Homepage
PR Newswire
25-05-2013, 07:44 AM
(This post was last modified: 25-05-2013, 07:53 AM by greengiraffe.)
This is the most iconic bursting of bubble for real estate bubble in Australian's recent history... the turnaround is significant and must not be underestimated especially in the light of RBA's recent cut in interest rates to the lowest since 1959... Ho Bee is a direct play on Gold Coast recovery though impact may be small. Positive implications for St****** and AVJ though both are geared towards domestic exposure...
Developers finally sell Gold Coast's Soul Tower
• BY:LISA ALLEN
• From:The Australian
• May 25, 2013 12:00AM
• Increase Text Size
• Decrease Text Size
• Print
•
•
Things are looking down: the view from the penthouse of the Soul building in Surfers Paradise. Picture: Adam Head Source: The Australian
CHINESE, Russian and African investors are buying million-dollar-plus apartments on Queensland's Gold Coast, the receivers of the troubled $850 million Soul Tower reporting 77 luxury units have been snapped up in the past six months.
Buyers from Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Indonesia as well as Australia's eastern seaboard are forking out more than $1m each to buy an apartment in Soul, despite negative sentiment towards Gold Coast real estate.
Soul's funders, NAB, ING and Morgan Stanley, called in receivers PricewaterhouseCoopers last year after more than 100 of Soul's apartment buyers were unable to settle as values crashed from when the bulk of presales were made six years ago.
Despite the recent influx of investors, Queensland industrial transport millionaire Charlie Caltabiano has not settled his $16.85m purchase of Soul's penthouse, which was negotiated in 2007.
It is understood the receivers are proceeding towards a settlement with Mr Caltabiano.
"The Gold Coast property market has dropped significantly since the global financial crisis and Soul apartment prices have met the market," said Soul's marketing agent, Erle Cramer of Cramer Property, yesterday. "People have now got their confidence in the Gold Coast back; it had bottomed but is moving up."
More than half of the Soul tower's 287 units have sold, but there are at least 100 apartments still on the market with an asking price of at least $1m each.
Surfers Paradise apartment prices were 22 per cent lower in March than the record highs in December 2007 when developer Juniper was marketing the Soul tower, RP Data senior research analyst Cameron Kusher said. "Values have seen a significant correction," he said. "Declines have shown no real sign of slowing, falling a further 5.3 per cent over the past year. The number of unit sales is also at an extremely low level."
All up, there were 936 unit sales in Surfers Paradise in the 12 months to February, compared with 3344 sales in the 12 months to November 2003, when apartment prices peaked. "(But) annual sales volumes have increased by 11 per cent from their recent low of 847 sales over the 12 months to March 2012. This would suggest that sales activity is very slowly starting to increase," Mr Kusher said.
Meanwhile, Mr Cramer believes the strong Asian interest in the Soul Tower was due to the Gold Coast's "clean air".
"Traditionally, beach suburbs were not the flavour of the month with Asians. But they like the Gold Coast for the lifestyle and clean air. You don't have to be a mad surfer to enjoy beaches. They like the fact the Gold Coast is a city on the beach; there is nowhere else like that in the world," he said.
They also want to get their money into a more stable environment and they want an investment and lifestyle proposition."
Another attraction for buyers is the billions of dollars of infrastructure being developed on the Gold Coast.
Jim Raptis sings Gold Coast market's praises
BY:GREG BROWN From: The Australian May 25, 2013 12:00AM
Increase Text Size
Decrease Text Size
Print
TROUBLED property developer Jim Raptis has come out swinging about the sustainability of the Gold Coast property market, claiming it is improving, with the biggest opportunities for developers and buyers being houses or apartments priced under $600,000.
The Raptis Group went into administration at the height of the global financial crash in 2009 owing creditors as much as $1 billion.
The collapse of the group - at the time one of the biggest developers on the Gold Coast - was linked to the company's $700 million Surfers Paradise Hilton Hotel development, which lost value and buyers after the GFC, leaving Mr Raptis unable to pay financiers.
Nevertheless, Mr Raptis, was happy to spruik the Gold Coast mid-tier apartment market in a rare media interview yesterday.
"The most powerful things are the under-$600,000 apartment or housing or townhouses. They are now a very limited product in the marketplace," he said.
