Queensland, Australia Property

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Jul 1 2015 at 9:41 AM Updated Jul 1 2015 at 2:32 PM
Forget Sydney, Melbourne, property investors head to Brisbane

by Mark Ludlow
Southern investors are looking north to the Queensland property market as Sydney and Melbourne markets become too expensive to gain a foothold.

While the latest BIS Shrapnel report warning Sydney and Melbourne house prices will start to fall in 2016-2017 as interest rates start to rise, Brisbane, the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, are emerging as the more attractive destination for investors.

Despite a flat jobs market in south-east Queensland as the mining boom comes off the boil, Brisbane's median house price of $475,000 is looking a lot more affordable than Sydney ($785,000) and Melbourne ($527,000).

It might be a while off from repeating the hordes of Victorians who fled north during the mid-to-late 1990s, but there is definitely an uptick in interest from investors as Australians focus on the Sydney property "bubble" and when it will burst.

Gold Coast real estate agent John Newlands said he had been inundated with calls from southern investors in the past few months looking to buy north of the Tweed.
Gold Coast real estate agent John Newlands said he had been inundated with calls from southern investors in the past few months looking to buy north of the Tweed. Glenn Hunt
Gold Coast real estate agent John Newlands said he had been inundated with calls from southern investors in the past few months looking to buy north of the Tweed.

"In the old days they used to come up with their suitcases and buy a similar house and have a bag load of money left over," Mr Newland said.

"There is still a bit of that because Brisbane house prices haven't caught up [to Sydney and Melbourne] – but we are starting to see more investors come back from interstate, especially in the unit market. They have been absent for a while because things have been so good in their own state. But there are definitely opportunities up here now."

HIGHER RETURNS

Mr Newlands said clients had commented about the expensive price tags in Sydney and Melbourne and they were attracted to the higher returns and the buzz and new infrastructure around the Gold Coast ahead of the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Chinese investors have also been piling into the Gold Coast apartment market as well as funding their own developments, with over $600 million worth of Gold Coast development sites sold to Asian-backed buyers in the past year.

The BIS Shrapnel report found Queensland would largely be insulated from the dip in house prices in southern states, with further interest cuts later this year expected to make Brisbane homes even affordable.

Brisbane's median house prices were expected to grow by a total 13 per cent over the next three years, while apartments will rise by 6 per cent.

CoreLogic RP Data released on Wednesday found Brisbane had the highest investment yields of the major metropolitan markets for both houses and apartments.

Sydney's valuations are now 80 per cent above Brisbane, according to Corelogic's head of research Tim Lawless. He said the last time that happened in 2002-2003, Brisbane's prices took off.

GROWTH PROJECTIONS

REIQ chief executive Antonia Mercorella said the growth projections for Queensland homes and units was very encouraging. This is despite a sluggish employment market with the state's unemployment rate staying persistently high – it was 6.7 per cent in May – after the collapse of the international coal price.

"Brisbane offers some excellent opportunities for owner-occupiers and investors. This is in stark contrast to other markets, such as Sydney and Melbourne, where rapid price growth is a cause for concern," Ms Mercorella said.

She said there was also good news for the neighbouring Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast markets with future price growth expected to reach 13 per cent and 12 per cent respectively.

The Brisbane apartment market has been hot for some time, with the BIS Shrapnel report saying the Queensland capital will be the only city where apartment prices will be stronger in 2018 than they are today.

More than $742.9 million worth of apartments were purchased in Brisbane during the March quarter, according to Place Advisory, which is 200 per cent above the 10-year average for the city.

Brisbane real estate agent Rob Holcombe, who runs Bees Nees Reality in South Brisbane, said southern investors were chasing bigger yields and cheaper prices in Brisbane.

"They are primarily investors and most are buying with a view to capital gain. They see better prospects for returns up here, not to mention it's more affordable," he said.

"They come up here to buy our property, they just can't admit to supporting our football team."

[greengiraffe]

$500m Wingate Group project for Townsville
THE AUSTRALIAN AUGUST 15, 2015 12:00AM
Rosanne Barrett

Reporter
Brisbane
Townsville will see a $500 million, 1400-lot development as it forges ahead with $3.3 billion in residential projects under construction.

The Wingate Group has received council approval for its Rasmussen development across 250ha, which will deliver homes and townhouses over its decade-long rollout. The masterplanned community has a construction investment of $293m.

