Dockland apartments to become housing commission homes?

[Mrs Bird]

Hi everyone,

Reading and hearing alarming news about the glut of inner city apartments at the docklands and southbank, do you think that some investors might be desperate to rent out their long term vacant unit to the Housing Commission?

Could one day, a few of these fantastic located apartments be used for public housing?

If investors are desperate enough, what is to stop them?

After all what is the difference between the high rises in flemington and the ones at the Docklands? Government would find a easy solution in clearing their waiting lists.

It is already happening in Kensington Banks, a very expensive and yuppy area in Melbourne. Several town houses are being used as public housing.( Local Rag had an article about it last year)

Any thoughts....

Mrs Bird

 

[Aceyducey]

Having spoken to welfare about the prospect of buying & renovating public housing, I can say that at presnt people providing public housing are considering more innovative ways of sourcing the right properties.

However they have not been that interested, at least in my state, to actually rent properties from people, preferring to own property.

If they are starting to rent, however, this is probably an opportunity for investors in a similar way to defense housing - however based on the past performance of public housing providers to inspect and maintain properties they'd have to show a marked improvement before I would consider renting a property to a provider.

Cheers,

Aceyducey

 

[Sim]

Step 1 - build a whole lot of cheap highrise apartment blocks
Step 2 - encourage lower income people to move in by implementing rent control on at least some (if not all) of the units
Step 3 - refuse to spend money on upkeep and maintaining the unit blocks and surrounds
Step 4 - watch the area become the slums of the next decade

 

[see_change]

One of the best located blocks in syd , next to the harbour bridge is Housing commish , and several years ago we inquired about a vacant Block of land Opposite waterfront in Drummoyne... also housing commish

It happens

 

[Aceyducey]

Sim,

Interestingly public housing providers have finally caught on to that slum problem & are currently trying to spread their portfolio across cities rather than clustering them to offset the negative image of too many low rent dwelling in the same area.

They're also currently reviewing their property 'stocks' selling a lot of 3-4 bed houses to developers and replacing them with 1-2 bed townhouses/units due to changing demographics. There are less big families around and more pensioners so the people per house is falling in the public housing area just as it is across the entire market.

Personally I look at the 5+bed grasscastles being built around our area and wonder what they will be worth in twenty years without a dramatic change in Australian procreaction habits.

Cheers,

Aceyducey

 

[Dose]

I recently went to the footy at Docklands (haven't been for over a year) and I was a bit shocked at the sight of all these high rises buildings around that area. My first thought was how are they going to fill them. My second thought was that they reminded me of the high rise housing commission flats.
I do think that the housing commission prefer to buy than rent particularly around our area. They have bought brand new units as well as older ones.
I would be concerned if I had invested in that area.

 

[Peter Parker]

Those CBD high-rises, despite the views, are not going to be popular with housing commissions or their tenants, at least with the current surrounding retail mix.

Why?

Tenants can't economically feed themselves when living in those places.

It's no good having 50 posh restaurants within walking distance if you're only on $180/week pension.

There needs to be some good-sized supermarkets with reasonable prices (as in the suburbs) before these places become livable for low income people.

Also the previous comment about problems with concentrating welfare housing is spot-on.

Peter

 

[peelsman]

you could get a situation where there is reverse gentrification and the people with a few bucks move out, the posh restaurants close down. Who knows how we will want to live in 2030
The same thing happened to st kilda and inner areas post war. The quarter acre block in the suburbs was the go so the inner city turned into the slums. Why cant we go a full circle again?
The stackers have all the criteria for slums of the 2030's, i reckon

HT

 

[natmarie73]

I recently heard that Cathedral Place in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane was turning into a slum. Many professional people are moving out and more and more prostitutes are moving in. cathedral place used to be touted as a very upmarket place to live but the Valley is the Valley so it comes as no surprise.

 

[Aceyducey]

Originally posted by natmarie73
Cathedral place used to be touted as a very upmarket place to live but the Valley is the Valley so it comes as no surprise.

This quote explains exactly why these cycles with property occur - perceptions

How long has the Valley had a bad rep?

In ten or fifteen years time will it become trendy again???

It has certainly happened in many other places all round the world - no go spots become ritzy, ritzy spots become no go.....all due to the perceptions.

Frankly one of the tricks to investing is to find an area on the way up but not yet trendy (still with a slight bad smell). You can buy in cheap then sell to the yuppies when they all want to move in.

Cheers,

Aceyducey

 

[natmarie73]

The Valley has always had a bad rep but it has been improving steadily from what it once was. It is now known as an area with great restaurants, night life etc and a funky place to live. However, it is still the major red light district and this won't change in a hurry. Most of the residents know this and I'm sure it all adds a strange sort of attraction but I'm sure some people probably don't want to live in a complex which has a very high rate of sex workers using it as a place of business.

