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Welcome to West End!

I’m the Bees Nees team member who specialises in this thriving Brisbane suburb, and in the posts below you’ll find plenty of info about the area and its property market.  If you’d like recent stats on the local market download our research team’s West End “Market in a Nutshell”

Rob Honeycombe
ps: What would your property sell for? Please give me a buzz on 0423 332 022 or read more about me.

Posted by admin on 7 October 2011

One of West End’s more publicised development sites is back in the news today. On the corner of Montague Road and Beesley Street it’s been in and out of the news over the past couple of years with public and legal debate over the various proposals for new apartments. Too high, too many, too much carparking. Then the whole thing fell in a heap.

The developers were placed into receivership some months back but the Courier Mail today reports the site may be under contract to active locals the Pradella group. The developers behind Flow, Water’s Edge and Tempo, Pradella know the Montague Road precinct better than most. If they can’t make this site work then no-one can.

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Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 4 October 2011

This is one of my favourite times of the year and not just because the warmer weather starts. It’s jacaranda season and those magnificent trees have just started flowering again. This one’s right out front of the new Water’s Edge apartments and softens the view of the buildings nicely from Riverside Drive. Apparently the trees are native to Brazil but they’re such a part of the Brisbane landscape, at least for a few weeks in October/November that we all consider them locals.

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Posted by admin on 25 September 2011

While prices are definitely down from their peaks of a couple of years ago, buyer interest in West End property remains strong. The new projects along the river/ Montague Rd precinct are holding the median sale price high for apartments, albeit with some discounting on those buildings that had flood inundation in January. The number of sales is very low this year, partly due to the floods and partly the general economic uncertainty. There’s also many local property owners reluctant to sell  while prices are down and this may be having the effect of putting a floor under prices. The second quarter’s sales volumes were stronger.

If you’d like a sales market update for your property please call our West End specialist, Rob Honeycombe on 0423 332 022 or 07 3214 6800

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Posted by admin on 29 July 2011

Last weekend marked the 90th birthday of our local high school and on behalf of all local real estate agents we owe you a big thankyou! The respect Brisbane State High has earned as an outstanding education facility has led to its neighbourhood’s real estate increasing in price. Without any doubt.

We’ve just sold a house nearby and the Brisbane State High catchment was a crucial drawcard for more than half the buyer enquiry we received. Familes from as far afield as Aspley made the drive to Highgate Hill in the hope of securing a home, and importantly an address that is inside the line on the map. And this is a common story.

If you’re a Highgate Hill real estate agent, a South Brisbane real estate agent, a West End real estate agent, or even an agent handling those parts of Woolloongabba real estate that are within the catchment, you owe the school a huge thankyou. Local home owners who’ve sent their kids to BSHS have had the double-benefit: a great school and solid home prices.

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Posted in Highgate Hill, South Brisbane and South Bank, West End, Woolloongabba | No Comments »

Posted by admin on 18 July 2011

We like to use the 2 bed apartment rents as our benchmark and across inner-Brisbane they rose 4% in the 3 months to June 30th. Across wider Brisbane City they rose  just 1% and there’s no doubt some pockets are witnessing stronger demand than others. Rents in this 4101 peninsula dropped $20 to $480 after a $30 rise in the March quarter. So while the trend is up the market is still finding its way. We added just 31 homes to the local rental pool in the June quarter, and while some new apartment projects are underway there’s good reason to expect rents to grow further.

Note: RTA stats quoted here cover all of postcode 4101 including South Brisbane, Highgate Hill and West End

If you would like  a rental appraisal for your property just give our head of Property Management – Annie von Rudzinksi a call on 07 3214 6899.

For median rent information visit www.whatrentmyhome.com.au


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Posted by admin on 6 June 2011

Another happy, bubbling crowd at the annual West End State School Fiesta yesterday. It’s a real treat for the senses – the smells of dozens of different international foods, the live bands, the excited chatter of the kids, the WWWWOOOOOSH of the rides flinging their passengers through the air. Congrats go to all the parents, staff and students who put in so much effort. Organising Fiesta takes a mountain of volunteer hours and gives the broader community a chance to support the school.

This year Bees Nees very own company chairman Boris called in to say hi and hand out some balloons. Can’t keep that bee away from a good party!

P&C Chair Marilyn Trad, Boris Bee and Sophie Honeycombe

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Posted in Highgate Hill, Inner Brisbane events, South Brisbane and South Bank, West End | No Comments »

Posted by admin on 23 April 2011

The March quarter stats are out from the Residential Tenancies Authority and after a couple of years of fairly stable rents we’ve now had 2 quarters of growth in postcode 4101. The median rent for a two bedroom apartment has hit $500 per week, a significant milestone as the first area outside the CBD to reach that mark. It’s good news for patient landlords.

