More facts, figures and photo’s than you can poke a stick at here! Historical images of the promotion and construction of the landmark “Torbreck” building on the top of Highgate Hill. Click here to take a look. If you’ve ever lived at Torbreck or you just drive past it and have wondered what’s different about this building you’ll find a lot of answers on this site.
Posts Tagged with construction costs Brisbane
Posted by admin on 26 May 2010
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 8 May 2008
With the Treasurer warming up for his Queensland state budget on June 3rd it’s timely to ‘blue-sky’ how our pollies could actually be helping with housing affordability. What’s well-reported is the vast undersupply of housing, with market analyst Michael Matusik putting Queensland’s annual shortfall at 44,900 homes. Interesting to note is the revenue our state generates from property – with more than $3.7billion (yes billion) flowing from stamp duties on sales, land taxes and duties on mortgages.
Despite plenty of talk in 2000 that the GST could eventually replace state taxes, some 28% of our state’s revenue still comes from taxes and duties, with an unhealthy dependency on the property industry.
Would reducing some of these help our housing affordability crisis? While the government is scrapping mortgage duty (now down to 0.2% and nil from January 1st 2009) it’s stamp duty where the state really hauls in the bucks, up 16% this year to $2.8billion. While you pay no duty to buy listed shares, a property investment of $450,000 will land you a stamp duty bill of $14,225. It may be cheaper than other states but it’s still a huge disincentive to investors, and that impacts on tenants through higher rents. Should an investor pay more stamp duty than an owner occupier? ($600 more in the above example). There’s a third of our population that rent so surely we need incentives to create new housing for them.
Victoria this week moved to further reduce their stamp duty rates, and they remain the only state to offer a genuine incentive to build new property. In the Garden State buying off the plan means hefty savings in duty compared with established property – the amount is calculated only on what exists at the date of contract, usually just the land. It’s a simple idea, offers an immediate encouragement to bring new housing supply online and Queensland could do the same thing on June 3rd. Construction costs are still rocketing ahead with home builders and developers struggling to make new housing viable, and we’ll all grow old waiting for that to change.
With stamp duty revenue soaring up along with housing prices our government’s had a huge, largely unexpected windfall over the past three years. Solid moves to encourage new housing supply must surely be on their agenda.
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 27 December 2006
Wondered why it’s so hard to find a plumber?! Latest stats out show Australian property owners are continuing to spend big on upgrading their homes. For the third time in a row major renovation spending (substantial work requiring licensed contractors) rose in the September quarter. More than 10,300 households spent almost $900 million, the highest amount in two years, adding to the pressure on construction prices that’s preventing new housing supply coming online. Secure in their jobs but possibly spooked from moving by interest rate rises, home owners seem content to keep investing in improving their homes.
The resources boom has already sucked large numbers of Queensland tradies out to the mines – one mining town mayor says their key recruitment criteria is a heartbeat! – and while long overdue, new Queensland government infrastructure works are adding to construction industry demands. One major Brisbane plumbing contractor told us he’s knocking back 20% of requests due to staffing shortages so for your leaking tap and general maintenance the days of ‘getting a few quotes’ seem gone for now!
Our property managers keep the best tradespeople available by ensuring easy access to the home, paying them every week, and giving them plenty of info on the problem ahead of time. Renovated homes will improve owners’ lifestyles and their suburbs’ median sale prices, but with inner Brisbane’s population growing strongly what we really appear to need is a few shiploads of skilled tradespeople to build us new homes and apartments!
We believe the continued growth in construction prices can only result in a significant surge in property values where housing demand is at its strongest. The price differential between established and new is just not sustainable – and we don’t see those plumbers cutting their prices anytime soon!