Wingate director Stephen Williams said Townsville was the centre of the radar for the government’s Northern Australia development agenda.

“We believe Townsville represents an absolute bargain for long-term investors,” Mr Williams said. “The city has taken a hit to its confidence with the downturn in the mining sector, but it has an unbelievably diverse and growing economic base and it is one of the fastest-growing regions in Australia.”

The city has a string of property developments under way, including the $280m Mount Margaret development, $257m Kalynda Chase Estate, $200m Sanctum Residential Development and $250m Cosgrove Masterplanned Community.

QIC recently bought the city’s Domain shopping centre for $130m.

The state government has also proposed a waterfront priority development area with a potential end value of $1.9bn.

[greengiraffe]

Aug 17 2015 at 1:48 PM Updated Aug 17 2015 at 6:18 PM

Property investors in Queensland suffer as prices plummet 65pc in three years

Property prices in mining towns such as Moranbah have plummeted since the end of the boom. Peter Braig


by Mark Ludlow
If you want to buy a house in the Queensland mining towns of Moranbah and Dysart you might just snap up a bargain.

Property prices in mining heartland of the Bowen Basin - which rode the wave of the coal boom - have fallen off a cliff, burning investors who believed China's thirst for Australian resources would never end.

The median value of a home in Morbanah, about 200 kilometres west of Mackay, have fallen 66 per cent in the past three years, from $404,006 to $251,933, according to new figures from CoreLogic RP Data.

Further south in Dysart, close to BHP's Norwich Park coal mine which closed in 2012 and the neighbouring Saraji mine which is still operating, there has been a 46 per cent fall in house prices over the same period, from $414,788 to $325,962.

Properties that used to receive rents of $3,000 to $4,000 a week during the boom, are now only getting $220 a week, leaving investors struggling to pay their mortgages. Many have gone under.

There are currently 150 houses on the market in Morbanah, the mining town of only 8600 people, mostly through bank foreclosures.

At a recent auction, a four-bedroom house bought for $850,000 at the peak of the boom was passed in at auction after not reaching the reserve price of $220,000.

Moranbah Real Estate owner Bella Exposito, who has been in the real estate game for 28 years, says the past 12 months has been as bad as it gets. Last year she only sold eight properties for the entire year.

This year it has improved, but only five properties are selling per month.

'WORST DOWNTURN PRICE WISE'

"This is my 10th downturn, but in a lot of ways this is the worst downturn price wise," Ms Exposito told The Australian Financial Review.

She said 99 per cent of the properties she sold in Moranbah were snapped by investors from across Australia, including Sydney and Melbourne, as well as as far away as Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

"Prices will go back but they will never go back to the levels achieved during the boom when there was a shortage of supply. Now there is too much supply but prices will probably only go to half a million dollars," she said.

"But I haven't seen one investor since the boom. I think they were being unrealistic thinking the boom was going to last forever."

During the peak of the boom, a house in Moranbah achieved a record price of $1.25 million. Now the highest price recorded recently in Moranbah is $320,000.

Isaac Regional Council Mayor and long-term Moranbah resident Anne Barker said the last property boom - created by a perfect storm of high coal prices and a rush of new projects coming on-line - was the largest she had seen in her 30 years living in the Bowen Basin.

"It was an explosion - there was no doubt about that. But at that time all the planets aligned for the coal industry," she said.

At the time, it created a housing affordability crisis. This has run in parallel with the debate over 100 per cent fly-in, fly-out mines in the Bowen Basin where locals say worker camps outside of towns are hastening the demise of many rural communities.

The Palaszczuk Labor government is looking into the issue, but a ban on 100 per cent fly-in-fly-out mines in the future - there are currently only two operating in Queensland, BHP Billiton's Caval Ridge and Daunia mines - seems likely.

Since the coal price plummeted, thousands of mining workers have been let go as resource companies close mines or shelve expansions. Ironically, there have been record coal exports out of Queensland ports as companies ship out as much brown coal as they can to try and make ends meet.

With mega-mines in the Galilee Basin, including Adani's $16.5 billion Carmichael project, still hanging in the balance, some pundits believe the game is up for fossil fuels.

But Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche said the long-term prospects for coal, driven by demand from Asian, were good, with demand for high-quality thermal coal expected to double over the next 15 years.

CoreLogic RP Data's head of research Tim Lawless said house prices in key mining areas have been falling faster and further than they increased during the boom - although he believes the prices may have bottomed out.

