A work further in progress

When we last looked at this Wakefield Street apartment in August, it was just starting to take shape. Now it is just a couple of weeks from completion, and some of the finishes can be seen in the bathrooms and kitchen. We can imagine that it will soon be looking like some of the other apartments in the building.

It has a contemporary architectural design that captures fabulous light and a cooling breeze due to its flow through north/south aspect. The City views from the roof deck and the eastern hills views are also really special.

The building is well over 10 years old now but remains quite unique in its warehouse style of central city living. The podium landscaping and garden is looking superb, and the community of owners are to be congratulated for the efforts put in to create a stunning garden focus.

It is just moments from a great cup of coffee at Bocelli, and confirms the old real estate adage: "Location, Location, Location"!

Going Green

Buchan Lee, with one of our favourite developers, recently attended a Capital City Committee forum. It was called "Adelaide As A Sustainable City" and a large number of 'green' topics were canvassed by some excellent speakers.

It started out with an introduction to green transport - using microalgae as biofuel, and the environmental benefits of electric vehicles. Then came a powerful and insightful talk which postulated that there is no point in having smart technology if we aren't smart about using it. For example, where is the real benefit in having a mobile phone which can turn off your air-conditioner at home? The speaker exposed issues around shallow marketing claims regarding sustainability, explaining that using older and simpler (but less 'sexy') technologies such as opening windows can be far more effective in reducing power usage and waste.

The forum then moved on to our area of interest - property. One of the speakers was John Culshaw, the developer of Point Boston - a Port Lincoln project that we were involved in for much of 2007. John explained the sustainable features of this exciting and world class land development. The water recycling technology for this project is truly amazing.

"Green roofs and Green walls" was a topic delivered by Graeme Hopkins that we found of particular interest. Buildings can look stunning when they incorporate plants and grasses as "living" roofs and walls. This is an architectural movement that looks like it is taking off and something that Adelaide should embrace in a big way. Apparently they can reduce energy use, improve air quality, and reduce the summer heat that builds up around a business district while at the same time attracting fauna such as birds and assisting in water recycling. The talk gave us the germ of an idea which we have decided to pursue with Council....watch this space for updates if we pull it off!

Falling in love with Hindmarsh Square

Named after the first Governor of South Australia, Rear Admiral Sir John Hindmarsh (1785 to 1860), this beautiful location is building up a complement of apartment buildings around the edge of the park, giving it a 'Central Park' feel. It started with the Mantra building about 6 years ago, which now operates as an all suite hotel with a smattering of owner occupiers and long term tenants with most of the apartments in the hotel letting pool.

This project was followed up by the Conservatory complex - a genuine mixed use building incorporating a retail ground floor, 2 levels of carparks, several floors of offices, and upper storeys containing around 60 apartments with great views over the square.

In the north eastern corner of the square, 2 more buildings are currently under construction. The Crowne Plaza Hotel, and 20 Hindmarsh Square are both nearing completion.

20 Hindmarsh Square will add another 89 apartments to the square's housing stock and we are reliably informed that the project is now virtually 80% sold. It is a 16 level building with ground floor retail, carparking, and 13 levels of 1 and 2 bedroom apartments all with balconies overlooking the square or east toward the Adelaide Hills.

The Crowne Plaza will be a 5 star hotel run by the well-known Intercontinental group, containing 308 rooms and suites. The spa, steam room, gym and pool are all available to 20 Hindmarsh Square residents as part of the package. We are sure that the restaurant, conference facilities and retail space will all add to the amenity and attractions of Hindmarsh Square.

We hope that the trend of high quality apartment projects continues, and we think the Rear Admiral would agree!

Adelaide - The University City

Our earlier story on international students prompted us to do a little more research on education and its impact on the city.

If asked to name 3 universities in Adelaide, we think most South Australians would respond with Adelaide University, Flinders University and UniSA - the traditional mainstays of tertiary education in this State. However, international visitors might come up with a completely different set of 3 - Carnegie Mellon, Cranfield University, and University College London (UCL). The Torrens Building on the eastern side of Victoria Square is flying the flags for these 3 Universities.

UCL School of Energy and Resources, Australia will become fully operational in 2010.

Cranfield University is a world renowned centre for postgraduate defence and security studies and research. It offers long and short courses to defence organisations and industry professionals in areas including electronic warfare, integrated logistics and explosives.

Carnegie Mellon Heinz College Australia was the first of the three to open for business in the Torrens Building and is one of the top information technology universities in the world.

There is also Kaplan, which last month opened its new premises at 132 Grenfell Street Adelaide, to cater for students enrolled in courses through Kaplan Business School. Kaplan is a leading global provider of education services to individuals, schools and businesses serving over one million students in more than 30 countries.

