KENSINGTON is an investor “hot spot”, according to a ranking of 15,000 suburbs nationwide. A survey by Your Investment Property magazine found the small suburbs which border Moonee Valley and Melbourne council areas have all the attributes of money-makers. It was ranked among the top 100 investment areas for properties likely to grow in value. The magazine’s editor, Nila Sweeney, said Kensington’s historically strong performance in the market and excellent amenities made it a good choice. “Buyers can get a good deal now on a property that will achieve great growth in the future by choosing the right location,” Sweeney said. “The suburbs that rated best for investment typically had good comparative affordability with neighbouring areas.” Flemington and Travencore also rated in the top 100 for its proximity to the CBD and amenities. And the numbers seem to back the claim. Unit prices have only just reached the Melbourne-wide median of $474,500. As of the June quarter, the median for Kensington is $485,000, an increase of 9.3 per cent of its March figure ($450,000). According to the REIV, Kensington also recorded a 12.4 per cent increase in its median house price for the June quarter. The median price is now at $766,500, well above the Melbourne-wide median and a big improvement on its previous median of $676,250 for the March quarter. As of last week, real estate website realestate.com.au showed the cheapest one bed, one bathroom apartment or townhouse in Kensington is selling for about $350,000. At the high end of the scale, you can pick up a townhouse overlooking Hollard Park, with CDB views, for a cool $1.1 million. Property, p24-25 [...]
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KENSINGTON is an investor “hot spot”, according to a ranking of 15,000 suburbs nationwide. A survey by Your Investment Property magazine found the small suburbs which border Moonee Valley and Melbourne council areas have all the attributes of money-makers. It was ranked among the top 100 investment areas for properties likely to grow in value. The magazine’s editor, Nila Sweeney, said Kensington’s historically strong performance in the market and excellent amenities made it a good choice. “Buyers can get a good deal now on a property that will achieve great growth in the future by choosing the right location,” Sweeney said. “The suburbs that rated best for investment typically had good comparative affordability with neighbouring areas.” Flemington and Travencore also rated in the top 100 for its proximity to the CBD and amenities. And the numbers seem to back the claim. Unit prices have only just reached the Melbourne-wide median of $474,500. As of the June quarter, the median for Kensington is $485,000, an increase of 9.3 per cent of its March figure ($450,000). According to the REIV, Kensington also recorded a 12.4 per cent increase in its median house price for the June quarter. The median price is now at $766,500, well above the Melbourne-wide median and a big improvement on its previous median of $676,250 for the March quarter. As of last week, real estate website realestate.com.au showed the cheapest one bed, one bathroom apartment or townhouse in Kensington is selling for about $350,000. At the high end of the scale, you can pick up a townhouse overlooking Hollard Park, with CDB views, for a cool $1.1 million. Property, p24-25 [...] A house destroyed by fire on Black Saturday has risen from the ashes to claim a record nine awards, including Building Design of the Year 2011, at the Building Designers Association of Victoria annual awards. The home in Callignee, 175km east of Melbourne, was razed one week after owner Chris Clarke, a commercial builder, moved in. > > GALLERY: See inside the home In an inspirational partnership, building designer Sean Hamilton, of Hamilton Design , collaborated with Mr Clarke to re-imagine the home. Arresting in its beauty, Callignee II – Regeneration embraces the ruins of its predecessor as a feature of the landscape. Mr Hamilton said the house was unlike any project he had attempted. “We had to work with the charcoal, the burned and buckled steel, and the blackened (building) fabric that was left,” he said. “Anything new we brought into the home had to complement that. “It wouldn’t have been possible without the skills and courage of Chris Clarke.” Resisting pressure to demolish the shell, the pair edited the original floorplan to keep within Mr Clarke’s limited insurance budget. The striking design blends concrete, steel, expanses of glass and timber reclaimed from the Princes Pier. With no services connected, Callignee II’s sustainability focus is as much about necessity as treading lightly on the environment. “We had to make the home totally self-sufficient,” Mr Hamilton said. Rainwater is harvested from the roof, solar panels supply electricity, hydronic heating is powered by a solid fuel heater and waste water is fed back to a biolytic black-water system. “More than that, we recaptured the embodied energy of the old home,” Mr Hamilton said. “It has a real sense of place now within its environment.” BDAV judges described Callignee II as “a testament to the courage of the survivors of a terrible bushfire season”. Judging