In the Isaac Regional Council region, which includes mining towns such as Moranbah and Dysart, prices increased by 45 per cent in the two years leading up to the market peak in late 2012. In the two years since the peak prices have fallen by 62 per cent, with most of the fall taking place over the first 12 months.

"The sharp fall in prices after such a substantial surge highlights how far the housing market can turn across a single industry region," Mr Lawless said.

"The trend of price declines in some of the hardest hit mining regions has been levelling off since the beginning of this year, as have listing numbers and rental depreciation. While prices may fall further, the worst of the market correction is likely in the past."

Ms Exposito is not expecting a return of southern investors looking to invest in Queensland mining towns anytime soon.

"I don't think they will come back, especially the ones who got burnt. But investors, it's like the share market, they never learn," she said.

[greengiraffe]

• Sep 2 2015 at 4:16 PM 
   
  
  
• Updated 1 hr ago
  

Brisbane property prices go into overdrive as investor demand surges

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NaN of
[img=620x0]http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/g/j/d/5/4/j/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gjd305.png/1441182278270.jpg[/img]Brisbane property prices are jumping as buyers flock to Queensland.
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by Michael Bleby
Investors from near and far have shifted Brisbane property prices up a gear, as the number of suburbs gaining double-digit growth in the Queensland capital has nearly doubled over the past six months.
McDowall in the city's north (16 per cent growth in unit prices), Durack in the south (13.6 per cent growth in houses) and Murarrie in the east (where apartments have jumped 18.1 per cent over the past 12 months), have had their rate of price growth speed up sharply since the start of the first half of the year, real estate agency PRD Nationwide says.
In some cases, the turnaround is dramatic. Six months ago, units in the inner south-eastern suburb of Coorparoo were falling at a rate of 6 per cent. Now they are growing at a rate of 10.7 per cent.
Six months ago, only 18 of Brisbane's 195 suburbs were experiencing price growth in double-digit figures. That has increased to 35, PRD Nationwide's latest Brisbane Hotspots report shows.
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It was a big change for a city in which annual price growth had normally been between 3 per cent and 5 per cent, "and maybe 7 per cent if you're lucky", PRD Nationwide's national research manager Asti Mardiasmo, said.
"Whether it's inner western, eastern, what have you, there are now suddenly all these suburbs that have double digit growth that they've never seen before," Dr Mardiasmo said. "It's kind of going nuts."
The Real Estate Institute of Queensland on Wednesday said the median Brisbane house price had jumped to $610,000 in the June quarter, after hovering around the $600,000-level for some quarters. 
Brisbane house-price growth has lagged behind increases seen in Sydney and Melbourne and buyers in the two large southern cities are increasingly looking northwards. Some of these are owner-occupiers, like Debbie and Larry Koeford, who sold their four-bedroom house in Rosemeadow, 50 kilometres south-west of Sydney, and bought a five-bedroom house in Moreton Bay for $250,000. But a growing number are investors.


Brisbane rental yields on houses (4.4 per cent) and apartments (5.4 per cent) at the end of August were the highest of any of the five mainland capitals tracked by data provider CoreLogic.
Growth was not limited to any one pocket and was evenly spread across the Brisbane area, Dr Mardiasmo said.
"There are actually hotspots and high-growth suburbs in each part of Brisbane," she said.
It was difficult to break down investment between local and foreign sources of capital, Dr Mardiasmo said. Brisbane estate agents have a strong selling season in January, when holidaying Sydneysiders and Melburnians come looking for property, but the city was also seeing a higher level of buyers from overseas than before, she said.

Even so, it was hard determining where the funds were coming from, the Brisbane-based Dr Mardiasmo said, citing her own story as an example.
"I'm Indonesian by birth and have citizenship here, but my parents gave me half of my house deposit as part of my wedding present," she said. "Does that mean it was a foreign investment?"

[greengiraffe]

• Sep 10 2015 at 5:03 PM 
   
  
  
•  Updated Sep 10 2015 at 5:03 PM 
  

Brisbane apartments sales break June quarter record

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NaN of
[img=620x0]http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/g/i/0/2/g/h/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gjjj13.png/1441868630088.jpg[/img]Brisbane has just recorded a record number of apartment sales for the June quarter. Glenn Hunt
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by Matthew Cranston
Brisbane has broken its apartment sales record for the June quarter with 2277 new apartments sold across 86 projects in three months.
The sales result as recorded by leading property services group Urbis breaks the previous high of 1541 sales in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Urbis director for economic and market research Malcolm Aikman said the strong demand would continue with Brisbane's selling channels having become quite sophisticated.
"We expect to see a high proportion of interstate buyers and investors as Brisbane continues to outperform Sydney and Melbourne from a rental return and price point," Mr Aikman said.