All this activity means an ever increasing demand for student accommodation. The ipad project in Waymouth Street (containing 220 fully furnished student studio apartments) was completed at the start of the 2009 academic year and filled up rapidly.

A new project, aptly called "The Nest" is underway on the corner of North Terrace and Bank Street in the City. This development will consist of two interconnected 17 level buildings containing 460 rooms designed for student living with a full compliment of facilties including student common rooms. As it is just minutes from both of our North Terrace university campuses we are sure demand will ensure a quick take up.

The City Council's own research predicts that there will be an additional 700 international students per year requiring accommodation in the City. We think this bodes well for the square mile with lots of young people giving it the energy and liveliness that makes a city an exciting place to live and work.

Master food by a Master chef

Poh might be a family friend, and although we love our asian food, we have to say that Andre Ursini was sensational at Martini Ristorante in Norwood when we went to his restaurant for a 'company dinner' earlier this month. It was a great night, memorable of course because of the Martini kitchen's wonderful Italian fare.

Andre suggested that we select the "Chef's Table", where the Head Chef chooses each and every course of our entire meal, from dishes not available on the regular menu. We had no idea what would come out next, so it was really fun anticipating what the next course would be! It began with an antipasto plate of thinly sliced roast pork ('porchetta'), tomatoes, basil, rocket, fetta cheese and balsamic. Next was a tray of baked Tasmanian scallops, followed by 2 fantastic pasta dishes - one with crab meat, and the other with yellowfin tuna. Then there was scampi in polenta, grilled lamb cutlets with pesto, fennel salad, prawns and more scallops! After this, we barely had room for the dessert, which was a plate of mini doughnut type pastries with melted chocolate chips inside.

The staff were pleasant, and the restaurant fit-out is understated and modern, yet very warm and inviting. We would definitely go back and highly recommend the place!

Aussie interest rates cycle on the upswing

Well the big story this month has to be the Reserve Bank's (RBA) decision to increase the cash rate to 3.25% (an increase of 0.25%). The RBA board in its wisdom decided that Australia didn't need to keep the official cash rate at its historical 49 year low of 3%, and demand for houses, cars, whitegoods, flat screen TV's and all other things retail needs to be tempered.

The world's most profitable banks, our big four banks didn't take very long to lift their rates so mortgages are going to start taking a bit bigger bite out of home owners' household budgets.

All of the experts are saying going forward we can count on more rate increases.

The RBA board is concerned about a real estate bubble and booming house prices and interest rates are one of the few instruments they can use to dampen demand. As we have pretty strong population growth and a quite healthy local economy, we are feeling more confident about South Australia's future (even though we were already confident last time we checked). There is also an undersupply of new housing, so we feel that our market can sustain some moderate rate increases and still have period of capital growth over time.

The Conservatory - Completed!

Remember our last story about this project? Up until now, the only images we had were outside shots of the building, and computer generated artist impressions. The development was completed a few weeks ago, so we were able to let Derek and his camera loose in it, to bring you these photos of the interiors.

Marketed as Adelaide's first "green" high rise apartment and office building, this 19 level building contains 53 apartments and claims to have massive reductions in energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, water usage and waste to landfill.

We had sold 4 apartments for first purchasers prior to settlement and completion, and pre-leased 2 apartments for clients, so we were really looking forward to seeing the completed product.

We were not disappointed - the building is impressive, and definitely raises the benchmark for city apartments.

The finishes are great and the apartments have a wonderful clean, contemporary feel with natural light to all bedrooms and nice big living spaces and balconies. The basement houses the heated pool, gym and steam room - all well designed and with plenty of equipment. The Hindmarsh Square views are stunning and even many of the carparking spaces have park views through louvre windows!

See (lots) more photos

See our sale listings in the building

See our rental listings in the building

International students in the City of Adelaide

Every time we put a new city apartment or townhouse on our web site we get huge levels of enquiry from overseas students, so we thought we should do some research into this market.

We spoke to Becky, a market analyst at Education Adelaide who really knows her stuff, and we were staggered by the growth being experienced in the education industry. No wonder we get so many hits, emails and phone calls from international students!

The number of international students in South Australia as at June 2009 was 25,000, and this is an increase of 24.5% from last year. Education Adelaide anticipates that enrolments will

reach 32,000 by the end of 2009.

As at March 2009 some 3000 international tertiary students were living in the City and North Adelaide. This is an increase of 39.3% from 2006. The number is expected to grow to around 5000 toward the end of the year.

Approximately 30% of rental places in the City are taken up by international students.

This is amazing growth and not just our investors / landlords are benefiting from solid rental increases. Shops, cafes, lunchbars, and the educational institutions (obviously!) are winning out as well.