panel chair Paula Hanley said the robust, contemporary design “is not only completely at ease in its setting, but actually contributes to its natural beauty”. [...] REAL ESTATE agents have moved to prop up confidence in the housing market after a drop in house and unit prices. New figures from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria show Ascot Vale, Essendon and Moonee Ponds were the only suburbs in Moonee Valley to sell 30 or more houses in April to June. Essendon, Kensington and North Melbourne were the only suburbs where 30 or more units were sold. This comes as auction clearance rates in Melbourne plummet compared with 12 months ago, with 55 per cent going under the hammer, down from 68 per cent the same time last year. In the past year, Ascot Vale and Essendon median prices have increased, but other suburbs have not fared well. Moonee Ponds prices decreased by 16.7 per cent to $762,500, Strathmore prices dropped 15.3 per cent to $785,000 and Flemington prices dropped by 7.5 per cent to $670,500. Moonee Valley Real Estate sales manager David Gigliotti said a drop in consumer confidence because of issues such as the carbon tax had slowed sales. But he was adamant it was a good time for people to get into the market. “All it takes is a few big sales and the market is up,” Mr Gigliotti said. “We’re just experiencing a levelling out of the market, which is common.” Barry Plant Essendon sales director Bill Karp said there were a lot of buyers looking for flats as well as homes in the $700,000 to $800,000 range in Moonee Valley, while those after $1m-plus properties were being more selective. “We are calling it a balanced market, one in which neither the buyer or seller is disadvantaged,” he said. Mr Karp said there had been huge growth in value over the past 10 years, as buyers saw lower prices in Moonee Valley compared with suburbs the same distance from the city. This then encouraged other buyers then looking at the area. Head of property research at The Investors Club David Cross said it was a buyers’ market in Victoria, with few buyers and more properties for sale. “This means that properties are taking longer to sell and vendors are dropping their prices in an attempt to move them on,” he said. Melbourne’s metropolitan median house price is $590,000. [...] REAL ESTATE agents have moved to prop up confidence in the housing market after a drop in house and unit prices. New figures from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria show Ascot Vale, Essendon and Moonee Ponds were the only suburbs in Moonee Valley to sell 30 or more houses in April to June. Essendon, Kensington and North Melbourne were the only suburbs where 30 or more units were sold. This comes as auction clearance rates in Melbourne plummet compared with 12 months ago, with 55 per cent going under the hammer, down from 68 per cent the same time last year. In the past year, Ascot Vale and Essendon median prices have increased, but other suburbs have not fared well. Moonee Ponds prices decreased by 16.7 per cent to $762,500, Strathmore prices dropped 15.3 per cent to $785,000 and Flemington prices dropped by 7.5 per cent to $670,500. Moonee Valley Real Estate sales manager David Gigliotti said a drop in consumer confidence because of issues such as the carbon tax had slowed sales. But he was adamant it was a good time for people to get into the market. “All it takes is a few big sales and the market is up,” Mr Gigliotti said. “We’re just experiencing a levelling out of the market, which is common.” Barry Plant Essendon sales director Bill Karp said there were a lot of buyers looking for flats as well as homes in the $700,000 to $800,000 range in Moonee Valley, while those after $1m-plus properties were being more selective. “We are calling it a balanced market, one in which neither the buyer or seller is disadvantaged,” he said. Mr Karp said there had been huge growth in value over the past 10 years, as buyers saw lower prices in Moonee Valley compared with suburbs the same distance from the city. This then encouraged other buyers then looking at the area. Head of property research at The Investors Club David Cross said it was a buyers’ market in Victoria, with few buyers and more properties for sale. “This means that properties are taking longer to sell and vendors are dropping their prices in an attempt to move them on,” he said. Melbourne’s metropolitan median house price is $590,000. [...] The number of houses sold in Melbourne last year was the lowest since the mid-1990s, according to new figures from Land Victoria. Its Annual Guide to Property Values shows that 53,112 houses were sold in Melbourne last year, a fall of 13.35 per cent on 2009. It is a far cry from 2001, when the market was at its peak with 70,137 houses sold. Despite the fall in numbers, median prices and total values still rose. Victorian Valuer-General Robert Marsh said the total value of sales of all property in Victoria increased 1.4 per cent from $74.62 billion in 2009 to an estimated $75.68 billion last year. In Melbourne, the median jumped 18 per cent from $420,000 in 2009 to $495,000 last year. In general terms, for the past 10 years house prices have continued to grow, with Melbourne’s