Should I buy an IP in Pyrmont, Sydney ?

Is Pyrmont a good area to invest? As I can see people living there can walk to the city so I assume it's quite easy to get tenants. I don't know much about future capital gain in this area.

Has the price been softer in this area and is it possible to get a good 2 br appartment for $400K?

Your comments are much appreciated.

Regards

Huey
 
vh2000 said:
Is Pyrmont a good area to invest? As I can see people living there can walk to the city so I assume it's quite easy to get tenants. I don't know much about future capital gain in this area.

Has the price been softer in this area and is it possible to get a good 2 br appartment for $400K?

Your comments are much appreciated.

Regards

Huey

Hi Huey,

Wihout knowing the area.....

Check rental lists in the area, and INSPECT (as if you were interested in renting) the properties to get an idea of what type of property gets what rent. See if the places you look at are still available 1 week later, 2 weeks later, 3 weeks later......

Can you get a apartment for $400k? - you need to check the realestate ad's and go to opens - you need to put the effort in at this point if you are unfamiliar with the territory.

Cap gain - check the history for the area as a guidance. You may need to buy data.

Cheers,

The Y-man
 
Thanks Y-man,

I've done some homework & registered with Domain.com.au & some agents but still don't know enough. I need to do more research. I'm 3 1/2 drive from there so only went to 1 open. It's on the groundfloor & it's not very good.

Regards

Huey
 
Hi Huey

re.com.au shows 156 apts for sale and 84 to rent plus 40 at Ultimo and 10 at Darling Harbour. That's a lot of rental competition.

Only the odd 2 bedder under 400k in Pyrmont.

There are a lot of units there now and some of them are very ordinary. Most are in big complexes with lifts,gyms etc so expensive Body Corporate fees.

Quite a few of the blocks have ongoing building problems so make sure you do a search of the BC records if you find something promising.

Personally I'd look at places like Glebe, Darlington,Darlinghurst.....still close to the city but not the qty of new apartments.
 
Thanks for the info Ani,

I will scan thru the areas you mentioned. I used to live in Kensington, Kingsford, Maroubra, around the University of NSW where I studied. They are pretty expensive now. I thought for the same price it's better to get a place closer to the city.

Regards

Huey
 
Meriton aparments

Hi Huey

I live near Sydney & have stayed in a range of different apartments until coming across the Meriton apartments & now always choose one of their blocks for a weekend stay. In particular a high floor (64 or higher preferably) at the World Tower (near centre point tower & next to Ernst Young) is amazing, at the moment it is a new building but will always have appeal when not so new because of the fantastic views. You are looking down on all of the other tall buildings & its like another world - especially if you score windows facing the runaway & can watch the planes coming & going in the distance. Admittedly I haven't looked at prices or value as an investor but an apartment such as this will always rent easily, be updated by a professional mob & be well taken care of by Meriton. As newer apartments are built they will have to go a long way to match the views. Sydney always seems to be chock full of tourists so there will always be the demand for good quality apartments you would need to research the vacancy rates in buildings of interest - some of them are very dated & crappy so shop wisely. I guess at the back of my mind would always be the niggling thoughts of terrorism & the effects with Sydney a potential target.

Good luck!

Sparky
 
Personally I wouldn't touch a Meriton Apartment and I don't think I'm alone.

Ani probably knows more about the inner City than I do . I'll be looking around at Pyrmont , Ultimo , as well as Glebe and the other places she's mentioned in the next few years and probably buying around there.

See Change
 
Huey,

ask some Meriton apartment owners whether they are happy with their apartments/building. I've heard differing stories-though World Square looks fantastic and appears to be good value.

There are unit developers who have a reputation as having very well constructed units (Mirvac?). Ask around.

I have a Chinese friend who bought an apartment in Pyrmont (not a Meriton apartment) for 680k about 3 years ago-says similar one to his sold for 900k+ recently. I was surprised to hear this given there are so many apartments there.

Residex best rents report dated August names apartments in Chippendale as likely to have one of higher returns of all Australian suburbs (capital gains + rent) over the next 5 years. Chippendale gains would be likely imo as Redfern Waterloo authority plans to redevelop the block and the area around Everleigh railyards.

Ajax
 
Thanks everyone for the inputs,

I don't think I can get an appt at the World Tower for $400K.

I don't know much about Meriton appartments but I bought a Mirvac house in Newington, the Olympic Village 4 years ago. It's beautifully designed & finished. I'm very sad to rent it out. Tenants don't often look after it well.

Regards

Huey
 
vh2000 said:
Thanks everyone for the inputs,

I don't think I can get an appt at the World Tower for $400K.

I don't know much about Meriton appartments but I bought a Mirvac house in Newington, the Olympic Village 4 years ago. It's beautifully designed & finished. I'm very sad to rent it out. Tenants don't often look after it well.

Regards

Huey

Mirvac have a good reputation as a builder.

See Change
 
I lived in Pyrmont for about 7 months. Nice place very near Darling Harbour.

In Prymont, you can rent a 2 bedroom apartment to about 4-5 students, each one paying $130 p/w. They dont mind even living in the living room for $90-100.

