Hello my fellow Australians,
I've noticed a distinct difference in attitudes to property on these forums and other financial sites and blogs compared to Australian specific forums when it comes to property discussion.
I thought it would be good to have a discussion on property, both for a ppor and investing with other rational mustachians instead of the heated emotional debates which usually occur.
My situation is that I'm looking for an apartment as a PPOR ideally in the Melbourne CBD. Whenever I mention this to anybody, they are always quick to tell me what a bad idea that is. That has me even more interested, the more everybody thinks it's a bad idea, the cheaper it must be and thus a better idea. Conventional wisdom is that you should invest in houses with land in desirable suburbs but of course that's where the free markets come in and price things accordingly. People don't seem to understand this though.
In terms of investing, I'm quite happy to stick to shares. I know more about them and there's a lot more information and tools available to research. Just trying to do research on apartments in the Melbourne CBD atm and am struggling to find any useful information. I wish there was some sort of database where I could download a list of all apartment buildings in the Melb CBD and filter by size and have recordings of all past sales.
It's a lifestyle consumption decision though and the biggest expense so not one that I'm taking lightly. With all this talk about new developments coming up and the glut of apartments, I figure that the next few years will present a good opportunity to acquire an apartment. Just monitoring prices from what little information is available, it seems like the last few years the prices have been pretty stagnent after a surge from 2009-2010. I am hoping that with more supply coming online that prices will decline in nominal terms and give me a better opportunity.
Any advice on researching property, specifically apartments and insights into the Melbourne apartment market would be appreciated.
Feel free to share your own situation and views regarding property.
Hi there,
Long time MMM reader but only just found this post!
I currently live in Melbourne CBD (Docklands) and have been here for about 7 years, and have seen things around here change a lot.
We Own 2 properties here and a few in the Melbourne 'burbs. And aiming to retire MMM style within a few years in my mid 30s.
Despite media doom and gloom I read every week about Melbourne apartments, I personally feel that apartments (established ones anyway) currently offer great value for money.
Try looking at houses around inner Melbourne : Albert Park , South Yarra, Port Melbourne, etc. the areas everybody wants to live, and the prices are astronomical. Also look at Sydney apartments, $1m is buying something very normal.
Melbourne Apartments seem really cheap... You can buy great apartments with 2 bedrooms and parking starting for around $500k? And large ones for $700k+. You should be asking Why do people spend so much on a house to live far far away from jobs and everything else?
As someone who has travelled the world, I feel that Melbourne city is very underdeveloped. There is low rise and undeveloped sites everywhere, including in the middle of the city. We are not oversupplied.
Docklands itself has always had an "over supply" name to it. This is because when the suburb first started being developed about 2000, there was not much around the area and people did not want to live here compared to Southbank or other areas. The world has moved on however, the place is great, surrounding by everything you could ever need.
Whenever I have rented my apartment I have had no such issues and command a very decent rent with long term tenants and the prices have increased plenty!
What gives? I think people just have no idea what is truly going on, particularly the media!
Lastly in regards to future "over supply". Apartments themselves cost a fortune to build with the cost going up every year.
Think about the land, the infrastructure, the basements, the lifts.
If you purchase a $500k 1 bedroom off the plan, it probably Cost the developer $450k to build it for you! There is no great profit margin there. I feel that this will only get worse and the prices for new apartments will keep creeping up making the whole market increase.
Anyway I hope I give you some fresh thinking.
If you want to buy in the CBD then go for it.
Try to stick to established buildings where you can fix up or renovate to add a bit more value