Posted by admin on 26 March 2013
Fresh design ideas for granny flats: courtesy LifestyleGrannyFlats.com.au
Brisbane’s population continues to grow and finding homes for our new residents now, and into the future, will continue to challenge Brisbanites and our politicians. Most agree we don’t want urban sprawl, with the massive strain on infrastructure that results from pushing new houses further and further into the ‘burbs. So maybe we need to broaden our thinking on our housing options?
Four years ago the NSW government gave granny flats the nod as a sensible way to house extra residents. For those NIMBY’s who don’t want change near them, these new homes really are in your back yard! Provided you have 450m2 there are now very few limitations throughout NSW for granny flats, and a fast-tracked approval process to boot. So for around $100,000 our southern cousins are dropping in an extra dwelling behind their house, collecting the rent for a tidy investment return, and providing relatively low cost housing in the process.
Could it work in Brisbane? Why not? Our existing rules have plenty of restrictions so a flat out the back or, more commonly, under the house, can only be occupied by the same “household group”. But how is the type of resident living in a granny flat really any different in how it impacts neighbours? Or local amenities and services? So instead of empty rumpus rooms why can’t Council support extra rental homes? There’s plenty of these happening unofficially across the city of course.
Or instead of the upkeep on a yard forcing many aging home-owners to move, we could allow them to build a small second home on the block? They could even move in themselves (some of the designs are better than you’d expect) enjoying the low maintenance and no stairs, while the larger home is rented to people who need the space. We’ve written about NORCS in the past – those ‘naturally occurring retirement communities’ that are growing throughout Brisbane’s inner city because many of us want to stay in the area we know and love. Wouldn’t modern granny flats be a great way to support this trend?
This week’s Courier Mail reported BCC’s plans to allow taller skyscrapers in our CBD. Council’s looking to raise the height limits, arguing another 20 storeys could give our economy a $2billion boost. No doubt there’ll be plenty of debate over Brisbane’s skyline and the pros and cons of cloud-topping towers.
And in the meantime maybe planners should take another look at some simple options to add more residents into our neighbourhoods?
Please give us your thoughts. Would you be happy to have a granny flat built in your neighbour’s back yard?
Tags: Brisbane City Council, Brisbane housing supply, granny flats Brisbane, investment property, NORCS
Posted in Brisbane's future & new infrastructure, architecture and renovation, trends in Brisbane property | 3 Comments »
Posted by admin on 27 December 2012
Every property commentator watches these stats like a hawk, with resident numbers naturally having a big impact on housing demand – both quantity and type of dwellings. The Australian Bureau of Stats has just released their mid 2012 numbers so here’s our UFWO for this week to help with your own assessment:
• The preliminary estimated resident population (ERP) of Australia at 30 June 2012 was 22,683,600 people. This reflects an increase of 359,600 people since June 2011.
• This was a 12% increase on the previous year’s growth, with most coming from a lift in net overseas migration.
• Queensland’s population grew by 1.9% or 86,000 for the year. Only Victoria (89,000) added more people to their ranks.
• Queensland recorded the highest gains from net interstate migration for the year (11,800 people). Net losses from interstate migration were recorded in New South Wales (18,400 people), Tasmania, South Australia and the NT.
• Over the past 20 years the median age of an Australian has increased by almost 5 years to 37.
• The number of Aussies aged 65 years and over is projected to exceed the number of children aged 0-14 years around the year 2025
• Australia’s population in 2050 is projected to total 34 million. By then India is projected to have displaced China as the most populous country with 1.69 billion people compared with 1.30 billion in China.
How about you give us your opinion for a change! Make a comment below
Tags: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Brisbane housing supply, Brisbane population growth, housing undersupply Brisbane, population growth Brisbane, Useful Facts Without Opinions
Posted in Brisbane's future & new infrastructure | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 14 October 2011
New data on Brisbane’s rental housing market shows tenants are not moving as often, staying longer in their homes to save money. And it seems landlords are keeping a lid on rent rises to keep them there. Bees Nees’ Rob Honeycombe says the Residential Tenancies Authority’s latest stats showed the turnover of tenancies is lower than during 2010.
