Gold Coast development: Could build-to-rent be the answer to the city's rental woes?
Veteran developer Ron Bakir says his new $200m build-to-rent project in Varsity Lakes is just what the market needs to alleviate chronic supply issues amid reports that renters on the Gold Coast are resorting to increasingly desperate measure to secure a home.
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VETERAN developer Ron Bakir says his $200m build-to-rent project in Varsity Lakes is just what the market needs to alleviate chronic supply issues.
The CEO of Homecorp Property Group will launch expressions-of-interest for his Capital Court build-to-rent (BTR) project in the next few weeks. Construction on the first two towers will deliver 257 units into the rental pool.
“We have tenants applying for 40 to 50 properties just to get one,” Mr Bakir said.
“People are offering to pay 15 months in advance. That’s common in Dubai, but not here.”
Mr Bakir said BTR could play a major role in bringing more supply to the market.
“The market really needs it and it is perfect timing because we are going to get more and more people coming to Queensland and the Gold Coast,” he said.
Mr Bakir said the BTR asset class was common in the UK and US.
He said it offered tenants long-term security with three-year-plus leases rather than the typical six-to-12 months.
“This is built as a long-term holding,” he said.
“Over the next five to 10 years it will be a prominent asset class.”
Mr Bakir says Capital Court, which is funded by Morgan Stanley, has not been officially launched to the market but people who had seen construction start were making inquiries.
Data from SQM Research shows how much has changed in less than a year.
The vacancy rate on the central Gold Coast hit a recent peak of 5 per cent in May last year but by February that had plummeted to just 0.8 per cent.
Gold Coast property analyst Colleen Coyne said BTR was part of the solution to the rental crisis, but not the only one.
“First-home buying is also part of the solution, as it means people often shift out of the rental market to their own homes,” she said.
“Statewide data shows the number of loans to first-home buyers was more than 3000 loans per month for the four months to January 2021.
“This was the highest level since 2009, when such demand was stimulated by First Home Owner Grant in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis.”
Ms Coyne warned there was no “silver bullet” to solve the problem, which she said dated back a number of years.
She said the vacancy rate between 2013 and 2018 was generally below 2 per cent “so the issue is somewhat of a perennial problem”.
AUGUST 2019: FOUR TOWER COMPLEX PLANNED FOR VARSITY LAKES
A CONSORTIUM made up of some of the Gold Coast biggest developers wants to transform an empty site into a giant four-tower complex.
New plans have revealed Varsity Lakes’ Capital Court site near Bond University would hold four residential towers of between nine and 10 storeys each.
CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON $1.3B MINI-CITY
FEARS PALM BEACH WILL BECOME ‘ANOTHER NEW YORK’
The proposed development has been put forward by Capital Court Pty Ltd, a powerful consortium made up of Homecorp, Sunland Group and Condev Construction.
Homecorp is led by businessman Ron Bakir while Sunland, which built Q1 and Palazzo Versace, is led by Sahba and Soheil Abedian.
According to the plans obtained by the Gold Coast Bulletin, the project will have 388 units and 180 sqm of commercial and retail tenancies.
There would be 99 units each across three of the towers, with the fourth having 89.
The majority will be two bedroom apartments with the rest having a single bedroom.
$14B WAVE OF DEVELOPMENT PLANNED FOR GOLD COAST
“The project offers high quality contemporary design, which are imaginative and
innovative apartment buildings that completes the western edge of the Varsity Lakes centre zone and provides a key built form edge to this precinct,” the report said.
“This design outcome will result in the addition of an elegant and visually interesting residential building, which will provide considerable amenity for residents and visitors and become a complimentary and respectful addition to the Varsity Lakes centre precinct.”
The site, which has sat empty for decades, has more recently been used for parking in a suburb with notoriously narrow streets and limited car spaces.
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The consortium began meeting with council planning staff late last year to discuss the project and what would be allowed on the site.
According to the plans there will be 437 car parks provided for residents and visitors, as well as 164 bicycle parks.
All the parking will be located inside a three-level basement.
The Bulletin revealed earlier this week in Quentin Tod’s On the QT column that the 1.3ha site would likely become home to four towers.
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