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