"No one has been building it and that's where the market has been affordable. And now pent-up demand is coming, is here now, and will accelerate in the next six months in that spot. I'm talking about units from $375,000 to $600,000."
Despite his optimism, Mr Raptis remained tight-lipped about whether he would restart his development business which, before the GFC, focused on high-end boutique apartments on the Gold Coast and Brisbane. "There are a couple of things on the drawing board so, of course, we are looking at opportunities. Hopefully, with market improvements, we could take up some of those opportunities."
Mr Raptis's positive comments are in stark contrast to the experience of apartment mogul, Harry Triguboff, who has been developing units on the Gold Coast and Brisbane through his Meriton Apartments group for several years.
"At this stage, the apartments on the Gold Coast are not selling," Mr Triguboff said. "Apartments priced at $450,000 and above are not selling and will not sell until interest rates come down. Until they come down they will not sell. We have to get Australians to buy them in Surfers Paradise and Brisbane."
Commenting on the failure of the Hilton project, Mr Raptis claimed sales never stopped and continued even after construction continued. "I think as time went on, from mid-2009 onwards, the buyers became very cautious and everyone withdrew. It was basically all that type of product and you have an oversupply and everyone said, 'We can't afford it any more, the economy is going.' "
He said the GFC, coupled with the limitation of funding developments, and an excess of funding products brought down the valuations. "It became a spiral. And people that were running businesses, and were buying on the luxury end, their businesses also suffered and everyone withdrew from the market."
Mr Raptis said he had been surprised at the recent surge of sales of high-end stock at the Hilton, with most apartments in one of the towers sold out.
"It has surprised myself and the general agents. The high-end stock is clearing faster than what I think people expected - that's the million-dollar plus stuff. Hilton's clearing out; Soul is getting sales; Oracle is getting sales. But the higher-end homes, the $4m to $5m to $10m homes, they are clearing out as well."
Mr Raptis credited this to an improving economy and price falls of high-end assets.
"The country still has a lot of wealth and I think people have been waiting to come and buy at the discounted prices in that space. (An asset worth) $1.7m can be bought for $1.2m. Buyers are now accepting that that's what the product is worth and they've always wanted to have a holiday home or a unit up here."
While the Asian market was building momentum, Mr Raptis said there had been a larger surge in domestic buyers.
Additional reporting: Lisa Allen
Developers finally sell Gold Coast's Soul Tower
• BY:LISA ALLEN
• From:The Australian
• May 25, 2013 12:00AM
• Increase Text Size
• Decrease Text Size
•
•
Things are looking down: the view from the penthouse of the Soul building in Surfers Paradise. Picture: Adam Head Source: The Australian
CHINESE, Russian and African investors are buying million-dollar-plus apartments on Queensland's Gold Coast, the receivers of the troubled $850 million Soul Tower reporting 77 luxury units have been snapped up in the past six months.
Buyers from Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Indonesia as well as Australia's eastern seaboard are forking out more than $1m each to buy an apartment in Soul, despite negative sentiment towards Gold Coast real estate.
Soul's funders, NAB, ING and Morgan Stanley, called in receivers PricewaterhouseCoopers last year after more than 100 of Soul's apartment buyers were unable to settle as values crashed from when the bulk of presales were made six years ago.
Despite the recent influx of investors, Queensland industrial transport millionaire Charlie Caltabiano has not settled his $16.85m purchase of Soul's penthouse, which was negotiated in 2007.
It is understood the receivers are proceeding towards a settlement with Mr Caltabiano.
"The Gold Coast property market has dropped significantly since the global financial crisis and Soul apartment prices have met the market," said Soul's marketing agent, Erle Cramer of Cramer Property, yesterday. "People have now got their confidence in the Gold Coast back; it had bottomed but is moving up."
More than half of the Soul tower's 287 units have sold, but there are at least 100 apartments still on the market with an asking price of at least $1m each.
Surfers Paradise apartment prices were 22 per cent lower in March than the record highs in December 2007 when developer Juniper was marketing the Soul tower, RP Data senior research analyst Cameron Kusher said. "Values have seen a significant correction," he said. "Declines have shown no real sign of slowing, falling a further 5.3 per cent over the past year. The number of unit sales is also at an extremely low level."
