We wrote recently about the moves in the world of architecture to make Brisbane’s apartments and urban buildings less, well, urban. The move to vertical gardens is gaining lenty of interest. And here’s an extreme example from the Italians, a two building apartment development under construction in Milan. With 900 trees lining the balconies the designers say it’s the equivalent of a 1 hectare (2.5 acre) forest. So the project’s named “Bosco Verticale” or “vertical forest”. Looks bellissimo to us!
Posts Tagged with Brisbane apartments
Posted by admin on 26 December 2011
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!
Posted by admin on 27 July 2011
South Brisbane is a happening place. I snapped this crane on the way past the new Station 16 Apartments in Merivale St this morning, and this is just one of a number of projects underway in the suburb right now. Cranes are also towering over new apartment at the southern end of Cordelia Street and the apartment building for Common Ground Queensland in Hope Street.
Residential projects are also in early stages in Peel and Russell Streets along with the long-awaited South Point next to South Bank Rail. Add in the massive works on the Convention Centre expansion (due for compeltion this year) and the new ABC headquarters, both on Grey Street, and the new Children’s Hospital, and we’ve probably not seen this extent of works for many years.
It’s exciting stuff for South Brisbane property owners.
Posted by admin on 21 July 2011
Rents rose strongly in the June quarter, our median 2 bed apartment rising $40 to a record $580 per week. The downturn in international students at the start of 2011
had slowed the market but a resurgent corporate demand has seen us achieve some great results for landlords. The supply of rental homes in this postcode is slowly starting to rise again, but we’re still below the levels of 2 years ago. The CBD’s record rents are steadily encouraging tenants to look up the hill and, while affordability is affecting some tenants, Spring Hill landlords are benefiting.
Note: RTA stats quoted here cover all of postcode 4000 including Spring Hill and Brisbane CBD
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
Posted by admin on 21 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 Woolloongabba and Dutton Park area rose a very strong $40/week to $440, but local 3 bedroom houses dipped $20. So while the trend is up the market is still finding its way. There’s still some catch up on neighbouring suburbs happening and tenants are recognising the good value the suburb offers.
Note: RTA stats quoted here cover all of postcode 4102 including Woollongabba, Buranda and Dutton Park
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
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
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 18 May 2011
There’s something encouraging and positive in construction starting on a new building, especially when the land has been sitting vacant for many years. So the workers at Annerley Road’s “Dutton Place” have created plenty of comment amongst locals as this tiny suburb’s first major residential development gets underway.
Stockwell Group are behind the 100 apartments and their track record is strong. Their recently completed “Riverpoint” Apartments at West End have earned them good respect from buyers and the property industry alike and despite the cooler property market “Dutton Place” has been selling well, even before the ground-breaking. There’s now just a handful of 1 and 2 bedroom apartments still for sale from $380,000.
Like any good real estate the location is key, and “Dutton Place” is central to a number of the big employment nodes in Brisbane’s inner-city. The Mater and PA hospitals, the CBD itself and, via the new busway link, Qld Uni. The Boggo Road redevelopment is just across the street and has itself been a sleepy, huge, empty development site for a long, long time. Finally CSIRO have moved into their new offices and there’s some activity about the place.
Property development can often be controversial in established areas, but this one is injecting energy and a bunch of new residents into a neighbourhood.
Posted by admin on 15 April 2011
A new report shows Brisbane tenants are paying $10 per week more in rent.
Bees Nees Research Managing Director, Rob Honeycombe says Brisbane’s rents rose for both apartments and houses during the March quarter. Residential Tenancies Authority stats released today show upward pressure on rents right across Brisbane’s suburbs.
“People will point to the January floods as the reason for rents rising, and some heavily-effected suburbs did have spikes in their rents. A 2 bedroom apartment in St Lucia for example jumped $20 per week, with many apartments still damaged at the start of the University year. But other flood-impacted areas like Rosalie, Milton and Paddington actually saw a drop of $5 per week.”
“We’d argue the trend was already in place for increases to rents. Without new construction in recent years the market was always going to catch up and we now have a rental housing shortage. Brisbane tenants have had pretty flat rents for over 2 years but their rents are now definitely on the rise”.
A median 3 bedroom Brisbane house now rents for $390 per week, while a 2 bedroom apartment is $375.
“One clear impact of the floods was that unless tenants had to move, they stayed put. Turnover was lower than for the same period in 2010, especially in inner-city suburbs where there were 7% less new bonds lodged this past quarter.”
Posted by admin on 1 December 2010
When we review the Residential Tenancies Authority’s stats each quarter we usually see what we expect: if it’s been quiet at Bees Nees with properties taking longer to rent, then official records usually show flat rents. But over the past few months, the reported data hasn’t been reflecting our on the ground experience. Our vacancy rate has been tiny (other agencies might have been a bit higher – they don’t have the talented team we do!) but the reported median rents haven’t risen.
Researchers BIS Shrapnel say Brisbane should expect annual rent rises of 5 to 7% over the next couple of years as housing supply struggles to keep up. ABS data shows housing approvals at a 15 month low. Any quick glance across Brisbane’s inner-city tells a story: there’s only a couple of cranes working on residential towers, new low-rise and townhouse projects are almost non-existent, and it’s been that way for most of the past 4 years.
There are some reasons to explain the flat rents to date, in spite of the lack of new housing. Population growth has slowed, international student numbers (a huge market for the CBD and immediate surround especially) have cooled a little, some tenants bought their own homes with the First Home Boost, and yes, we are putting more people into the same number of homes with 20-somethings staying at home, group households and sharing increasing etc.
But as incomes grow do you really think parents are going to let those kids freeload much longer? Mums and dads have waited a long time for that quiet home! And share households have a tolerance breaking point when that dishwashing-incapable toilet-seat-leaver-upper, smelly and inconsiderate flatmate just isn’t worth the rarely-paid-on-time rent!
It’s starting to look like there’s no more room at the Inn for Brisbane’s inner city tenant market, and BIS Shrapnel’s forecast would be a welcome reward for patient property investors in 2011.
Posted by admin on 12 November 2010
It wouldn’t raise a mention in many parts of the world, Asia and Europe especially. But new stats from the West End State School show 32% of their students are currently living in local apartments. They have 700 students so that’s a lot of non-house-dwelling primary school kids.
Many Brisbanites still see apartment living as the lifestyle of choice for singles and couples only, but that’s clearly not the case. Families are choosing them for their convenience and often for their price.
Even more reason to ensure we have great parks and local amenities.