median house price rising 160 per cent – from $190,000 to $495,000 – between 2000 and 2010. The total number of units and vacant house block sales also fell last year. More than 25,000 units were sold in Melbourne, the lowest since 2004, while 12,473 house blocks were sold, a 43 per cent decline on 2009. It was the lowest number of vacant house blocks sold since 1996. Unit/apartment median prices in metropolitan Melbourne rose 12.6 per cent compared with 5.5 per cent for unit/apartment prices in country Victoria. Metropolitan house block prices rose $20,000 to $185,000. NEW APARTMENT COMPLEX The north end of the CBD is the latest Melbourne area to become home to a new apartment complex. Fulton LN is a 700-apartment project from Malaysian company S.P. Setia, set in Fulton Laneway between Franklin and A’Beckett streets. In its first foray into Australia, the company said the 107m tall building would deliver a mix of residential, commercial and retail tenancies. The distinctive architecture by acclaimed Karl Fender (FKA, Melbourne) offers one, two and three-bedroom apartments, a green arbour facade, garden terrace, gymnasium, pool, theatrette and an exclusive entertaining and dining space inspired by Melbourne chef Adam D’Sylva. Like most new developments, the environment is high on the agenda, with bicycle facilities, grey-water recycling, a water tank, natural ventilation, green wall and an average six-star energy rating. Prices start at $370,000 for one bedroom at 45sq m, $515,000 for a two-bedroom starting at 60sq m and $1,050,000 for three-bedroom dwellings starting at 115sq m. Details: www.fultonlane.com.au MORE FIRST-HOME BUYERS A softer housing market and stable interest rates are luring more first-home buyers into the market, according to mortgage broker Loan Market. Spokesman Paul Smith said 35 per cent of the company’s inquiries last month came from first-home buyers, a 10 per cent increase on May. “We have gone eight months without an interest rate rise and this has not only given a much-needed reprieve to households dealing with increased costs of living, but has encouraged those looking to purchase their first home,” he said. Mr Smith said Loan Market’s inquiries from investors were up 20 per cent in [...] Selling a house, impatience or trying to impress your mates are all good reasons to need an instant garden. But how do you create one? The easy answer is to throw lots of money at the planting, but that can be daunting spending your hard-earned cash on an item that requires specialist knowledge. Buying big plants is a great way of getting the mature garden look, but be warned – it can get very expensive. You really have to weigh up if the extra expense of the plants can be justified when plants will grow in time anyway and your hard-earned investment just disappears. Smaller plants will always out-perform larger ones in the long run and it only takes a couple of growing seasons to see this in practice. The reason for this is a smaller plant grows up in its new climate and soil conditions and it learns to adapt to them. Larger plants are used to being treated like a king at the nursery and when they move to a different soil, climate and position they take a few years to get used to it. Another tip for spending your money well with plants is to buy larger slow-growing plants and smaller versions of quick growers. To make sure the quick growers do their thing and fill in the gaps rapidly, soil preparation is the key. And the most basic version of this is to dig in well-rotted compost. Pots lift plants up closer to the eye level and this works like a highlighter to that plant. Try to position potted plants in a place that the eye naturally looks to for maximum impact. This can be the end of a path, outside a window or framing a front door. Lawn is a great instant garden tool as it creates a lush, coloured carpet for a fraction of the price of a garden bed. An area for lawn also opens a garden up to let the light in – this adds a feeling of space and openness while maintaining a soft natural look. Remember when trying to create an instant impact with a garden that plants really do make the difference, changing a space into an outdoor room.Charlie Albone is the co-host of Selling Houses Australia on The LifeStyle Channel and runs his own business called Inspired Exteriors. [...] WHITEHORSE’S property market is spiralling down with thousands of dollars wiped off the median price of property in the past year. But real estate agents have stopped short of calling the decline a bust, saying plummeting prices are a return to realistic figures after boom years. While the latest Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) figures show Melbourne’s median house price jumped 5.4 per cent to $590,000, all Whitehorse suburbs – except Box Hill – fell. The biggest losses were felt in Blackburn and Forest Hill. Blackburn dropped from a median of $903,750 for the March quarter to $799,500 in June, a quarterly loss of 11.5 per cent and a year-round drop of 9.5 per cent. Forest Hill prices fell 16.7 per cent from a median last year of $634,250 to $528,500. Nunawading is down 9.1 per cent, Mitcham 8.1 per cent and Vermont 7.8 per cent. Box Hill though