Gold Coast property: City on verge of running out of units as hot real estate market escalates
Nearly $2bn worth of apartments will be up for grabs just in time for the interstate rush when borders reopen as new data reveals just 45 units remain on sale in the Gold Coast’s south.
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NEARLY $2bn worth of apartments will be up for grabs next week, just in time for the interstate rush when borders reopen.
Iris Capital is putting 333 units on the market ahead of building its $1bn twin tower V & A development in Broadbeach, and SPG Land is opening the doors of the southern hemisphere’s largest sales centre in Surfers Paradise to start offloading 258 apartments in the first phase of its three-tower Paradiso Place project.
Units in the V & A towers start at $660,000; the penthouses are going for $14m each. The Paradiso Place apartments are priced from $550,000.
The release is expected to ease pressure on the city’s available unit stock, with the Bulletin last week reporting the Coast had just 2.2 months of supply remaining.
It is also a timely play for the large number of interstate tourists who had been locked out for more than six months.
They are expected to flood the city from as early as December 6, a date flagged by the acting chief health officer on Friday.
“The Gold Coast construction industry is fortunate to be reaping the full benefits of what we call the Covid phenomenon,” Gold Coast Property Council chairman Matthew Schneider said.
“While tourism has faced immense challenges, we do expect the cornerstones of the city’s economy to be firing on all cylinders in 2022 as the borders reopen, vaccination rates increase, and international borders reopen.”
A Gold Coast apartment essentials report by property consulting firm Urbis reveals more units changed hands in the first nine months of this year than any other year on record.
The city has a 2.2-month supply of units on the market, almost half the 4.2 months recorded for the March-June quarter.
Just 517 apartments remained for sale at the end of September, down from 624 at the end of June. At the end of June 2018 there were 2594.
Colliers Residential Director David Higgins said he expected the city’s property market to maintain its high sales through the Christmas period.
“The Coast is undergoing an incredible renaissance and these projects of this magnitude are going to be needed to facilitate the demand that we are seeing,” he said.
“The casino is set to complement the bustling suburb of Broadbeach, taking entertainment to the next level and the project will supply accommodation to the area as borders open and investors still have strong interests in the Gold Coast market.
“It has been a very exciting time on the Gold Coast over the last 18 months and we anticipate this will continue as the borders open and businesses reopen for business.”
Of the 517 units still for sale, more than half of these, 335, were located in the Gold Coast central precinct, comprising Labrador, Southport, Main Beach, Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach.
The southern beaches from Mermaid Beach to Tweed Heads had the lowest supply with just 45 apartments.
Six-hundred-and-ninety apartments sold in the September quarter, bringing the year’s total so far to 1882.
This figure has already eclipsed the previous full-year record of 1556 sales in 2016.
Owner-occupiers accounted for 61 per cent of sales in the September quarter.
The weighted average sale price fell to $883,478, slightly down from the $1m-plus figures of the first two quarters of the year.
CONSTRUCTION TO BEGIN ON NEW TOWERS
ONE of the city’s biggest developers will begin construction of two of its southern Gold Coast tower projects within days.
Hirsch and Faigen’s two projects – Hemingway Palm Beach and Emerson Kirra – are worth a combined $160m and will employ more than 400 people during the near-two year construction phase.
Both projects will open in late 2023. Construction giant Hutchinsons will be the builder.
Hirsch and Faigen director Daniel Faigen said Hemingway has sold out all of its 78 units while just seven of Emerson’s apartments remain unsold, including its $8m penthouse.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better reception to the Gold Coast market,” he said. “It’s strengthened our commitment to this piping-hot property pocket, and we look forward to seeking out further opportunities on its shores,” he said
“With a remarkable sales run behind us, we are looking forward to shifting into construction mode.
“These projects aren’t your standard class apartments, so it was important to us that we found the right builder who would execute the design flawlessly, and we have every confidence that Hutchies are the perfect fit for the job.”
Hirsch and Faigen will launch its third Gold Coast project, Yves at Mermaid Beach, to the market in December.
The 26-storey Mermaid Ave tower will feature 146 luxury apartments.
Unit shortage crisis: ‘We have never seen a market as tight’
THE Gold Coast will run out of units to sell in just over two months if new stock does not flood the market, a new report shows.
A Gold Coast apartment essentials report by property consulting firm Urbis reveals more units changed hands in the first nine months of this year than any other year on record.
The city has a 2.2-month supply of units on the market, almost half the 4.2 months recorded for the March-June quarter.
Just 517 apartments remained for sale at the end of September, down from 624 at the end of June. At the end of June 2018 there were 2594.
