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Housing affordability is the barbecue stopper of today. Or, at least it would be if inner-city residents had the space for a camp stove, and if outer-suburban families had the time to spend around the turbo six-burner that drove them into mortgage distress and a third job.

More experts believe Australia is moving into a post-mortgage era. The future, they say, is more European, with greater numbers of long-term renters spending their lives as tenants.

As they gather momentum, it’s clear the great Australian dream is entering the twilight zone. “The horse has bolted on home ownership.” That comment was made by Julian Disney, chairman of the National Affordable Housing Summit. But the same words were used by someone at the other end of the spectrum, Macquarie Bank’s interest rate strategist, Rory Robertson: “The horse has bolted and there’s no getting it back”.

“Renting your home and staying flexible does wonders for your chances of always finding an interesting job,” the report concluded. Disney agrees that the need for mobility – “which will become more and more important with globalisation” – is just one of the many reasons why “renting will be crucial in this debate”.

And the contagion has spread: what was once confined to Sydney is now felt countrywide. For instance, the Matusik affordability index shows that an average income earner in Brisbane can only afford 7 per cent of the housing in Brisbane (down from 74 per cent five years ago). It’s not just a problem for the mortgage belt. This week, Australia’s rental vacancy rate fell to the lowest level in 40 years – 1.36 per cent – leading to an even-tighter rental market and higher rents.

Source: afr.com

PROPERTIES across the state are selling before the first inspection and for more than the asking price, according to frustrated buyers. Agents have reported that hundreds of hopeful home buyers are disgruntled by the market.

Low supply and high demand for affordable property is forcing buyers to “act fast” and be willing to offer more. North Brisbane agent Don Mackintosh said buyers could no longer haggle over property to beat the listed price. “There are hundreds of buyers around that are disappointed,” Mr Mackintosh said.

“I sold one just recently for $8000 above the asking price… I had five offers on (the property) before the first open house.”

Source: The Courier Mail

TRANSLINK bosses head to Europe tomorrow to examine options for the Gold Coast’s $650 million rapid transit project.

Translink project director Ken Deutscher admitted yesterday the total cost of the rapid transit system, if the more expensive light rail option was preferred, would be at least $750 million and possibly more.

The rapid transit system will be completed by 2011 and is designed to service a population that will grow from 500,000 to 1.1 million by 2050.

Source: GC Weekend Bulletin

Vacant land grab feared as stocks begin to dry up. IT’S crunch time for developers.

Vacant land sales are at their highest level since 2003, the end of the last boom, but low stock levels could lead to a major squeeze on the property market as it saddles up for a new wave of growth in 2008.
“The Gold Coast will need to build a lot more houses over the next few years to meet the increasing demand.”Mr Morris said that while 15,000 southerners continued to flood the Gold Coast each year, many of them were not buying into the property market.They were choosing to rent in the face of rising interest rates and purchase costs, creating a false sense of market demand.

Mr Morris said the sheer volume of migration put underlying demand at 6250 homes a year, well above actual house and land sales of just 3830 for 2006.

He said some of the country’s biggest players already had their hands on significant tracts of land and he had identified Coomera, east of the M1, as the developers’ cauldron over the next 10 years.

Source: GC Weekend Bulletin

Coomera’s growing industrial precinct now has over $25mil in building projects underway. Both of the industrial estates alongside the M1 motorway are poised to service the needs of the new 60ha Coomera town centre which has retail, commercial, residential, medical and transport infrastructure to support 200,000 people. MORE GOOD NEWS FOR OUR CLIENTS WHO PURCHASED AT CATALINA PARK!

Source: Gold Coast Bulletin

Year on year employment growth for March 2006 to March 2007 will significantly higher in Queensland (5.6%), compared to a national average of 2.7%.

Year-on-year growth for the March 2006 to March 2007 period for each state is: New South Wales 2.0%, Victoria 2.3% Queensland 5.6% South Australia 1.4% Western Australia 2.6% Tasmania 0.1%

The Courier Mail (April 13th 2007) reported that Queensland’s jobless rate was steady at 4 per cent.

