Show me the Omani

THE scene was one not unfamiliar to Gold Coast real estate industry players; a crowded room, a swag of multimillion-dollar absolute beachfront properties up for auction and no shortage of eager bidders.

The location, however, was far removed from the sunshine strip when gun auctioneer Paul Cavanagh, 57, from Broadbeach, chalked up a cool $100 million in sales as 16 middle eastern luxury properties went under the hammer in Muscat, capital of Oman.

The auction was at the Grand Plaza Hotel in front of approximately 250 people.

Not only were the 12 properties originally listed sold, but buyers grabbed an additional four released in an attempt to satisfy the demand. Top price was approximately $7.5 million.

Previously middle east real estate activity had focused on Dubai and Abu Dhabi but the smart money is on Oman emerging as a new `hot spot'.

``This was a major highlight in my career,'' said Mr Cavanagh.

``It is not often that you see property sell at the rate of a million dollars per minute.

``The sale was not with out complications for the auctioneer, though.

``I cannot speak Arabic and whilst English is a second language for some Omani, we just needed to slow proceedings down and be extremely clear to the audience.

``The marketing campaign and the work of the selling team was just superb.''

Mr Cavanagh, who has conducted 15,000 auctions in a 25-year career, was invited to front the first auction in the oil-rich state by Gold Coast resident and development identify John Langford.

An expatriate South African who was a heavy hitter with PRD in Brisbane and on the coast, Mr Langford has been involved with many major projects in the Middle East over the past seven years.

The marketing of The Wave, on the shores of the Arabian Sea, was a spectacular affair.

The development includes two hotels, water frontage and dry lot homes, an 18-hole Greg Norman Signature golf course and a 300-berth marina.

It was a case of `show me the Omani' when Mr Cavanagh started to sheikh, rattle and roll as the lots sold in an hour and a half.

``The properties are Oman's version of Hedges Avenue,'' said Mr Langford.

``The country has never had this type of property in a fully integrated resort before and pricing it was always going to be difficult.

``We decided that submitting the property to auction would be integral in determining value and be a fair process for the buyers, giving all an opportunity to purchase.

``We needed to import the skills of an accomplished auctioneer.

``During my time on the Gold Coast I had worked extensively with Paul, who sold several of our personal properties.

``I knew he was our man for Oman.''

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source: goldcoast.com

Coast rides property wave

THE Gold Coast property roller coaster continues to ride record highs.

Properties are being snapped up within days of being listed for sale and some buyers have had more than eight offers on a single property as demand outstrips supply.

Skyrocketing house prices have seen the city's median house price jump 9 per cent to $436,050 in the 12 months to September, according to the latest figures from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ).

The boom times are being underpinned by a continuing flood of migrants from southern states and the increasing equity that Gold Coasters now have in their homes.

"Drive around the city and in most suburbs you see 'Sold, Sold, Sold' or 'Under Contract'," said REIQ Gold Coast chairman Terrence Allen.

"Most properties are spending less time on the market and sell at auction or prior to, and I'm seeing six, seven and eight offers on the one property with sellers getting far more than their listed price.

"The growth is amazing and even with interest rate hikes and a change of government, people don't even blink any more.

"Real estate experts are saying the market is going to get very strong in 2008 and really going to push again, so people are stretching themselves now to get on the property ladder."

The northern end of the Gold Coast has seen the biggest surge in price, with Eagleby, where the median house price is now $272,000, recording a massive 203 per cent price increase in the past five years and 19 per cent in the past year.

Other northern growth suburbs include Beenleigh (up 170.6 per cent in five years), Bethania (up 143.9 per cent), Mount Warren Park (up 141.3 per cent), Molendinar (up 129.2 per cent), Oxenford (up 126.3 per cent), Windaroo (up 125.4 per cent) and Coombabah (up 106.8 per cent).

The prestige end of the market also continues to hit new highs, with The Sovereign Islands now having a median house price of $2.6 million, up 19.6 per cent in the past year, and 95.4 per cent in the past five years.