And interestingly the gap between postcode 4000 and 4101 is shrinking noticably. It’s now just $40/week dearer to live in the CBD than the West End/South Brisbane/Highgate Hill area, where it was $100 more a couple of years back. Why? One reason is the new developments through West End’s riverside precinct that  have added a number of quality apartments with typically high rents. The inner-south’s early history may have been working class, but these suburb’s tenants now pay some of the highest rents in Queensland.

Go to www.WhatRentMyHome.com.au to see current median rents for other Brisbane suburbs. Note: RTA stats quoted here cover all of postcode 4101 including Highgate Hill, South Brisbane and West End.

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Posted by admin on 24 March 2011

Council looks set to approve a 52 apartment development for Victoria Street, with the design adapted to new interim planning rules following January’s flood. Until the full findings on the flood cause are known BCC has asked developers to raise their lowest habitable areas, clearing 500mm above the offical January flood height of 6.33m AHD.

If full Council approval follows this week’s Planning Committee nod the Victoria Street project will rise 7 storeys with a 2 level basement. The basement’s entry has also been raised to 6.7m. Victoria Street was flood-effected but this site appears to be right at the edge of where the water came to.

It’ll be interesting to see public reaction to the plan given past local resistance to greater heights along the Montague Road precinct. We’d suggest the small height increase is a smart move, giving buyers greater comfort that, should the unimaginable happen and we do get another freak flood event, the apartments will be well above the 2011 levels.

Of course the biggest issue other local apartment buildings have faced has been the sensitive infrastructure they have in their basements – electrical, lifts and ventilation motors to name a few. Some that were nowhere near the river and had no surface water flooding, had basement inundation due to backed-up storm water lines. This new project’s solutions to those challenges will be its real test.

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Posted by admin on 19 January 2011

You have to keep your sense of humour! Photo by Brad Marsellos

Many out of town clients have been asking for resources to get a better understanding of what Brisbane suburbs actually flooded. Here’s some handy links:

Aerial photography of Brisbane floods – use the box in the top left to choose the street and suburb you’re interested in, just be careful to choose January 13th as the date you need. Not all parts of Brisbane were shot on that date, and of course the pics aren’t necessarily the exact moment of maximum inundation for all properties. But a great site to bookmark for the future.

Also try this ABC News page for interactive before and afters.

If you’re on Facebook this collection has over 1,800 reader contributed photos, many of them an amazing record that could only be captured by the people in and amongst the flooding.

One of the better YouTube compilation videos of the Brisbane flooding.

And go to Flickr for one of the biggest collections of photos, with many showing flooded Brisbane homes.

Brisbane City Council has been excellent at keeping residents informed through the crisis.

Please make a contribution to the Premier’s Flood Appeal, however small, to assist the victims. And if you’re a business owner wanting to do your bit please go to www.flooddiscounts.com.au , a great way tooffer something to residents who are going through tough times.

Read more of our posts on the 2011 Brisbane floods.

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Posted in Dutton Park, Highgate Hill, Inner Brisbane events, South Brisbane and South Bank, Spring Hill, West End, Woolloongabba | No Comments »

Posted by admin on 19 January 2011

and the clean up begins

A reported 11,900 Brisbane homes were completely flooded last week, with another 14,700 partially flooded. So naturally there’s some panic that Brisbane is about to have a severe housing crisis. If you’ve been forced from your home this is a heartwrenching time and our thoughts are very much with those residents.

But in looking at the potential rental demand we just don’t believe the numbers of inner-city tenants looking for a new dwelling is anywhere near as high as they’re being reported.

Estimates had to be given, no-one can physically check every home and we don’t know the source of the Courier Mail’s data. But according to a spreadsheet on their website South Brisbane for example had 2,132 residential properties either fully or partially flooded. But out there on the ground we just can’t find them! There’s no lines of debris on the footpaths, no army assistance and little of that muddy stench that’s already the tell-tale of a submerged Brisbane street. Brisbane CBD has 1,199 residential dwellings inundated according to the list but most, if not all, of these will be highrise towers.

A number of buildings had some water into their basements and the limited access and power outages are a pain in the backside. A number of these residents have had to seek short-term accommodation. But how many will need new homes? In perhaps many inner-Brisbane suburbs, the numbers may be a lot less than anticipated.

The RTA yesterday released their rental data for the December quarter and it shows many inner-Brisbane suburbs have already had a small rent rise, something we’ve seen amongst our rentals for some weeks now. January and February are our peak leasing months, especially near the universities, and we were expecting a rise in rents before the floods.

Short-term accommodation will be strained to capacity, and rents will see some solid growth. But in our view landlords shouldn’t count on skyrocketing rents as a result of the floods.

To see the latest median rental data for your suburb (choose your bedroom number and dwelling type)  go to www.WhatRentMyHome.com.au

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Posted in Brisbane landlords, Brisbane's rental market, Dutton Park, Highgate Hill, South Brisbane and South Bank, Spring Hill, West End, Woolloongabba, trends in Brisbane property | No Comments »

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