Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 19 October 2011
Many home owners make the move to apartment living to get away from the maintenance of a big garden. We’re often told they love the greenery, but not the weekends of mowing and mulching. So they move into concrete buildings where they’re limited to a couple of pots on their balcony. One new trend in urban architecture could see our inner city buildings include big splashes of greenery in the least likely of places.
Vertical gardens are popping up in design magazines around the world and southern cities have a couple of notable examples already up and running. Attaching more than 4,500 plants to the side wall of a Sydney apartment building the designers at TRIO (pictured)have created a garden that’s 12 storeys high. They say the trend to vertical gardens is just starting but there are lots of benefits. Horticulturalist Phillip Johnson says as well as removing Co2 they attract birds and butterflies to their buildings. “They are also effective for insulating against heat and reducing city noise”.
And they can look great.
One South Brisbane residential tower that’s currently before Council for approval has a vertical garden proposed for its main façade – stretching 5 storeys high. It’s in a fairly urban settings with plenty of concrete around it, so it’d be a welcome addition to the neighbourhood (even if the tower itself won’t be). It’s south-facing so no doubt there’ll need to be careful plant selection and planning for maintenance.
Let’s hope this trend takes hold in Brisbane’s inner city, with designs that ensure these green walls always look as good as the artists’ impressions. Otherwise they’ll be like huge versions of those dead pot plants on balconies!
Tags: Brisbane apartments, selling an apartment Brisbane, vertical gardens
Posted in architecture and renovation, trends in Brisbane property | 2 Comments »
Posted by admin on 17 October 2011
If you’ve noticed more tradies’ trucks in your neighbourhood streets there’s an easy explanation: home renovation is on the up. New ABS stats released today show the value of “alternations and additions to residential building” rose 2.6% in the June quarter. Aussies spent a massive $1.8 billion on major renos like new kitchens, decks and media rooms.
Major alternations in a home are classified as all works over $10,000 although last time we did work on our place that was less than the price of a couple of vanity units and taps…
The Housing Industry Association says renovation works are the source of growth for their industry in 2011. New residential construction dropped 5.3% in the June quarter, the majority of the slump in apartments and other attached buildings.
It’s a regular feature of a quieter sales market. People stop building, move less and renovate like crazy. We last reported on this in December 2006 and no doubt we’ll see it again. In a way it’s great for our streets to see all that housing stock rejuvenated.
Tags: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Brisbane houses, Brisbane inner city residential building, Housing Industry Association
Posted in architecture and renovation, trends in Brisbane property | No Comments »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 28 September 2011
Spring Hill real estate is going up in value. We don’t mean the prices of homes that are being sold today, but rather the value of the ‘typical’ Spring Hill home. This is one of the interesting things to watch in a suburb like this: many, many homes undergo major renovations but the offical stats on local house prices are only measured on the ones that transact. If it doesn’t sell it doesn’t get counted. So the ‘typical’ Spring Hill house is changing, just below the radar of all those market commentators.
I took this shot down behind Birley Street and these are the sort of renovations that make a huge difference to the value of a home. It’s almost incorrect to call it a renovation – more a re-build. And once home-owners finish these sort of works they tend to stay in that home for a long time. Spring Hill real estate agents despair at the thought – but many home owners are here to stay!
Tags: Birley Street Spring Hill, Brisbane median home prices
Posted in Spring Hill, architecture and renovation, trends in Brisbane property | No Comments »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 2 September 2011
Brisbane’s inner suburbs have some of the best examples of this state’s unique timber architecture. But for such a sought-after style of house there’s almost no consensus on what we should and shouldn’t call a “Queenslander”. Real estate agents know that adding the term to an advert can spike the enquiry levels. Builders are working the word into their descriptions in fairly imaginative ways (one applies the name to brick homes with timber-gabled facades – really?)
Maybe if it’s built north of the Tweed any house can legitimately share the title. But today we thought we’d ask you to share your thoughts: what makes a Queenslander a Queenslander? Surely there’s 4 key elements: it’s elevated from the ground, has a hardwood frame and softwood linings, the main materials are timber and tin, and it has a verandah.
Looking back into our history there were plenty of practical reasons for elevating the homes: to keep residents cool in summer, to allow easy construction on sloping land, to avoid floods, and to keep the timber away from termites. Under the house used to be a place for playing out of the sun, hanging the washing and a bed for the dog (or even a not-so-welcome relative). In “modern” times we saw this as an opportunity for extra space for media rooms, studies and garages. Are these still Queenslanders?
During our early years there were plenty of variations on timber home designs. Those built from 1859 to 1901 are often called Colonials (for our time as a colony). Bungalow is the common term for the next generation of styles that were usually more elaborate and included gabled, asymmetrical facades. In the 1920’s we adopted elements of the Californian Bungalows – even way back then we were taking design cues from the USA. You’ll also hear them called “inter-war Queenslanders” and there’s a huge range of designs built through this era. Those with an eye for detail can often date a home from its verandah posts, balustrades and windows (see below). How simple was life when to keep up with the Joneses you just needed a bullnose tin sunhood?!
