Mascot Towers disaster creating deeper property shift
The forced evacuations of residents from Sydney’s Mascot Towers has already caused a change in the way property buyers consider real estate deals, a prominent developer claims.
Shocked home buyers and investors have been avoiding apartment purchases due to the Opal Tower and Mascot Towers crises, a prominent developer claims.
The collapsed buildings encouraged buyers to seek out alternatives to high-rise units and strata developments, Sydney builder Thrive Homes said.
The group reported a significant increase in calls from potential buyers following the Mascot Towers disaster, which saw residents evacuated over concerns with dangerous cracks.
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That disaster followed a similar incident in Homebush late last year when residents had to evacuate the crumbling Opal Tower for weeks while cracks were urgently repaired.
“More than half the calls we’ve received over the past week have been from people who said they were initially considering buying an off-the-plan apartment,” Thrive Homes general manager Patrick Eather said.
“They’ve changed their minds after watching the Mascot Towers issue unfold, and so soon after the Opal Tower issues last Christmas.”
Mr Eather said the changing market has been a deterrent for off-the-plan buyers as well.
“We’re also hearing that recent uncertainty around off-the-plan apartment valuations dropping in the wake of the market decline,” he said.
“The delays we’re seeing in current residential apartment projects, have also contributed to potential buyers seeking alternatives.”
Financial planner and property investor Vick Anand said he was shifting his focus away from apartments given recent changes.
“I’ve learned the hard way that investing in apartments isn’t worth it,” he said. “The costs are too high and the cost and hassles of strata are painful. This impacts on capital gains.
“On top of that, I really feel for people trying to sell an apartment in Sydney right now, with everything that’s going on with Mascot Towers.”
The building co-ordinating engineer of the Mascot block revealed in an update to residents this week that the building appeared to be “moving in a downward motion”.
One resident has been hoping to mitigate the costs of potential repairs by starting a Go-Fund-Me campaign with the goal of raising $1 million, but has raised only about $5000 so far.
“We plan to use the kind donations to help everyone in the building start the work on stabilising the structural defects as well as investigate what went wrong,” the creator said.
“This is only the start for us, we face massive repair costs that could reach (more than) $6 million.”
Originally published as Mascot Towers disaster creating deeper property shift