sales activity in inner Brisbane,” he said.
“Due to the strong sales performance of premium stock the weighted average sale price for a new apartment in inner Brisbane has increased to $715,000, 25% above the five year average.”
Meanwhile, senior research analyst for Colliers, Alex Beer, said that 5,400 apartments have been approved in the 12 months to the end of March, the most experienced in a decade.
Of these, 1,198 were granted approval in the first quarter of 2014.
“About 3,200 apartments are expected to be released for sale this year as apartment living in the city increases, particularly in South Brisbane, Newstead, Hamilton and Albion,” said Beer.
“The volume of projects reaching completion may place upward pressure on residential vacancy.”
The off the plan Brisbane market, according to BIS Shrapnel, is expected to soften in 2016.
Subdued rent and prices are then expected to be seen by 2016, as a historic peak is seen in the inner Brisbane apartment market, with the potential to ease supply strains.
Senior project manager and report author for BIS Shrapnel, Angie Zigomanis, said that the inner Brisbane apartments are increasingly attractive with yields in many of these projects around the 5% mark and above.
“However, with many expecting that the Brisbane market has now bottomed out and the risk of further price declines is dissipating, the impetus to enter the market has increased,” said Zigomanis.
The South Brisbane new development Spice Apartments in Brisbane are set for a launch in nine days. It includes one-bedroom apartments from $425,000, two-bedroom from $495,000 and three-bedroom from $685,000.
An $85 million mixed-use residential tower, Trafalgar Lane, at Woolloongabba, was also launched last month.