Don't touch the Meriton Apartments in Sydney, they are really cheap quality and the interior design and finishes are really bad.
I stayed in a Meriton apartment in Sydney once, and the precast wall panel had a large crack more than 5mm from floor to ceiling, the whole facade is like gonna fall off.
 
Id wouldnt buy anything in ANY of the large apartment buildings in Sydney. I have worked on a few of them doing the steel reinforcement work for companies like Meriton, Multiplex and Grocon. We litterally used to just put anything anywhere and they would just pour concrete straight over the top of it. The engineers didn't even check a thing and we're talking about major reinforcement steel missing here, beams litereally with no reo in them! I guess the big companies just pay off the engineers to get the building up quickly... :rolleyes: That's why you'll notice huge cracks all over the place, the reinforcement is non existant :D

Try sticking to complex's with under 30 units in them, you'll get a better quality product.
 
Just my 2 cents on world tower. I admit its a pretty impressive buildling and if I was a millionaire I would love to live there.

But as an investor i wouldn't be buying units there. at $350K min for a studio apartment its ridiculously over the median price for units.

So the capital growth for these units is really limited for the next 10 years because it will take a while for the median price of the units in the city to catch up to world tower.

I personally believe in buying below the median price of comparable units to get the best capital growth.
 
ok180 said:
Id wouldnt buy anything in ANY of the large apartment buildings in Sydney. I have worked on a few of them doing the steel reinforcement work for companies like Meriton, Multiplex and Grocon. We litterally used to just put anything anywhere and they would just pour concrete straight over the top of it. The engineers didn't even check a thing and we're talking about major reinforcement steel missing here, beams litereally with no reo in them! I guess the big companies just pay off the engineers to get the building up quickly... :rolleyes: That's why you'll notice huge cracks all over the place, the reinforcement is non existant :D

Try sticking to complex's with under 30 units in them, you'll get a better quality product.

Wow! You scare me off! I inspected a large 2 br ens appt on the ground floor in Pyrmont last year. I saw a big crack on the outside wall near the front door and 2 small cracks inside the appt. The asking price was $395K, rented for $400/wk. I gave it a miss.

Thanks heaps.

Regards

Huey
 
vh2000,

Dont get too scares, nearly all buildings have cracks in them, it's par for the course. Id just advise to steer clear of large apartment blocks because i know the companies building them and the lengths they will go to just to get a pour done on time... ie "just f@#$% chuck it in mate, she'll be right... :eek:

You dont get that on smaller buildings because the companies building it dont have the same pressure to perform, thus you get a better product, plus more land content which is always good. :)
 
its usually ok if its a hairline crack. BUT NOT when the crack is more than 5mm, that indicates a structural problem.
 
Hi All,

My wife and I lived in the Goldsborough building in Pyrmont from early 99 till late 2001. We loved the location and the facilities that the complex had, like the 25m lap pool, spa and reasonable gym.

We were lucky in that our unit was at the end furthest from the entrance off the walkway near the cafe, meaning it was away from the lifts as well. Due to the walkways being of timber on beam construction, noise was an issue for the units along the walkways and near the lifts.

Also, the gyprock walls allow voyers to listen in to the nocturnal activities of neighours to the side and above.

If I was to purchase one of these units for myself, it would be in a period like this (everyone talking tragedy for Syd property), in a unit at the end we lived in, and I would probably go the expense of removing all the gyprock walls, installing extra acoustic material and relining the walls and ceiling in 2 sheets of thick gyprock if this was within building guidlines.

If I could afford it, I would definitely try to get a unit with a view, and pay an extra $50k for it....the view from Darling Harbour across the water to the city is the best view in Australia, bar none.

Good hunting

Glenn
 
units

hi vh2000
I also wouldn't buy any thing in the large groups in inner sydney are you looking at this from return or to live in.
If return look at the inner west stanmore, camperdown,annandale, glebe,
all the inner city is a maze of real estate and pyrmont can be a problem from some lenders as they are over commited there.
If you want bargains at the moment look at alexandria and put a put call option on a unit in block that is in trouble at the moment.
most buyers(and I must show my hand I'm one of them) will keep to any put call options on liquidated claims.
The bargains are there you must look.
most of the sites at pyrmont are on the old CSR site and are currently hard to sell.
They are good if you want to live in and see the bridge but the return dosen't cover the cost.
I'm a little different.
I live in sydney.
I invest in sydney
I develop in sydney
and I'm a lender for developments in sydney.
if you want to make money in this market investigate and look around there is alot of chance of making very good investments in this market.
 
Many thanks everyone,

I sold a 2 br unit in Canberra 2 years ago. The money left over after expenses & capital gain tax is only enough to buy a 1 br unit (my 1st mistake)! Since then I have been keeping the money in a term deposit. The return is not much after tax (my 2nd mistake).

My CPI indexed superanuation pension can't catch up with the inflation. Rents in general can. Investment in shares is better for people who know how (not me). Management of shares is too much for an old soul. That is why I want to buy another IP. I will also have something left for my kids later on.

A possitive cash flow IP is ideal but it's impossible to get in this current market. I don't drive & don't feel comfortable to buy an IP in a country town where I can't visit. I don't need the extra income right now but in a few years time so I can choose between buy & wait or wait & buy.

Hi Grossreal,

What is "put a put call option "?

:)

Huey
 
Back
Top