property guide 2009 - Domain.com.au

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APARTMENTS PREVIEW Stormy seas ahead but agents remain upbeat Watch out for beach bargains, writes Susan Wellings. IN OCTOBER last year, inner west real estate executive James Burke was studying his apartment sales figures and was almost overwhelmed by a sense of foreboding. Today, he’s looking over the prospects for 2009 – and feeling on top of the world. ‘‘You can really feel that the vibe has changed out there,’’ he says. ‘‘Everyone’s so much more optimistic. A lot of people have been trying to pick where the bottom of the market is and I think they’re all getting ready to rush in now at the same time. But that’s incredible when you think back to the mood three months ago. Then, I was feeling like suicide. The market looked terrible.’’ Burke, of Callagher Estate Agents in Annandale, isn’t alone in his upbeat outlook. Many working in the unit market believe the worst is behind them and with buyers, particularly first home buyers, lured back into the market by low – and still falling – interest rates, first-time bonuses, soft prices and a distinct lack of competition for purchases, 2009 is beginning to shape up quite nicely. UPS AND DOWNS Industry experts all agree, however, that the unit market will be slow to recover from last year’s lows. Many say it will only start to pick up towards the middle of 2009 and even then progress will be patchy. Researchers Australian Property Monitors, for instance, see most of the rises in unit prices being concentrated in the west and south-west of Sydney – the suburbs hardest hit during the past couple of years. They forecast the top-performing suburb will be Canley Vale, growing at 8 per cent, with Cabramatta, Fairfield, Edensor Park, Wetherill Park, Wakeley, Smithfield and Fairfield Heights not too far behind (see chart). On the downside, despite optimism from agents in our east and inner-city preview on page 27, the analysts forecast hefty falls in prices at the usually popular eastern beaches, with the worst-hit areas those around Bondi, Bronte and Tamarama (see chart), all predicted to drop by between 12 and 14 per cent. PREDICTIONS UNITS Best performing Suburb (% change) Canley Vale Cabramatta Fairfield Edensor Park Wetherill Park Wakeley Smithfield Fairfield Heights Glenmore Park Bankstown Botany Mascot Last year -2 1 3 n/a n/a n/a n/a -3 4 5 3 -3 This year 8 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 SOURCE: AUSTRALIAN PROPERTY MONITORS The area from Double Bay to Vaucluse will also remain weak, predicts Vicki Laing of Laing Real Estate. ‘‘Some people there are in trouble from the falls in the stockmarket and are offloading property,’’ she says. ‘‘Watch out for some bargains there.’’ In contrast, Laing believes patches such as Potts Point, Elizabeth Bay, Darlinghurst, Rushcutters Bay and Hyde Park are proving pretty much recession-proof. ‘‘There’s a real diversity of stock there, from studios to $20 million properties, and I think there’s even some opportunities for price growth,’’ she says. She sees first home buyers out in force in those areas, hunting for quality studios or one-bedroom apartments up to $500,000, often competing with investors. Meanwhile, empty-nesters and returning expatriates are tending to prefer off-the-plan buys. Worst performing Suburb (% change) Bondi North Bondi Bondi Beach Bronte Tamarama Waverley Crows Nest Northbridge Queen's Park Greenwich Naremburn St Leonards Wollstonecraft Artarmon Last year -2 7 -8 10 25 -11 -16 7 3 37 4 -1 8 4 This year -14 -14 -14 -12 -12 -12 -11 -11 -11 -11 -11 -11 -11 -11 SOME OFF-THE-PLAN OFF THE BOIL But sales in new or yet-to-be-built apartments aren’t doing well across the board. In Pyrmont’s Jacksons Landing, for example, there are reports a number of apartments have come back on the market from buyers deciding not to settle because of recession fears. Developers Lend Lease have retrenched 130 staff amid speculation a lack of confidence is behind delays in releasing the next stage of the complex. Out west in Homebush Bay, the site of two large apartment developments – Mariners Cove and The Waterfront – local residents are trying hard to distinguish their