Baby Boomers on the move...

We have just sold this 1982 townhome in North Adelaide. We had lots of interest from younger buyers eligible for the first home owner's grant, but as with many of our sales lately it was secured by a "Baby Boomer on the move". These are pre-retirement boomers, who are still working, fit and healthy, but are also planning the next phase of their lives.

Often they live in a large house worth $1 million plus in an inner suburb, but their family is growing up and moving out. They are empty nesters and the nest will soon be way too big. The plan now is a city pad and a beach house or country cottage so that when they finish working they have "a best of both worlds" lifestyle.

Our buyer has just bought a country cottage as well as this North Adelaide townhome - both will be great investments as they are rented out negatively geared over the next few years. Then when it is time to sell the Unley Park family home he can freehold the investment properties with plenty of moolah left over!

Point Boston Peninsula

This fantastic seaside development has been in the works for a while now, and looks like it is starting to take shape. It is 15 minutes from Port Lincoln, an agricultural centre with a population of 14,000 people, and the highest number of millionaires per capita in the country as a result of the southern bluefin tuna fishing.

Point Boston is a new residential project adopting state of the art water harvesting and waste water recycling technology. The blocks are big, with gentle slopes and beautiful sea views.

Great beachfront homes are starting to go up and a new $50 million, 111 room 7 storey luxury hotel has just been finished on the coast road back in Port Lincoln. Another recent addition is the Peninsula Club, which is a venue for residents to use for functions and parties.

Holiday beach houses have always been part of the Great Australian Dream, and it is the pristine beauty of the surrounding environment that makes this place really special.

Read more here or go to the official website

A work in progress

Quite a few years ago, our group developed and sold off-the-plan a building containing 56 apartments,140 carparks and 8 shop/offices at 237 Wakefield Street Adelaide.

It was well known because of its warehouse style and gave buyers the opportunity to purchase an apartment shell then design and build their own interiors. This doesn't happen very often in Adelaide and it resulted in some really stunning apartments with unique contemporary spaces.

One shell was purchased but never developed, and some months ago our good friend Graham at Urban Edge acquired the shell and started working his design magic.

It is still a work in progress, but is starting to take shape over 2 levels and containing 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, open double height living and a huge roof deck with great views of the City and hills. We can't wait till its finished - we'll keep you posted...

How's the market looking?

We are definitely feeling more optimistic than a few months ago and the level of enquiry from investors and owner occupiers is increasing. We also recently completed 2 significant apartment sales at 223 North Terrace for $720,000 and in The Conservatory at Hindmarsh Square for $725,000.

The Australian Financial Review has written about a recent report which says that the value of home loans increased by nearly 33% from August 2008 with first home buyers responsible for 28% of mortgages issued in May 2009. Also, according to the National Bank's latest quarterly report, business confidence has jumped substantially in the 3 months to June 2008. When you factor in the Reserve Bank of Australia's interest rate cut from 7.25% in August 2008 to 3% in April of this year, as well as the impact of the first home owners boost of up to $21,000, sales activity just had to get better.

So all the ingredients for an increase in residential sales activity are present - low interest rates, government grants, and increasing business and consumer confidence.

If only the Crows and Power could win every week our local market would be back in boom mode by late spring!

Breathing new life into old structures

Chesser Street is one of my favourite places in the City of Adelaide and is famous for Chesser Cellars and the fabulous old grape vine canopy that extends across a large section of the street. The precinct is architecturally very interesting, with lots of stone and red brick warehouse buildings now used as offices, shops and design studios.

The opportunity came up to get the building on the corner of Chesser and French streets and we ultimately secured it for our client and good friend Graham. He is a designer/developer, and his company is called Urban-Edge. The name might give you a clue to his mission in life - rehabilitating city buildings by fusing the old with stunning new contemporary design.

We introduced a lift to the building and created 3 separately titled office floors all sold to owner occupiers who run their businesses from their fabulous new spaces.

The French Street frontage now comprises of a 5 storey structure with the ground floor space holding 3 cars and the upper levels containing 3 two level apartments.

We talked Graham into keeping the biggest apartment as a long term investment and we leased the space to a boutique legal firm....a very happy ending to some great old buildings!

A great 1960's block of units

It's not often we see units from this era and we thought this group was worth highlighting.

It is situated in Da Costa Avenue in the near city suburb of Prospect, where most of the houses are 1920's "State Bank" bungalows that have been gentrified over the years. This group of units constructed of cement blocks (besser block was the term used back then) are still in good condition and are a great example of the contemporary style of architectural design of the times. Our client is a young lawyer and this is her first investment property (first of many we hope) and the rental is very reasonable.

Just think these units were almost new when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon!

Click here for more details