Gold Coast Most Liveable

The Gold Coast has made it onto the list of Queensland’s Top Five most liveable local government areas. The Glitter Strip came in second only to Noosa in the analysis by Place Score.

The most liveable local government areas were identified as inner-city, high-amenity, mixed-density environments with established landscapes.

Place Score chief executive Kylie Legge says the results show how important well-planned development is.

Legge says mixed-density inner-city environments with established landscapes are considered the most liveable.

“New suburbs can’t compete with more than 100 years’ worth of investment and amenities in the older suburbs,” she says.

The analysis elicits responses from more than 50,000 residents throughout Australia to rank their living situation via 50 different attributes.

The most highly regarded attributes were elements of the natural environment, public open space, neighbour amenities and local businesses that provide for daily needs.

Scores reduced most significantly across capital cities and improved in regional centres, however, 82% of respondents are generally satisfied with where they live.

Sale Breaks GC Record

A Burleigh Heads penthouse which has not yet been built has already sold for $24 million.

The apartment, in the luxury Gold Coast development, Glasshouse, has broken the previous Queensland apartment price record which was set in 2022 when another penthouse in the same complex sold for $20 million.

The building is being developed by Spyre Group and marketed by Amir Mian of Amir Prestige.

Mian says the buyer has secured a three-level residence which is an amalgamation of two off-the-plan units into one four-bedroom, five-bathroom penthouse.

The sale of the 800 sqm apartment is at $30,000 per sqm. It will have ocean views and the main bedroom will have 11-metre water frontage. It comes with a private pool and is described as being the size of a house in an apartment.

Glasshouse is currently under construction on a site at 10 Goodwin Terrace. Designed by architects, bureau^proberts, it is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2024.

Unit Rents To Soar

Apartment rents are tipped to soar in Australia, with new analysis showing the five Australian markets poised for huge increases.

CBRE’s Apartment Rent and Vacancy Outlook, suggests the most significant rental growth, will be in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, Parramatta, Melbourne North, Perth City and virtually all precincts in Brisbane.

It says median rents for two-bedroom apartments in these precincts will surge by $120 per week between 2023 and 2028.

“At the start of 2013 just four precincts in Australia had an average rent of over $600 per week for two-bedroom apartments, being the Sydney and Perth CBDs, Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs and Sydney’s Lower North Shore,” CBRE’s Pacific Head of Research Sameer Chopra says.

“By June this had grown to 20 precincts and by 2028 we expect 38 precincts – or over 70% of Australia’s two-bedroom apartments – to have a rent exceeding $600 per week.”

The report says 75,000 new apartments are needed each year to keep up with population growth.

Building Approvals Down

The number of new house approvals is at its lowest level in a decade according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures.

HIA Senior Economist, Tom Devitt, says the number of new houses approved in September fell by 4% per cent.

“Building approvals continue to be weighed down by the fastest increase in interest rates in a generation,” he says.

He believes further declines are to be expected as the full impact of another rate rise is felt by households.

“This slowdown in the volume of approvals will make it increasingly difficult to reach the Australian government’s target of building 1.2 million new homes in five years,” he says.

Master Builders Australia says a blowout in construction delays means the time it takes to build a new home is now nearly 12 months.

Chief executive, Denita Wawn, says the state with the most significant delays is Western Australia, where it takes on average 16.5 months to build.

Housing Crisis Yet To Peak

Australia’s housing crisis is nowhere near its peak, according to RMIT which predicts it will continue well into 2025.

Senior lecturer in the School of Property, Construction and Project Management, Dr Peng Yew Wong, says the lack of supply will not be resolved in the short term which means the housing crisis will continue to affect all Australians.

Wong says the market is doing something it has not done since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, and that is prices will continue to grow, despite high costs of living and high mortgage repayments.

With predictions Australian house prices will hit a new record high in the final quarter of 2023, it will become more expensive for home buyers.

“This will present a difficult conundrum for homebuyers, and especially prospective first homebuyers,” he says.

Wong predicts Australia will be short 106,300 new homes over the next five years and as a result, house prices will continue to go from strength to strength.