He noted that 4434 apartments were meant to have been launched in the June quarter but only 2789 went ahead. "We think this is probably a good thing for the market because it means it is self regulating."
Urbis associate director Paul Riga said that the size of apartments had declined in the last few years but that prices had stabilised, which resulted in a rise in the average price per square metre.
Developers who have been selling said they were not surprised to see such strong results. JGL Properties run by John Livingstone and backed by Thakral said the Brisbane apartment market was following the lead of the southern states and that future supply would not be a problem.
"As traditionally happens much of the mooted apartment supply won't materialise, quality differentiated projects will proceed and water will find its level," Mr Livingstone said.

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• Sep 16 2015 at 7:23 PM 
   
  
  
•  Updated Sep 16 2015 at 8:03 PM 
  

Sun shines again on Noosa property

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[img=620x0]http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/g/j/o/2/q/q/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gjnsuv.png/1442397836295.jpg[/img]Noosa property prices and visitor numbers are looking up. Matt Harvey
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by Mark Ludlow
The millionaires' playground of Noosa has regained its mojo. After years in the doldrums following the global financial crisis, the Queensland holiday strip popular with Sydney and Melbourne executives and investors has had a bounce in visitor numbers and property values.
New figures from CoreLogic RP Data show the value of Sunshine Coast homes has increased by 6.1 per cent over the past year to $516,207, and units are up 3 per cent to $371,379.
Total sales were down by almost 1 per cent in the past year but they were 23 per cent higher than the five-year average, according to the figures.
After years of "For Sale" signs littering multimillion-dollar holidays homes in Noosa and neighbouring Sunshine Beach, homes and units are selling faster than a year ago.

Interstate investors as well as locals are diving into the market to snap up property before the market gets too hot.
Richardson and Wrench principal Peter Butt said after bottoming out last July Noosa's property market was on the up, particularly in the mid-range of $500,000 to $1.2 million, as well as the top-end properties worth more than $3 million.
"Hastings Street [Noosa's main street] has definitely got its mojo back," Mr Butt toldThe Australian Financial Review.
"There was a lot of stock available a few years ago, but it's being eaten up fairly quickly. The stock in the top end is not being replaced. The problem is the name of Noosa is bigger than the actual town itself," he said.


Tom Offermann real estate agent Mal Cox said property prices were still 10 to 15 per cent off pre-global financial crisis levels – when values fell by one-third – but they were steadily rising as southern investors looked north for a bargain. Locals were also using the market to upgrade their properties.
"It's picked up a lot since the GFC, but not at a stupid rate. But there is an acute shortage of land in Noosa and Sunshine Beach," Mr Cox said.
LOWER DOLLAR
The lower Australian dollar is also luring more international visitors to Noosa and Queensland generally, while also tempting domestic tourists to choose local options rather than Fiji, Bali or Phuket. Local visitors have risen 15.7 per cent for the year to March.

Tourism Noosa said the boutique coastal village had also experienced a 19 per cent rise in international visitors in 2014-15.
Chief executive Damien Massingham said reinvestment in key properties along Hastings Street and a targeted advertising campaign overseas had boosted visitor numbers.
"Noosa's inbound visitor numbers were the strongest result for Noosa since December 2010," Mr Massingham said.
But it's not just the Sunshine Coast receiving a boost; Cairns' property prices and visitor numbers also increasing.

Median house prices in Cairns increased by 4.7 per cent to $372,345, while units have increased by 3.8 per cent to $226,600 over the year to June 2015, according to CoreLogic data.
"Sales volumes are at the highest levels they have been since 2008, with current activity up 4.3 per cent from May 2014 and 20.4 per cent above the five-year average," said CoreLogic RP Data's head of research Tim Lawless.
Tourism Research figures showed international visitors to Tropical North Queensland was up 9.8 per cent.
The Gold Coast property market is also firing with a 4 per cent jump in values for homes and units, whereas current sales volumes are the highest since 2008 before the global downturn hit.
But it's not all good news along the Queensland coast. Townsville's property market is still struggling with a 10 per cent fall in sales in the year to May, and current sales 6.1 per cent below the five-year average.
Property values are also down in the North Queensland city for both homes (down 2 per cent) and units (1.2 per cent).