Urbis senior consultant Lynda Campbell said the Gold Coast apartment market had “entered new territory”.
“Record high demand is meeting record low supply, which has led to the most acute shortage of new apartments ever experienced on the Gold Coast.
“We have never seen a market as tight as this since we started keeping track of demand for new apartments at the end of 2013.
“Sales in the third quarter picked up significantly compared to the June quarter, although they were slightly lower than the record first quarter when we saw 742 sales.”
Of the 517 units still for sale, more than half of these, 335, were located in the Gold Coast central precinct, comprising Labrador, Southport, Main Beach, Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach.
However, the southern beaches from Mermaid Beach to Tweed Heads had the lowest supply with just 45 apartments.
Six-hundred-and-ninety apartments sold in the September quarter, bringing the year’s total so far to 1882.
This figure has already eclipsed the previous full-year record of 1556 sales in 2016.
Owner-occupiers accounted for 61 per cent of sales in the September quarter.
The weighted average sale price fell to $883,478, slightly down from the $1m-plus figures of the first two quarters of the year.
According to the report, nine new projects comprising 774 apartments were launched in the September quarter, two of which sold out within three months. They were among 16 projects that sold out during the quarter.
In a clear sign of diminishing supply, Urbis is monitoring 59 new developments across the city, down from a high of 84 in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Ms Campbell said she expected the supply issues to ease once a range of large-scale developments were completed in 2022.
“All Gold Coast precincts are in major undersupply, and some areas will remain so despite a number of big projects in the wings expected to be launched over the next three to nine months,” she said.
“The market has been dominated by smaller-scale projects with larger apartments and higher price points over the last two years.
“However, this could be about to change with several large-scale projects close to launching with a different product offering to meet demand.”
‘All I ever wanted was to build a better city’: Tourism chief retires
TOURISM supremo Paul Donovan is retiring as chairman of Destination Gold Coast, ending a 17-year reign of the city’s biggest industry.
Mr Donovan will stand down at the marketing body’s annual general meeting on November 24. The new board will then vote to approve his successor.
The airline and travel executive said that with borders reopening and international travel resuming, the time was right to step aside.
However, Mr Donovan said he had one message for his successor – stop calling the Gold Coast “the glitter strip”.
“We really need to get away from calling it the glitter strip,” he said.
“There is far more depth to our city than that now – the glitter has turned to gold.
“All I have ever wanted to do was help build a better city so that our kids and grandkids had great opportunities.”
Mr Donovan began his career in the tourism and aviation sector more than 40 years ago, serving in senior roles at Ansett Airlines, Air New Zealand and Gold Coast Airport.
He was appointed chairman of Destination Gold Coast in 2004 and oversaw some of the most dramatic shifts in the tourism industry’s history – the global financial crisis, expansion of the Chinese tourist market during the 2010s, securing of major new air routes and record visitor numbers.
He was then forced to watch more than a decade of work unravel in 2020 when the tourism sector collapsed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. It included the sudden resignation of his hand-picked CEO Annalise Battista, meaning he became executive chairman for six months.
Mr Donovan is not retiring entirely – he will continue his role at Queensland Airports and running the Gold Coast Marathon.
Destination Gold Coast CEO Patricia O’Callaghan paid tribute to Mr Donovan’s “unwavering passion for the industry”.
“We are grateful to Paul for his outstanding stewardship, tireless dedication to the tourism industry and contribution to the Gold Coast visitor economy during his tenure,” she said.
“Having steered the city’s peak tourism body for close to two decades, Paul has helped to not only raise the profile of the Gold Coast as a must-visit leisure and business events destination, but also advocate for continual development of aviation connectivity and tourism infrastructure from both public and private sectors.”
Ms O’Callaghan said Mr Donovan’s legacy was significant.
“Visitor numbers steadily increased under his leadership reaching a peak of 14.2 million visitors, directly generating $5.9bn into the local economy in 2019,” she said.
“Over this period, Paul was instrumental in growing the China market to become the No. 1 international source market for the Gold Coast and third most-popular Australian destination for Chinese visitors prior to Covid-19.”
Mayor Tom Tate thanked Mr Donovan, a close friend, for his decades of service.
“When we think of fantastic Gold Coasters who have made such an incredible contribution to our city, Paul fits the bill perfectly,” he said.
“To him, the role of chair was never work. His passion for tourism, for the staff at Destination Gold Coast and for the thousands of tourism-related businesses shone through in his energy and enthusiasm.
“I’m sure Paul’s name will pop up again given his love for our city.”
Mr Donovan was named Gold Coast Citizen of the Year in 2019.
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