Commsec’s Martin Arnold said the mining boom would drive unemployment even lower in Queensland although it was already considered to technically be at full employment levels. Treasurer Anna Bligh saidQueensland, “the jobs generator,” created 117,700 jobs in the year to March, or 41.7 per cent of jobs created nationally.

Source: QBR

THE competition for commercial space bragging rights on the Gold Coast is getting serious with Robina poised to rocket into the big league. Robina Land Corporation this week revealed plans for a $700 million development binge as it rolls out up to 30 new commercial buildings in central Robina in the next eight years in a bid to cement the bustling suburb as the city’s new CBD.

The outlay will be more than matched by a swag of government projects, including new sporting, medical and transport facilities, which have taken the value of Robina’s development burst to almost $1.7 billion.
The Robina Land Corp master plan will create a commercial hub offering 280,000sqm of office space, more than double the city’s traditional office heartland at Southport.

Robina Land Corp’s measured development plan will run parallel with Queensland Investment Corp’s $200 million expansion of Robina Town Centre, which now has some 87,000sqm of retail floorspace. The expansion will occur progressively in the next five years and will significantly expand the retail offering and include remodelling of the centre’s High Street specialty shopping arcade and its lakeside precinct, which is home to a range of dining facilities.

Robina Land Corporation chief executive Richard Wyatt said the development surge was providing infrastructure that would be the envy of the Gold Coast. He said the growth in Robina would set the scene for additional major investment that would confirm CBD-Robina as the Gold Coast’s largest business district.

“Right now we are developing a master plan for Stadium Village, a commercial, retail and recreational precinct that will be developed on land bordering the stadium,” he said.”Stadium Village will be the first sports-oriented community to be developed in Australia and will be home to businesses such as events management companies, specialist gymnasiums, specialist healthcare practices and the like.”

Bernard Durack, project director at The Glades, said the luxury estate was attracting considerable interest from interstate buyers who saw parallels with Robina’s growth and that of Parramatta over the past 20 years as a commercial hub.

Source: GC Weekend Bulletin

See our listings of property at Robina.

Strong growth is leading to an under supply of homes in Queensland and reports suggest the problem is escalating. Queensland’s ‘dwelling stock deficiency’ – the number of units, villas, townhouses and homes needed to supply demand – is increasing, according to BIS Shrapnel’s recent report on industry prospects.

“We are in a position of under supply, and construction isn’t occurring despite the strong underlying demand.” says BIS Shrapnel’s Jason Anderson.

He also said “ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) data shows that Brisbane, Gold Coast, Ipswich and Cairns were rated 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in Australia for population increase.” As net overseas and interstate migration continues to flow into Queensland supply problems can be expected to deteriorate.

Source: BIS Shrapnel report

Robina is in the throes of a $1.7 billion development burst that will provide the Gold Coast with major new sporting, medical and transport facilities as well as cutting-edge commercial and residential infrastructure. Robina Land corp is committing $194 million to commercial and residential infrastructure and the state government is investing $569.3 million on medical,sporting,transport and community projects.In addition the owners of Robina Town Centre as spending $200 million to upgrade the shopping centre. Gold Coast Council is committed to develop a $15 million library with others spending $137 million in commercial and $57 million on the Riverwalk residential project.

Source: Robina Land Corp release

QUEENSLAND is struggling to find enough top-level workers to drive the massive infrastructure projects needed to keep up with the state’s soaring population. The State Government’s investment in major infrastructure projects – about $80 billion over the next 20 years – has created an unprecedented demand for highly skilled engineering and construction workers.

With Queensland facing a shortfall of 40,000 workers within five years, the State Government last year launched a $1.1billion Skills Plan to counter the looming crisis. Figures just released show the number of apprenticeships and traineeships in Queensland increased 6 per cent to more than 55,000 in the 12 months to September. “This is more than 10 times the national trend, where commencements increased by only half a per cent over the same period,” said Education and Training Minister Rod Welford.

Source: The Courier Mail