[greengiraffe]

• Sep 16 2015 at 5:41 PM 
   
  
  
•  Updated Sep 17 2015 at 11:06 AM 
  

Queens Wharf attracts more offshore property investment for Brisbane

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NaN of
[img=620x0]http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/1/3/s/w/z/z/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gji974.png/1442452020223.jpg[/img]Echo Entertainment's successful proposal for the Queen's Wharf resort and casino development has been followed by a fresh wave of predominantly Asian based privates interested in Brisbane. Supplied image
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by Matthew Cranston
Echo Entertainment, Chow Tai Fook, and the Far East Consortium's planned Queens Wharf casino and resort has revved up interest from major Asia-based developers looking to invest in Brisbane and bet on the city's growth. 
On Wednesday night Chinese backed Sandt Developments launched a $180 million apartment project in Brisbane called Utopia. The company had initially been looking at the Gold Coast but switched to Brisbane. Chairman Tom Sun said the new Queens Wharf development would help attract tourists and promote Brisbane.
"Brisbane has become a new world city and people from all over the world are coming here."
At a function last week at Queensland's Parliament House hosted by casino designers Cottee Parker and Labor politician Di Farmer, several Chinese investors looking to do business in Brisbane attended including the Taishin International Bank, which is looking to set up an office in the city, and R&F Properties which has already made more than $60 million in development land purchases.
[img=620x0]http://www.afr.com/content/dam/images/1/3/s/x/7/l/image.imgtype.afrArticleInline.620x0.png/1442389221072.jpg[/img]Echo Entertainment's design for Queen's Wharf integrates resort and casino. Supplied
Members of China's consulate were also in attendance and said that while it was sensitive to talk about casinos because of Chinese rules on gambling, the new Queens Wharf development had certainly amplified Brisbane's brand.
CASINO
CBRE Brisbane metropolitan investments, headed up by Mike Walsh, Peter Court and Darren Collins hosted 70 clients in their boardroom for a market outlook presentation this month where they made specific mention of increased inquiry following the casino and resort plan.
"Undeniably the Queens Wharf Casino precinct has been a major drawcard in terms of placing Brisbane on the international map," Mr Walsh said.


"Now that the announcement has been made, there has been a noticeable spike in interest from both existing and new offshore groups – most recently Lian Huat and Kingsford Developments to name a couple – but there are certainly more circling a range of opportunities both in development and investment," Mr Walsh said.
CBRE's Peter Court said the specific interest was for holdings close to the casino and resort precinct. 
"We have seen a fresh wave of predominantly Asian based privates interested in Brisbane since Echo was announced as the successful tender for the Queens Wharf Casino development.
"Of particular focus has been CBD holdings in and around George Street as a medium-term hold with long-term future development possibilities," Mr Court said.

"We expect that this will continue to place further downward pressure on yields as these groups try and get set."

[greengiraffe]

First sales for luxury Gold Coast Jewel project

• THE AUSTRALIAN
  
• SEPTEMBER 19, 2015 12:00AM
  

0

Turi Condon
[Image: turi_condon.png]
Property Editor
Sydney

[Image: 898247-0cbeb620-5dba-11e5-b65c-9d734000beb9.jpg]
Jewel will be a test of the Gold Coast market. Source: Supplied

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[b]A buyer from Hong Kong and a Sydney couple have signed contracts for two luxury apartments totalling more than $7 million in Chinese partners Dalian Wanda and Ridong Group’s Jewel project on Queensland’s Gold Coast, as marketing kicks off on the $1 billion triple tower development.[/b]
Wanda Ridong Group has held a series of functions in Sydney, Hong Kong and mainland China over the past week, with a further soft launch today.
Sales and marketing director Andrew Bampton said a Sydney couple had purchased a three-bedroom apartment for $5m on level 38 while a two-bedroom apartment on the 26th floor sold for more than $2m at the launch in Hong Kong this week. Wanda Ridong has appointed CBRE to handle sales in Australia.
The project’s three curved crystalline towers will house 512 apartments and a Wanda Vista branded hotel.
Apartments would be released for sale in small lots of about 50, Mr Bampton said.
“This is not 200 people lining up to buy apartments, it’s a luxury product,” he said.
Expressions of interest had been placed on a number of apartments, with registered parties expected to sign contracts over the next week.
Jewel will be a test of the Gold Coast market, which was one of the hardest hit following the financial crisis, with prices only recently starting to lift.