patch from the rest of Homebush, where some developers have long been trying to sell their stocks of off-the-plan units. They’re lobbying 24,000 fantastic reasons to buy your first home NOW! Brand New Homes from $335,000 $311,000 Choose from a huge variety of new Mirvac homes at 7 great locations COMPLETED & OFF THE PLAN from $335,000 Spring Farm Ayre Woodcroft Edgewood from Mt Annan Lakeside from Glenfield Panorama from Auburn Ashgrove from ON DISPLAY 3 2.5 1 from $335,000 $340,000 $345,000 $355,000 $437,500 Spring Farm Ayre Glenfield Panorama Middleton Grange Parkbridge Auburn Ashgrove 4 2.5 2 HOUSE & LAND PACKAGES from $370,610 ON DISPLAY from from from from $369,000 $450,000 $490,000 $580,000 Woodcroft Edgewood from Spring Farm Ayre from Mt Annan Lakeside from Glenfield Panorama from Auburn Ashgrove from ON DISPLAY 3 2.5 2 $340,000 $345,000 $359,000 $365,000 $449,500 www.mirvac.com Marli 3 2.5 2 Spring Farm Ayre from $372,300 Woodcroft Edgewood from $417,300 Glenfield Panorama from $417,300 Knightsbridge 4 2.5 2 Spring Farm Ayre from $434,510 Woodcroft Edgewood from $479,510 Glenfield Panorama from $479,510 Magenta 4 2.5 2 Spring Farm Ayre from $459,680 Woodcroft Edgewood from $504,680 Glenfield Panorama from $504,680 Woodcroft Edgewood 5 Bellminer Street Woodcroft 9831 6066 Leumeah Grandview 15 Northam Road Leumeah 4627 4536 Mount Annan Lakeside Cnr Laurina St & Aristida Circuit, Mount Annan 4648 0823 Auburn Ashgrove Cnr Raglan Road & Princeton Circuit, Auburn 9645 6322 Spring Farm Ayre Minorca Circuit Spring Farm 4647 1411 Glenfield Panorama Glenfield Road Glenfield 9824 3222 Middleton Grange Parkbridge Middleton Drive Middleton Grange 9607 8144 † Conditions Apply. All photographs and illustrations indicative only. Mirvac Homes Pty Ltd. Builders Lic No. 101738C. MIR9889_1143-06 * The First Home Owners offer is only available for customers eligible for The First Home Owner Grant Scheme (FHOGS) by the NSW Government and the First Home Owner Boost from the Australian Government. This bonus is not available in conjunction with any other offer. 10 THE SUN-HERALD PROPERTY GUIDE 2009 DOMAIN.COM.AU
Auburn Council for a name change to Wentworth Point. ‘‘We’re hoping it will make the area more desirable,’’ local Geoff Hutchinson says. ‘‘It will take away some of the stigma of Homebush as a local dump and tip.’’ Meanwhile, new developers are continuing to target first home buyers with their wares. Stockland is planning a number of new offers in 2009 and has units priced as low as $225,000 in Penrith’s Waterside. ‘‘First home buyers need to act quickly in 2009 as the Federal Government’s First Home Owner boost expires at the end of June,’’ says Stockland’s residential communities general manager, Barry Mann. Investors and older owner-occupiers are expected to return to apartments within a five-kilometre radius of the CBD, according to the managing director of Carrington developers, Andrew Finlayson. ‘‘In our case, for Capella at Kensington, rents remain very strong and purchasers so far are achieving 5 to 5.5 per cent per annum returns on their investment,’’ he says. ‘‘For owner-occupiers, particularly in the price bracket of $650,000 to $950,000, many buyers are shifting from larger properties within the area and either have their houses listed for sale or will be listing. Many have been sitting on their hands waiting to see what’s happening with the market.’’ But even after settlement, some buyers of off-the-plan apartments are finding it difficult to get their money back. One buyer of a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in Zetland’s recently completed Prominence is asking for offers above $675,000 through BresicWhitney agents – after paying $716,650 in July 2007. That’s also the case in parts of the North Shore, says Cameron Falconer of Lindhouse Real Estate in Lindfield. ‘‘We have too much of an oversupply of apartments here, with new units being built from Gordon to Chatswood, Lindfield to Killara. ‘‘We have a lot of new developments and some are up to a year-and-a-half behind schedule because they’ve only managed to sell 20 to 30 per cent and they need to sell 80 per cent before they start to make a profit.’’ FIRST-TIMERS V INVESTORS Chief among the buyers at the lower-priced end are first home buyers and investors, Falconer says, but many first-timers prefer to move further to areas such as Turramurra, where they might be able to afford a cheap house rather than an apartment. Photo: Jacky Ghossein By contrast, Hurstville-based R.T. Golby sales executive Ivan Grdich says there’s often an undersupply of units in the south. ‘‘The market is very strong for units and when they come on to the market, they tend to be snapped up very quickly,’’ he says. ‘‘We’d love to have more people selling or building units. There’s a lot of people out there waiting to buy.’’ Much of the demand is centred around Hurstville, Kogarah, Brighton-Le-Sands and Sans Souci and coming from first home buyers rather than investors, Grdich says. Many of the apartments available are then going for healthy prices. One 13-year-old, TIMING IS RIGHT IN 2009 The new year presented the chance of a new start for young lovers Jaide Bryant (pictured) and Karl Naji. Currently living with their respective parents, the couple have decided 2009 will be the year to buy their first apartment together. ‘‘For us, it just feels like it’s the right time to buy,’’ says Bryant, 22, a hairdresser who lives at home in Engadine and works at Naji’s brother’s salon, Cut Plus in Kings Cross. ‘‘Interest rates are good and we’ve been saving up. We want to buy and stand on our own two feet.’’ With Naji, 23, also a hairdresser at his own salon, Groom, in Neutral Bay, the pair looked at units in Brighton-le- Sands, Redfern, Chippendale, Sans Souci and Rosebery before deciding to buy a unit in Alexandria. ‘‘It’s an area that’s developing a lot and becoming more cosmopolitan all the time,’’ Bryant says. ‘‘In five years, it’ll be a real community with a lot of restaurants and cafes and will be a great investment.’’ three-bedroom unit in Hurstville sold just before Christmas for $490,000, when the vendor was hoping for $450,000. Areas most in demand include Annandale and Stanmore, although good public transport links mean many of the potential apartment buyers – usually young, single men and women – don’t differentiate too strongly between nearby suburbs. ‘‘December was one of the best months for apartment sales we’ve had in the last six,’’ Burke says. ‘‘There are a lot of people just waiting to see if there’s going to be any further falls in prices but they’ll all be buying soon. It’s really looking up.’’ Life. Style. Life beckons at one of Mirvac’s premiere waterfront residential locations. Savor some of NSW’s most desirable blue ribbon locales. Delight in the quality of design, finish and attention to detail that most developments only dream of. Unmistakably Mirvac. Life is meant to be this good. The Royal on the beach Visit one of Mirvac’s fully furnished premiere displays. * Non waterfront MC9915_1208-01 Rhodes, Tandara Phone: 02 8754 1520 2 Rider Boulevard, Rhodes. (Opposite Rhodes Shopping Centre) Open 11am – 5pm Open daily www.rhodeswaterside.com.au Killara, Springdale* Phone: 02 9080 8888 10 Marian Street Killara NSW Open 11am – 1pm Wed, Sat & Sun www.mirvac.com/springdale Newcastle Beach, The Royal Phone: 02 4925 2477 65 Shortland Esplanade Newcastle NSW 2300 Open 12 – 3pm Sat & Sun www.royalnewcastle.com.au Central Coast, Magenta Shores Phone: 02 4334 3920 Magenta Drive, off Wilfred Barrett Drive, Magenta, Central Coast NSW Open 12 – 3pm Sat & Sun www.magentashores.com.au DOMAIN.COM.AU THE SUN-HERALD PROPERTY GUIDE 2009 11
Page 1 and 2: PROPERTY GUIDE 2009 WHAT YOUR HOME
Page 3: An invitation to build your wealth
Page 7 and 8: Get 1.5 steps ahead. 1.5 % off p.a.
Page 9: the grants have brought to other re
Page 13 and 14: LOWERNORTH SHORE Perfect time for u
Page 15 and 16: LOWERNORTH SHORE LANE COVE RANK 125
Page 17 and 18: UPPERNORTH SHORE High hopes riding
Page 19 and 20: UPPERNORTH SHORE Phenomenal Success
Page 21 and 22: UPPERNORTH SHORE MARSFIELD RANK 256
Page 23 and 24: UPPERNORTH SHORE The only 1 to cons
Page 25 and 26: NORTHERN BEACHES ALLAMBIE HTS RANK
Page 27 and 28: EASTAND INNERCITY Outlook is bright
Page 29 and 30: EASTAND INNERCITY HILLSDALE RANK 30
Page 31: EASTAND INNERCITY TAMARAMA RANK 5 M

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