“Tenants know that moving house is expensive and if their rent increases are fair they’ll stay put. The RTA stats show that over the past year Brisbane’s median rents rose just 4% and that’s been accepted by the market,” Rob said. “Landlords have become more cautious too and many are reluctant to have an empty property. We saw the same conservatism during the GFC in 2008 and this means tenants currently have less pressure on them,” he said.
But the supply of rental homes is rising slowly and without new construction rents will increase again. “Across Brisbane the total rental pool grew by just 1,253 properties in the September quarter. That’s half the number we added in the June quarter – we’re just not bringing a lot of new rental housing onto the market.”
September’s RTA stats showed no increase in rents on the June quarter. A 3 bedroom Brisbane house rent remained at $390 per week while a 2 bedroom apartment is $380.
Tags: Brisbane housing supply, Brisbane property manager, Brisbane rents, Brisbane tenants, median rents Brisbane, property management Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane landlords, Brisbane's rental market | No Comments »
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 call our Property Management team on 07 3214 6899 or email info@beesnees.com.au
For median rent information visit www.whatrentmyhome.com.au
Tags: Brisbane apartments, brisbane cbd rents, Brisbane housing supply, Brisbane property manager, Brisbane real estate agents, Brisbane rents, cbd rents, investment property, median rents Brisbane, property management Brisbane, Rental Market, rental supply Brisbane, Spring Hill property manager, Spring Hill Real Estate Agent, Spring HIll REnts, tenants Brisbane
Posted in Brisbane CBD, Spring Hill | No Comments »
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 call our Property Management team on 07 3214 6899 or email info@beesnees.com.au
For median rent information visit www.whatrentmyhome.com.au
Tags: apartments for rent woolloongabba, Brisbane apartments, Brisbane housing supply, Brisbane property manager, Brisbane real estate agents, Brisbane rents, Dutton Park property manager, gabba property manager, gabba rents, investment property, median rents Brisbane, property management Brisbane, Rental Market, rental market woolloongabba, rental supply Brisbane, rents in woolloongabba, tenants Brisbane, woolloongabba property manager
Posted in Brisbane's rental market, Dutton Park, Woolloongabba | No Comments »
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 call our Property Management team on 07 3214 6899 or email info@beesnees.com.au
For median rent information visit www.whatrentmyhome.com.au
Tags: Brisbane apartments, Brisbane housing supply, Brisbane property manager, Brisbane real estate agents, Brisbane rents, Highgate Hill property manager, Highgate Hill Rents, investment property, median rents Brisbane, property management Brisbane, Rental Market, rental supply Brisbane, South Bank Rents, South Brisbane property manager, South Brisbane Rents, tenants Brisbane, West End property manager
Posted in Brisbane landlords, Brisbane's rental market, Highgate Hill, South Brisbane and South Bank, West End | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 28 June 2011
We are constantly being bombarded by stats on everything these days. Here is another that will surprise you. We are currently hearing in the media that there are more listings on the market now than last year (some commentators speculating that there are 30% more in Brisbane) but in Spring Hill this is NOT the case.
I have just done a count on realestate.com and as of today there are currently 79 listings (apartments and houses) which are not either under contract or sold. This number fluctuates from week to week but I watch it every day and over the last 12 months the numbers are virtually identical with 81 listings on the market this time last year.
More surprisingly is the fact that as of today also only 11 out of the 79 have open homes advertised for this weekend or approx 14% that’s 1 in 7, the others all have call for an appointment. We all know that a lot can’t have open homes for various reasons including being in a hotel pool, owners preferring private viewings and so on. It is clear that a lot of these properties aren’t really for sale at all, at least not at the advertised price as many have been advertised with no adjustments for 6 months + and are clearly not being actively marketed and it appears that both the agent and the owner has given up on the sale.
Owners in this position have comments such as “oh well it’s not costing me anything to have it on the market”. WRONG!!! Clearly they are not doing themselves or the complex (in the case of apartments) any service whatsoever and should either get serious about their sale and actively market and price it correctly, or simply take it off the market. Simple supply and demand economics dictates more supply the cheaper the price, less demand the cheaper the price. Owners either get serious or at least shift the supply line to the left and prices, guess what? They go up.
