Gold Coast + commonwealth games = ???

[Plumber]

The yields on certain areas of the Gold Coast are looking fairly good at the moment. I've been looking at Burleigh south to the Tweed. Properties in Palm beach have caught my eye - the 70's and 80's brick veneer 3 bed 2 bath, 2 or 3 blocks from the beach and highway.

The Gold Coast is also hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2018 and now I'm wondering whether the Games are likely to boost property values or sale prices.

Any views would be welcome.

 

[tambourineman]

I am interested too, we are looking in Murwillumbah.

 

[Anon_]

I recon it will be a bit of a boom and bust.

 

[citystar]

I am watching the Gold Coast market at the moment with a few IP's in the area. Developments of interest in and around the coast line:

Gold Coast University Hospital:
Hasn't been officially opened yet however rumours are it is in the final stages of testing the utility and facilities. Any tradies on the Gold Coast to confirm this?

Gold Coast Light Rail:
Seems to be taking forever however each day new track is slowly creeping further down the track route. It will be interesting to see what the initial ticket pricing options will be... if it is too expensive it could end up like the Clem Brisbane Tunnels...

Southport Aquatic Centre upgrade:
The outer structure of the old aquatic centre has been completely demolished leaving a clean development site behind for the renovation work in preparation for the Commonwealth Games. If it looks half as good as the artistic rendered designs when it is complete it will be an asset to the Coast for years to come. Whether it is on budget is completely a different issue all together.

Potential further development of the Southport Broadwater:
GCCC has suggested doubling the size of the Southport Broadwater down to the Sundale Bridge to accommodate large events like future Big Day Out concerts and similar projects. Will believe it when I see bulldozers and a thousand traffic controllers standing around along Marine Pde.

 

[fisherman]

I recon it will be a bit of a boom and bust.

I don't think so. The projects mentioned by another poster are large, already under way and the infrastructure is for continuing strong growth.

It is very apparent of an evening from the lights of new suburbs in the back of the coast and to Brisbane that this corner of SEQld continues to be affected, dominated, by the Big Australia immigration policies of both sides of government.

There is no chance whatsoever that the big end of town will allow the over-enthusiastic immigration to dwindle. It is unrealistic from past experience to imagine that migrants will go to country areas instead. Maybe some of the migrants of the 1800's immigration policy might have and did, an example being but Hahndorf in the Adelaide hills, but the 'non-discriminatory' policies of modern governments have seen the capitals bursting with migrants. That will continue. The Gold Coast is a suburb of Brisbane with a good rail service. Other 'satellite' cities to house the overflow from Brisbane are inland, amenities have to be developed and there are no beaches.

 

[S.T]

I was up there a month ago. Severe lack of cranes in the sky. I think I only saw one or two. All the businesses a long where the light rail is being built are dead, closed down, up for lease etc. Looks like the building of the rail has had a huge impact. I heard from locals that the GCCC are going to be cleaning up Surfers main strip/Cavell Ave etc, trying to move some of the strip clubs etc further north, (Southport?) in preparation for the Commonwealth Games.

Seemed to be lots of property on the market, plenty of derelict developement sites trying to be sold beach side of hwy. be interesting to see how it pans out, tourist and high AUD has done some damage, seemed like half the tourists were Aussie, other half overseas.

 

[INVSTOR]

This site may give you some ideas

http://www.goldcoastcity2018.com/content/Standard2.asp?name=Sporting-Venues

 

[tambourineman]

I was up there a month ago. Severe lack of cranes in the sky. .

a university lecturer once said that a lot of cranes in the sky is a sign there is a downturn coming

i offer adelaide as an example, plenty going on there now and about to fall off a cliff in terms of construction work - ask anyone in the industry.

 

[fisherman]

I was up there a month ago. Severe lack of cranes in the sky. I think I only saw one or two. All the businesses a long where the light rail is being built are dead, closed down, up for lease etc. Looks like the building of the rail has had a huge impact. I heard from locals that the GCCC are going to be cleaning up Surfers main strip/Cavell Ave etc, trying to move some of the strip clubs etc further north, (Southport?) in preparation for the Commonwealth Games.

Seemed to be lots of property on the market, plenty of derelict developement sites trying to be sold beach side of hwy. be interesting to see how it pans out, tourist and high AUD has done some damage, seemed like half the tourists were Aussie, other half overseas.

Maybe you were looking for cranes in all of the wrong places as the song goes. There is massive development at Parklands, behind Southport for example. The new hospital will be occupied in September.

What about the international passenger (ships) port? see here:
http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2013/03/06/448225_gold-coast-news.html

As for investment housing stock, the median rental houses on the beach side of the highway in the north past Southport for instance that were procurable a year and more ago at bargain prices suddenly dried up. Great buying and I would have liked more but the market hardened fast. They don't raise a flag when that choice stock, three BR older properties well located (eg Biggera Waters), start to move.

It will be interesting when the federal election is over in Sept 13.

 

[citystar]

I was up there a month ago. Severe lack of cranes in the sky. I think I only saw one or two. All the businesses a long where the light rail is being built are dead, closed down, up for lease etc. Looks like the building of the rail has had a huge impact. I heard from locals that the GCCC are going to be cleaning up Surfers main strip/Cavell Ave etc, trying to move some of the strip clubs etc further north, (Southport?) in preparation for the Commonwealth Games.

I have mixed opinions about the effect the Light Rail construction has had on the local economy. On one hand many retail shops have been empty for often a few years before the Light Rail construction began down Scarborough Street in Southport. On the other hand, talking to business owners they have felt a significant drop in the number of cutomers prepared to brave the noise and dust as a result from the construction of the track.

The problem may also lie in the types of consumers that Australia Fair shopping centre attracts. If you sit at one of the coffee shops inside the shopping centre and chat for an hour or so you will see hundreds of people walking past during that time empty handed. The majority of them are window shopping, taking advantage of the free two hour parking to enjoy the air conditioning and for something to kill a few hours.

In the news I heard about a store owner charging people to browse, from memory it was $10 to enter the shop. This amount was then deducted from the total if you made a purchase. Put something in place like this at Australia Fair and the only people purchasing there would be the employees working in the offices in the local area. This amused me a lot when I read the original article.

 

[SRB]

They say you fall into one of two camps on the Gold Coast - the southern or the northern. I live in the northern, and want to buy in the southern, and would like to hold both properties.

Whilst all that infrastructure goes on in the northern corridors, the quiet(ish) little beachside southern suburbs seem to have held their values in the downturn far better than the north from what I have been looking at. Now if you factor in that all that infrastructure has been planned or underway now for quite some time, and hardly a secret, why havn't those northern corridor suburbs outperformed the southern?

I want to move down to the southern beachside suburbs of Burleigh or Palm Beach to live, but would like to keep the northern suburb property in Pacific Pines/Oxenford area because rent demand is good.

Anyways ..... Just my 1 cents worth.

 

[Pete Chun]

The Games May Not Have the Effect You Hope they Will

There was a great article about whether or not big events, like the Games, actually do anything positive for property values in the February edition of Australian Property Investor Magazine. John Edwards, author of the article, concluded there was little the Games could add to the area, except for tourist exposure. He said the Coast's low-cost areas, those where prices have fallen significantly in recent years, will benefit the most from the Coast clean-up. Check out the article if you can still find it online.

Good Luck!

Peter

Zenith Property Consulting