Always
I had a meeting in CBD this morning with a BDM from one of the largest aggregators of mortgages, and during the course of the conversation I threw in the 'Who is lending in the Docklands and 3004 right now! I can name you one - are there any others?' and the Raven quothe nevermore.
In his experienced opinion, these properties are being looked on more as specialist almost commercial securities. You could probably get 65% LVR but only from this one lender. Which is a major bank, just recently taken over by one of the world's richest banks, and they are moving aggresively into the Eastern Seaboard States.
This bank is also lending in the regionals, in other words, they are taking on the deals which the other, more established lenders are not interested in right now, having too many other easier deals to choose from.
So all is not lost, just don't expect a sweetheart deal. Not a strangehold deal either, just not at rock bottom prime rates.
Keep feeding the piggy bank - Jakk expects to have neighbours to wave to from his balcony and you and I are on the 'A' list!
Cheers
Kristine
PS
All lenders publish Lender Guides to brokers, and in these guides are comprehensive lists of 'acceptable' and 'non-acceptable' securities. Hotel - Motel conversions, for example, are hard to fund, Student Accommodation not so hard, Serviced Apartments only a few will do, Units to a title are limited, apartments less than 50 square metres are very difficult, etc etc
The Guides also have detailed lists of Post Codes, and the Lender's LVR within certain Post Codes. This varies from lender to lender. For example, for Horsham, which has 13,000+ population and most of the major banks in the main street, not all of the banks will go above 80% LVR even through the local branch.
Even for triple fronted cream brick veneers on a standard house block of land within prime post codes, there is still tremendous disparity on the loan-to-valuation ratio between lenders.
So Docklands is no exception. Exposure to risk is what it is all about for the lender. At this point in the history of this entire new suburb, Docklands is still 'under construction' and will be for some years to come. Other lenders have reached their self imposed limits of exposure to risk in this locality, and have said 'no more for the time being'. Give it five years, when the apartments are occupied and the occupancy rates have stabilised, and there will no doubt be more players in the field. But at the moment, there is only one, and for how much longer will depend on their own saturation point.
As I commented in my previous post, leaving the seminar attenders aside, this is prime real estate and I would have no doubt that most of the owner occupiers or individual investors have had no trouble funding or financing their purchases if they have plenty of money to put in or other property to secure their loans. In time to come, Docklands and other areas will mature and we will all say 'why didn't I buy when prices were cheap?'
Jakk, is it OK to bring cask wine and some of that yummy avocado dip from the deli at Coles? See you there!!