 

[plainsong]

You are right there Natmarie-the Valley has always had a bad rap, for good reasons, walk down the mall and what do you see.? lots thats unsavoury- I believe the mall is hosed down
only a few times a year, dirty windows.,street kids-- I saw someone being bashed by their spouse in the shopping area one morning and no-one even looked up. just a clean up would help--- "The Valley is Pumping " says one real estate ad--I'll say it does.
people complain all the time about the noisy bands from the pubs.

Way too frisky for me-- im looking to buy inner city and im not looking at the dear old valley.

Cheers,

 

[Ross Sondergeld]

Housing Commission - Opportunities...?

Hi,

Well...

I was talking to a guy that was involved in a deal whereby... they are about to buy an entire suburb... then renovate every house... then sell them individually...

Numbers...

Buy $15,000 (per housing commisison home (house and land))

Sell $150,000

Profit ??????????? (huge)


I couldn't get the details of how and why... but I hope the relevant state goverment is involved in the profit split...


P.S. I did ask if i could get in it... but unfortunately... the answer was no. (Bugger.... )

Ross

 

[Aceyducey]

Originally posted by plainsong
You are right there Natmarie-the Valley has always had a bad rap

Always is a VERY long time. Does anyone reading this thread know what the Valley was like in the 50s, 60s & 70s?

I'm sure that at some stage since the establishment of Brisbane it was considered a desirable area to live.

And it will be desirable again in the future. Don't miss the entry because of preconceptions that the area will always be bad

If the area is already coming up then the takeoff might be in the next few years. Remember that Brisbane has a huge influx of southerners moving in and they don't know where the bad areas are, they just see the great restaurants, etc and buy accordingly (unless if locals talk it down).

Good areas can't get much better, bad areas can = greater cap growth potential in the mid-term.

Cheers,

Aceyducey

 

[JumJones]

So in terms of Melbourne, would we list western suburbs as ripe for getting more trendy in the short-mid term, but longer term mark them as 'undesirable'?

Does same apply to west heidelberg etc?

How about Sydney? - Redfern?


To put another spin on it - why not invest in areas where the desirability factor is not gunna change .. somewhere close to but not right on top of good private schools, beaches, major shopping centers, train stations etc. By selecting IPs based on this criteria surely you automatically exclude yourself from an IP that long term may suffer badly from a swing in trendiness.

If you are looking to cath a trendiness wave, I guess your exit strategy is going to be different. Same goes for following the affordability wave.

 

[myty]

May have this wrong but I thought the idea behind Kensington Banks was to always involve public housing. Its not that someone had a good idea as to how to fill their empty rental properties. Same as the new development that has become available by removing a couple of the Kensington Housing commision towers. The developers have made it know that there will be a mix of public and private properties.

 

[plainsong]

hi Aceyducey, as re the valley, always IS the wrong word..
I once worked at Mcwhirters ,lived in SpringHill for some years
as well.. The Valley was once the central to the rag trade in Brisbane , there were many small manufactures there.. People went to the valley to shop in preference to the city.. But the little factories closed and the big retailers left --ever since then the business area there has gone into decline and its a great pity.

The city fathers keep talking about reviving the valley-- maybe soon it will happen, the place has huge potential ..

Cheers,

 

[coolstyle]

Hi Guys,

I was in Chicago a few years back .. noticed a huge block of govt. housing (basically block fo slums) .. was approx 5 mins from edge of city (ie, what kengsington is to melbourne).

What happened?
The govt (and developers), painted and change appliances, basically cleaned the place up a bit (maybe 10-20k per 2 bed), then selling them for appox 500k USD (quite expensive for the area).

Note: the original residents were 'moved' to 1hr drive outside of city in new development.

Cycles I believe (and you see it all the time, it's human nature)... but theoretically as long as we mostly work in the city, and big business continues to survive and grow inner city, close to city will increase in value... simple as that. Busy roads will only increase, and i'm sure we can all relate to sitting in peak hour .. or waiting for a late train to get home?... worth an extra $70 a week?... whats that as a percentage of average wage from a person working in the city??

Where am I looking to buy in my first purchase ?.. I've begun in Fairfield, and now have seen some interesting pricing in Heidelberg West ..(although yet to look at specific houses there.

As a long term perspective, if I can get myself cash positive after 20% deposit, then maybe it's not a bad position to start?

Having said all of that ... Elwood or bust is not a bad strategy ... that is, maybe I should be trying to crack into a 'traditionally' high growth region .. close to beach and 15mins from city....

Imagine the value if Beach road reduction or removal was proposed in 20 years? (another Golden Mile?) ...
--> I think i should only start the rumours after I buy there

Cheers,
CoolStyle

 

[paul_s]

Interesting thread,

I live in this area and was reading an article in the local paper about the nearby docklands areas, the story was about how developers were planning on building some "more affordable" housing as a bit of a balance to the more expensive blocks. Also included was quotes from welfare type groups arguing that the area shouldn't be be solely made up of upper class types to which some of the developers agree.

From reading that it suggests to me the developers perhaps can see they are going to have a lot of trouble selling those apartments at the kind of inflated prices they are asking, also I've heard of big discounting (around 20%) on many docklands apartments as a result of defaulting buyers.