Not surprisingly the Great Depression saw more simplicity and conservatism in design and by 1933 bricks were considered a modern option. Fibro was first manufactured in Queensland in 1936 and its easy-care maintenance meant it quickly became a popular cladding material. We’re still ripping the toxic stuff out of homes today.
If you’d like a very thorough read on the topic try “Brisbane House Styles 1880 to 1940” by Judy Gale Rechner (1998). Maybe every real estate agent should have a copy so we can get the terminology right! There’s no doubt we’re proud of our Queenslanders and their rich history – whatever the name means to you.
courtesy: "Brisbane House Styles" Rechner, 1998
Please share your definition of “Queenslanders”.
Tags: Brisbane history, Brisbane houses, Brisbane real estate agents, real estate advertising, training for Brisbane real estate agents
Posted in architecture and renovation, real estate marketing, trends in Brisbane property | 2 Comments »
Posted by admin on 10 August 2011
For this week’s newsletter we just wanted to share the graph below from www.myRP.com.au. This charts the changes in Brisbane’s median prices over the past 10 years. When the line’s above zero prices were going up. Below the line is when we’ve had drops in values.
The media love stories about booms and crashes. As home owners, or would-be home owners, we often fret and stress over the ups and downs of the market. Right now many Brisbane property owners are postponing major changes in their lives because prices are down. They won’t move home until they go back up. Or they won’t sell til they get more than the last sale in their neighbourhood.
In the context of a single year’s market the current changes in price can seem enormous. But maybe this graph will help some readers see things in a different light, a new perspective. It’s a nice reminder that things are still pretty good.
And at worst it’s a pretty graph!
graph courtesy myRP.com.au
Tags: Brisbane home prices, Brisbane median home prices, RP Data, selling a house Brisbane, selling an apartment Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane's sales market, trends in Brisbane property | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 27 June 2011
Researchers BIS Shrapnel say Brisbane, Sydney and Perth will lead the nation for capital growth over the next three years, forecasting median house prices in the Sunshine State’s capital to rise 5% per annum.
They’ve released their Residential Property Prospects 2011-2014, tipping Brisbane to reach a median of $505,000 by mid 2014. They point to an undersupply of dwellings and the tightening of rental stock levels as strong indicators of growth. For Brisbane property owners the resources boom may be finally starting to benefit us:
“With economic conditions and income growth to be strongest in Western Australia and Queensland (and to a lesser extent New South Wales), this should underpin moderate price rises averaging 5% to 6% per annum in the three years to June 2014.”
Tags: BIS Shrapnel property research, Brisbane house prices, selling a house Brisbane, selling an apartment Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane's sales market, trends in Brisbane property | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 21 June 2011
There’s an often forgotten key to the growth of Brisbane’s inner-city property market over the past 10 years. Those people we love to beat in rugby league have played a huge role in driving the development of many Brisbane apartment projects, especially during the early 2000’s. And the latest national house prices show New South Welshmen and women may soon be looking to spend their dollars north of the border again.
Sydney’s median house price stands at $515,000 and the graphs are fairly stable for Australia’s largest city. Their market has been solid. In Brisbane we’ve had a big slowdown in sales numbers and our median price is down to $430,000 – now a 24% discount on Sydney. After the busy sales market of 2007-2008 Brisbane was only 6% cheaper than the Cockroach Capital. We’re starting to look cheap.
Many of the Brisbane’s big apartment buildings really only proceeded during 2001-2004 due to strong sales to southern states’ investors. Local agents and developers will argue they had broad appeal – and many did once the market got going. But Sydney-siders especially got our wheels turning. They saw something in Brisbane that locals often couldn’t. Strong population growth, jobs creation through economic strength, the start of a more cosmopolitan and modern (Sydney-ish?) style of living, a sense of optimism and of course better weather.
And now that our prices are so much lower than their own we should expect renewed interest once again. Brisbane’s median house price is cheaper than every capital except Hobart and Adelaide. Yes, even Darwin is dearer. Dig a little amongst the recent sales in some new Brisbane projects and there’s already a pattern of interstate interest. Not all the moons are aligned as they were a decade ago, but with our rents rising and the resources boom driving our employment, NSW investors will find us more and more attractive.
Even if we beat them in the football!
Tags: Brisbane house prices, investment property, investor enquiry Brisbane, property management Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane's sales market, trends in Brisbane property | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 16 June 2011
The ABS have released new stats today that show how truly multicultural this nation has actually become. Walking around Brisbane’s inner city you see a good reflection of the findings below and it’s interesting to consider how these trends might change demands on our housing. For example will less Brits coming here and more Chinese mean a bigger appetite for higher density living? (As well as less demand for hot beer and cold pies….)
“Almost 6 million migrants, born in over 200 countries, live in Australia. According to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 27% of Australia’s resident population were born overseas, as at June 2010. People born in the United Kingdom continued to be the largest group of overseas-born residents, accounting for 1.2 million people. The next largest group was born in New Zealand with 544,000 people, followed by China (380,000 people), India (341,000) and Italy (216,000).