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Brisbane: Queen’s Wharf a ‘threat to city’s fabric’, says alliance of designers, architects

• THE AUSTRALIAN
  
• SEPTEMBER 22, 2015 12:00AM
  

0

Shane Rodgers
[Image: shane_rodgers.png]
Queensland editor

[b]An alliance of designers and ­architects has taken aim at the Echo Entertainment-backed Queen’s Wharf mega-development in Brisbane, labelling it a threat to the city’s “historic fabric” and inappropriate for a government ­precinct.[/b]
In a submission to the Priority Development Area process, they question the size and location of the development and the “lack of a rational business case” for it.
The submission by the Australian Institute of Architects, ­Australian Institute of Landscape Architects and Urban Design ­Alliance says the project, as ­currently presented, has inadequate protections and limited guarantees.
“The government precinct is an unsuitable choice for such a large project as a casino,” the groups said. “The Queensland Government Precinct should be an exemplar of our heritage as the birthplace of this state.
“The vision should be for a public place that is open and inclusive; that preserves in a proper setting this very small pocket of what our origins as city makers once was.”
In July the Palaszczuk government announced that a consortium headed by the Echo Entertainment group had been chosen to develop the $2 billion Queen’s Wharf project, originally mooted by the previous Newman government. As well as the casino, the project includes 1100 premium hotel rooms, 50 restaurants and bars, new public parklands, a new pedestrian and cycle bridge from the CBD to South Bank and major event space.
State Development Minister Anthony Lynham said yesterday that Queen’s Wharf Brisbane was “an iconic development that will transform the tired end of the ­George Street government ­precinct into a world-class ­destination for visitors and locals”.
“It will do for Brisbane what World Expo and the development of South Bank did 30 years ago,” he said.
“I’ve been advised that the ­department consulted widely earlier in the project, including with the Design Institute of Australia — Queensland Branch and Urban Design Alliance Queensland and will continue to do so.” All submissions to the consultation phase would be considered.
In another statement, released yesterday, Australian Institute of Architects Queensland chapter president Richard Kirk and QUT adjunct professor Catherin Bull said the fundamental problem with the project was scale and juxtaposition of land usages.
“Development of this scale will overwhelm the historic fabric and erase parts of it such as the streets that are fundamental to its (Queensland’s) story,” they said.
“And where in Queen’s Wharf are the civic places that signal ­government purpose, the public square or forecourts?”
Kirk and Bull say that Queen’s Wharf is to be built on the “state’s historic heart with traditional streetscapes and buildings of ­national significance”. Now it was proposed that the business of ­government “be carried out in a ‘casino resort’ with its additional 7000 cars.”
They also question if the public interest can be protected through such a rapid development process.
“Queen’s Wharf is a big project by any standards and very big for the time frames proposed,” they said. “Such a rapid rollout using as yet unclear delivery process cannot help but make experienced urban professionals nervous.”
In response to the comments, an Echo spokesman said the Queen’s Wharf redevelopment was “a compelling proposal set to positively transform the Brisbane CBD”. He said it had support from both sides of Queensland politics.

[greengiraffe]

Go-ahead for 88-level Gold Coast tower

• ANDREW POTTS, ALISTER THOMSON
  
• THE AUSTRALIAN
  
• SEPTEMBER 29, 2015 12:00AM
  

0

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An artist’s impression of the $1.2 billion World Tower on the Gold Coast. Source: Supplied
[b]An 88-storey, $1.2 billion apartment building was approved yesterday for the Gold Coast, one of a number of new towers planned for the tourism centre.[/b]
The project by Chinese developer Forise Holdings will have a private infinity pool and recreation deck on the 88th level.
While the Surfers Paradise project is forecast to inject more than $2 billion into the economy, its approval under delegated authority meant most Gold Coast City councillors were either unaware of the development being appraised or were not able to have their say.
The project, the largest approved by Gold Coast City Council, is one of several billion dollars worth of Chinese-backed projects expected in the region. Wanda Ridong has begun presales on its three-tower $1bn Jewel project also at Surfers Paradise.
Construction on Forise’s project will begin as early as March and will be finished in early 2020.
It will have 693 units, three recreation deck levels and three retail podiums.
Retailers Louis Vuitton, Hermes and Prada are being courted by the developers in the hopes of creating a luxury shopping precinct.