has bucked the trend with an increase of 16.2 per cent to a median price of $960,000. Surrey Hills has shown a small increase of 5.7 per cent in the last year, but still fell 7.1 per cent in the past three months. Ray White Blackburn director Peter Schenek described the figures as a correction. “No doubt the top end has fallen dramatically,” he said. “Buyers are wanting value for money. A good property in a good position will still always go for a good price.” Burwood East’s Rose Real Estate director Peng Chung said a strong Chinese market was fueling higher prices in Box Hill. “Chinese families tend to gravitate to regions where there are other Chinese residents as anyone would do when they move to a new country,” he said. “The other advantage of Box Hill is its access to good schooling.” Mr Chung said prices were stabilising after skyrocketing. “A couple of years ago, if you had a $400,000 property, you could realistically put $420,000 to $440,000 on it,” he said. “Now that same $400,000 property, you would put on say $390,000-$410,000 and probably expect to get around the $400,000. “The market is returning to where it should be.” [...] GLEN Huntly auctioneer, Woodards’ director Ruth Roberts, will have a real estate challenge on her hands when she faces the crowds eager to grab their slice of The Block . You’ll be selling the house of Josh and Jenna on Channel 9’s smash TV show The Block . How did that happen? I was referred to them, so met up with them and got the gig! I was surprised, but it’s very exciting. I’m a female auctioneer and it’s going to be a challenge, but it’s good to raise the bar. The episodes are quite a bit behind where the competition is at. How’s the house looking? I think they’ve kept it simple and have a nice sense of style. It’s not that they aren’t risk takers – they’ve got a few surprises in there and know what they like – but it’s simple and tasteful. Josh and Jenna are the youngest ever contestants on the show, has that made a difference? No, they’ve done a great job, they’ve done really well. Have you had a peek inside the other houses so you know what you’re up against? No, I haven’t. I’ve seen the outsides obviously, but nothing else. It’s a great promotion for your real estate agency … It’s a big coup for us and I see it as adding another feather to my cap. It’s so well televised but I’m not sure we’ll be on there that much. Although I’ve got an advantage, being the only female auctioneer. People will know who I am, because I’ll be the one in the skirt! With all the excitement do people forget there’s a serious job of selling a house to be done? It will be a real challenge to find a buyer. We have to sift through and find the people serious, not those caught up in the hoo-ha of the show. I’m certainly out of my comfort zone and it’s not going to be easy. How are you feeling considering there’s been a bit of a property slump? It’s not easy. It’s a big challenge but I’m ready. I’ve got the best house to sell, but with that comes the highest reserve. Will that mean we win and get the highest price? We don’t know. As a Glen Huntly agent we’re out of the area too, but in this case I don’t think [...] Things are looking up – ask Plus Architecture’s Craig Yelland. The architect and director believes the great Australian dream of owning a house is fast being replaced by apartment living. “I don’t understand why anyone would want to live in a house,” Craig says. “Suburban commuting is getting worse because of traffic and the backyard is unkempt because you need a double income to support a mortgage – houses have just lost their appeal.” Instead, buyers are starting to realise they can achieve the same lifestyle by buying an apartment. “By taking on less space you can cut your carbon footprint dramatically, lower utility bills, reduce clutter and say goodbye to car ownership,” he says. “And many new apartment blocks boast beautiful pools, tennis courts, libraries, special occasion diningrooms, theatre rooms and even their own bars.” Don’t forget stepping outside to amenities on your doorstep, including markets, public parks, pools and sporting venues. Craig practises what he preaches, too. He lives in an apartment in Port Melbourne, with his wife, Megan, two children and their dog. A move home from London reinforced their love to be close to the action, and they decided – even when children followed – they could still have it all in an apartment. “The world’s most vibrant and cosmopolitan cities belong to apartment dwellers. And to compete and thrive, modern Australian cities such as Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney must follow suit,” he says. Apartment life is also cheaper. An example is the design of Plus Architecture’s Society building in South Yarra. It was the first development to receive funding for floor plans starting at 38sq m, with prices to match. “Society sold out within three months,” Craig says. The smaller floor plans don’t mean closer neighbours either, with many of the newer residential towers now featuring cutting-edge acoustics technology, plenty of natural light, privacy and user-friendly designs. Life certainly is looking up. [...] |
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