All up, there were 936 unit sales in Surfers Paradise in the 12 months to February, compared with 3344 sales in the 12 months to November 2003, when apartment prices peaked. "(But) annual sales volumes have increased by 11 per cent from their recent low of 847 sales over the 12 months to March 2012. This would suggest that sales activity is very slowly starting to increase," Mr Kusher said.
Meanwhile, Mr Cramer believes the strong Asian interest in the Soul Tower was due to the Gold Coast's "clean air".
"Traditionally, beach suburbs were not the flavour of the month with Asians. But they like the Gold Coast for the lifestyle and clean air. You don't have to be a mad surfer to enjoy beaches. They like the fact the Gold Coast is a city on the beach; there is nowhere else like that in the world," he said.
They also want to get their money into a more stable environment and they want an investment and lifestyle proposition."
Another attraction for buyers is the billions of dollars of infrastructure being developed on the Gold Coast.
Jim Raptis sings Gold Coast market's praises
BY:GREG BROWN From: The Australian May 25, 2013 12:00AM
Increase Text Size
Decrease Text Size
TROUBLED property developer Jim Raptis has come out swinging about the sustainability of the Gold Coast property market, claiming it is improving, with the biggest opportunities for developers and buyers being houses or apartments priced under $600,000.
The Raptis Group went into administration at the height of the global financial crash in 2009 owing creditors as much as $1 billion.
The collapse of the group - at the time one of the biggest developers on the Gold Coast - was linked to the company's $700 million Surfers Paradise Hilton Hotel development, which lost value and buyers after the GFC, leaving Mr Raptis unable to pay financiers.
Nevertheless, Mr Raptis, was happy to spruik the Gold Coast mid-tier apartment market in a rare media interview yesterday.
"The most powerful things are the under-$600,000 apartment or housing or townhouses. They are now a very limited product in the marketplace," he said.
"No one has been building it and that's where the market has been affordable. And now pent-up demand is coming, is here now, and will accelerate in the next six months in that spot. I'm talking about units from $375,000 to $600,000."
Despite his optimism, Mr Raptis remained tight-lipped about whether he would restart his development business which, before the GFC, focused on high-end boutique apartments on the Gold Coast and Brisbane. "There are a couple of things on the drawing board so, of course, we are looking at opportunities. Hopefully, with market improvements, we could take up some of those opportunities."
Mr Raptis's positive comments are in stark contrast to the experience of apartment mogul, Harry Triguboff, who has been developing units on the Gold Coast and Brisbane through his Meriton Apartments group for several years.
"At this stage, the apartments on the Gold Coast are not selling," Mr Triguboff said. "Apartments priced at $450,000 and above are not selling and will not sell until interest rates come down. Until they come down they will not sell. We have to get Australians to buy them in Surfers Paradise and Brisbane."
Commenting on the failure of the Hilton project, Mr Raptis claimed sales never stopped and continued even after construction continued. "I think as time went on, from mid-2009 onwards, the buyers became very cautious and everyone withdrew. It was basically all that type of product and you have an oversupply and everyone said, 'We can't afford it any more, the economy is going.' "
He said the GFC, coupled with the limitation of funding developments, and an excess of funding products brought down the valuations. "It became a spiral. And people that were running businesses, and were buying on the luxury end, their businesses also suffered and everyone withdrew from the market."
Mr Raptis said he had been surprised at the recent surge of sales of high-end stock at the Hilton, with most apartments in one of the towers sold out.
"It has surprised myself and the general agents. The high-end stock is clearing faster than what I think people expected - that's the million-dollar plus stuff. Hilton's clearing out; Soul is getting sales; Oracle is getting sales. But the higher-end homes, the $4m to $5m to $10m homes, they are clearing out as well."
Mr Raptis credited this to an improving economy and price falls of high-end assets.
"The country still has a lot of wealth and I think people have been waiting to come and buy at the discounted prices in that space. (An asset worth) $1.7m can be bought for $1.2m. Buyers are now accepting that that's what the product is worth and they've always wanted to have a holiday home or a unit up here."
While the Asian market was building momentum, Mr Raptis said there had been a larger surge in domestic buyers.
Additional reporting: Lisa Allen