Tags: Brisbane house prices, Brisbane housing supply, Brisbane real estate agents, pricing strategy, selling a house Brisbane, selling an apartment Brisbane
Posted in Spring Hill | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 16 June 2011
The ABS have released new stats today that show how truly multicultural this nation has actually become. Walking around Brisbane’s inner city you see a good reflection of the findings below and it’s interesting to consider how these trends might change demands on our housing. For example will less Brits coming here and more Chinese mean a bigger appetite for higher density living? (As well as less demand for hot beer and cold pies….)
“Almost 6 million migrants, born in over 200 countries, live in Australia. According to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 27% of Australia’s resident population were born overseas, as at June 2010. People born in the United Kingdom continued to be the largest group of overseas-born residents, accounting for 1.2 million people. The next largest group was born in New Zealand with 544,000 people, followed by China (380,000 people), India (341,000) and Italy (216,000).
Over the last decade, the proportion of those born in the UK declined from 5.9% of Australia’s population in 2000 to 5.3% in 2010. In contrast, the proportions increased for people born in New Zealand (from 1.9% to 2.4%), China (from 0.8% to 1.7%) and India (from 0.5% to 1.5%). The majority (76%) of overseas-born residents were of working age, 15–64 years at June 2010. Migrants born in Asia, America and Africa had proportionally larger young (0–14 years) and working age (15–64 years) populations compared to those from Europe.
In 2009–10, net overseas migration contributed the greatest number of people to the most populous states: New South Wales with a net of 66,000 persons, followed by Victoria (60,400) and Queensland (39,700). The Northern Territory had the lowest contribution with a net of 1,300 persons.”
Tags: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Brisbane housing supply, population growth Brisbane
Posted in trends in Brisbane property | No Comments »
Posted by admin on 30 May 2011
Plenty of real estate market watchers quote populations stats when “reading the tea leaves” for our industry. It makes sense that more people means greater housing demand. So some have pointed to slowing overseas migration as a warning sign for property prices. Here’s a handy reminder of the facts:
It takes some time for the ABS to release the data so the latest we have is for the year to Sept 30th 2010. And that showed net overseas migration down 40% on that same quarter a year earlier. That’s a sharp drop. But it also shows that our natural increase in population accounted for almost half of our population growth in the year. Australians stand proud, we’re amongst the best reproducers in the western world! And we’re getting pretty good at living longer too. So easing overseas arrivals won’t stop our growth.
And yes in case you missed it, our population grew 1.6% over that year – a jump of almost 350,000 (or twice the size of Townsville’s population) added to our numbers. Queensland’s resident numbers grew by almost 1,600 per week. So slower growth is still very strong growth.
Demographer Bernard Salt, writing in a recent Australian Newspaper column, remarks on the government’s own forecasts for continued growth. He points out that while the pollies talk about numbers dropping their own Federal budget papers show they’re still expecting net overseas migration to return to 180,000 next year.
If Dick Smith and the other ’small Australia’ proponents have any hope they’ll have to convince Australians to stop having babies. Good luck with that.
Tags: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Bernard Salt, Brisbane house prices, Brisbane housing supply, Brisbane population growth
Posted in trends in Brisbane property | 1 Comment »
Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 30 May 2011
We keep a close eye on what’s for sale in Highgate Hill and there’s been a fairly sizable drop in the numbers over the past couple of weeks. As at today there’s just 11 Highgate Hill houses on the market for example, and of those only 4-5 are actively campaigning (i.e. doing more than just sitting on the web). This peaked at 24 at the time of January’s floods and has stayed around 20 for most of this year.
Local apartment listings are also down with just 24 now for sale, having peaked at 33 just a month ago.
This is positive news for local property owners as it means there’s less for buyers to choose from, and less price competition. It supports our view that very few owners are in a forced-sale situation – many would like to sell and upgrade/downgrade/move elsewhere, but they’re prepared to sit out this current market dip.
Surrounding suburbs are witnessing a similar drop in homes for sale, so if you’re looking to buy you might like to make your move now!
Tags: Brisbane housing supply, Brisbane real estate agents, selling a house Brisbane, selling an apartment Brisbane, time on market
Posted in Brisbane's sales market, Highgate Hill | No Comments »