Over the last decade, the proportion of those born in the UK declined from 5.9% of Australia’s population in 2000 to 5.3% in 2010. In contrast, the proportions increased for people born in New Zealand (from 1.9% to 2.4%), China (from 0.8% to 1.7%) and India (from 0.5% to 1.5%). The majority (76%) of overseas-born residents were of working age, 15–64 years at June 2010. Migrants born in Asia, America and Africa had proportionally larger young (0–14 years) and working age (15–64 years) populations compared to those from Europe.
In 2009–10, net overseas migration contributed the greatest number of people to the most populous states: New South Wales with a net of 66,000 persons, followed by Victoria (60,400) and Queensland (39,700). The Northern Territory had the lowest contribution with a net of 1,300 persons.”
Tags: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Brisbane housing supply, population growth Brisbane
Posted in trends in Brisbane property | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 30 May 2011
Plenty of real estate market watchers quote populations stats when “reading the tea leaves” for our industry. It makes sense that more people means greater housing demand. So some have pointed to slowing overseas migration as a warning sign for property prices. Here’s a handy reminder of the facts:
It takes some time for the ABS to release the data so the latest we have is for the year to Sept 30th 2010. And that showed net overseas migration down 40% on that same quarter a year earlier. That’s a sharp drop. But it also shows that our natural increase in population accounted for almost half of our population growth in the year. Australians stand proud, we’re amongst the best reproducers in the western world! And we’re getting pretty good at living longer too. So easing overseas arrivals won’t stop our growth.
And yes in case you missed it, our population grew 1.6% over that year – a jump of almost 350,000 (or twice the size of Townsville’s population) added to our numbers. Queensland’s resident numbers grew by almost 1,600 per week. So slower growth is still very strong growth.
Demographer Bernard Salt, writing in a recent Australian Newspaper column, remarks on the government’s own forecasts for continued growth. He points out that while the pollies talk about numbers dropping their own Federal budget papers show they’re still expecting net overseas migration to return to 180,000 next year.
If Dick Smith and the other ’small Australia’ proponents have any hope they’ll have to convince Australians to stop having babies. Good luck with that.
Tags: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Bernard Salt, Brisbane house prices, Brisbane housing supply, Brisbane population growth
Posted in trends in Brisbane property | 1 Comment »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 8 February 2011
Floods, cyclones, bush fires… if we get a snowstorm we’ll have the full set.
This has been a start to a year unlike any I’ve seen before and home buyers and investors could be forgiven for being a little unsure of which way the market is heading. But interestingly the past two weeks has seen some of the busiest sales enquiry we’ve had to our agency in months. Maybe the Premier was right in saying we breed “tough north of the border”.
To help you make some sense of it all for Brisbane’s inner city property market, here’s a snapshot of some of the latest research commentary:
Westpac’s Chief Economist Bill Evans says interest rates will stay flat, maybe rising just a 0.25% by June 2012. At a seminar we attended this week he said the expected economic impact of the flood recovery has seen him jump his GDP forecast from 3.4% to 4.2% for 2011. He expects more than $2.5b to be spent on post flood works. Queensland’s exports remain strong and he has increased his growth expectation from 4.25% to 5% for the “sunshine” state. That seems a pretty impressive number.
Amongst a balanced range of comments he made the point that Australians are “de-leveraging” at a great rate, with our savings rate now higher than it’s been since the 1960’s. Housing affordability is not as big an issue as often proposed.
Population growth, or the cooling of its pace, has been raised as a question mark on demand. Local commentator Michael Matusik says Queensland grew by 89,000 in 2010, now a lower number than NSW and Victoria are getting. We’re not attracting the net migration we used to. But with 244 new people crossing the border each and every day (and many of them choosing inner-city Brisbane) it still seems a big number. And will Victorians and New South Welshmen stay put in future?
RP Data released 2010 stats showing Brisbane’s house price dropped 1% for the year. And amongst their data here’s the info we believe most home buyers and property investors should consider: During this past decade Brisbane’s house prices rose an average of 10.6% per annum. Over the past 5 years it was 6.6% per annum. We don’t know what they’ll do over the next 5 and 10 years and that’s exactly the point.
We were looking this morning at the true cost of owning an inner-Brisbane investment property and one real life example was $100 per week – or approx 1% of the apartment’s value. Tax deductions and strong rents shouldered much of the holding cost so if its value rises more than 1% that investor is ahead.
If you can “pick” an upcoming jump in the market you’re wiser than most. The rest of us might just recognise the long term view that’s served inner Brisbane property owners so well in the past.
Tags: Bill Evans Westpac, Brisbane house prices, Brisbane median home prices, interest rates, investment property deductions, Michael Matusik, RP Data
Posted in Brisbane's sales market, trends in Brisbane property | No Comments »
Many home owners make the move to apartment living to get away from the maintenance of a big garden. We’re often told they love the greenery, but not the weekends of mowing and mulching. So they move into concrete buildings where they’re limited to a couple of pots on their balcony. One new trend in urban architecture could see our inner city buildings include big splashes of greenery in the least likely of places.