The other prestige property gems continue to be Surfers Paradise, with a median house price of $1.55 million, and Mermaid Beach with a median house price of $1.325 million.

In the acreage market, Worongary ($700,000) is now a clear frontrunner ahead of Tallai ($615,00), which had in the past been the prestige acreage location.

REIQ state chairman Peter McGrath said the mass migration to the Gold Coast would continue to see property prices soar.

Mr McGrath's tips for areas that were good buys and yet to really take off were Varsity Lakes and Emerald Lakes, Carrara, parts of Robina, and the northern growth corridor.

"The movement of people into the southeast is back up to nearly 1800 a month and there is a very dramatic undersupply of both existing and new stock in which to house them," he said.

"At the same time tourism to the Gold Coast continues to boom with new airlines bringing more people into the city which is generating a lot of extra income.

"The state's economy is also driving so hard that this growth is going to be sustainable into the foreseeable future."

Mr Allen said many long-term Gold Coast residents were now using the increased equity in their homes to either retire or invest in more prestigious areas.

"It's very exciting that a lot of local people are using the equity in their homes to perhaps move from a dry block to a canal block, or from a canal block to river frontage," he said.

He said the only downside to the boom was the increasing difficulty for first-time home buyers and families on single incomes to get a start in the current property market.

"Buyers do need a dual income to buy property, it is certainly a struggle for them," he said. "Many people have to buy a lesser property than they ideally would have wanted."

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source: goldcoast.com

Getting there

METRICON IS nearing completion of its $30 million Pointe Vue estate with only one stage left to be released to the market.

With limited land supply on the high-growth Tweed Coast and Northern NSW corridor, buyers are rushing in to secure prime sites such as the exclusive land parcel released at Banora Point.

The recent sales splurge in the project has resulted in only eight available blocks of land left in the current stage ranging in price from $235,000 to $385,000.

The final stage in the development will be released mid-January.

Lance Cotterill, managing director of Raine and Horne Tweed Heads, said land opportunities in the Tweed were being snapped up quickly.

``There is a strong demand for more developable coastal land in the Tweed region,'' he said.

``The appeal for coastal living is more popular than ever, driven by the sea change and tree change trends of the baby boomer generation.

``This is having a significant impact on the Tweed region.''

Signature project tees off

SIGNATURE, a luxury waterfront apartment project, is to be developed at Lakelands Golf Club at Merrimac.

Fronting the only Jack Nicklaus-designed championship course in Australia, the project will consist of two apartment towers aimed at the residential market.

There will be two and three-bedroom options priced from $599,000, with sizes ranging from 122sqm to 193sqm.

A consortium consisting of the DY Group and Global Group will develop Signature which is set to include a limited number of marina berths with ocean access.

Barry Jakeman, the managing director of Global Management a division of the Global Group said the exclusive nature of residences at Signature was attracting strong buyer interest with a number of sales secured in the development.

Other golf course projects on the Gold Coast historically house much greater numbers.

``With 36 apartments in Signature One and only 31 in Signature Two there is certainly a limited amount of opportunity to live in what will be one of the finest golf course-based developments in Australia,'' said Mr Jakeman.

``This exclusivity, in combination with the strong price growth potential of golf and waterfront land, makes Signature highly attractive to both end use buyers and those who are looking for an investment opportunity.

``The number of apartments will create a boutique community feel unlike any golf course development on the Gold Coast.''

Signature will feature a lap pool, gymnasium, landscaped grounds, barbecue and al fresco entertaining areas along with full access to the Lakelands clubhouse, restaurant and other amenities.

The DY Group, headed by Min Hyuk Im, said the site was appealing to the joint venture partners as it combined a waterfront position with one of Queensland's finest golf clubs in a central location.

As one of South Korea's most prolific and respected development companies, the group has delivered a series innovative projects across several countries.

Signature is the group's flagship development and precedes an apartment project in Vietnam which is set to deliver 3000 residences.

Global Constructions will bring Signature to fruition and also involved in the project are Burling Brown Architects, a firm established for more than 35 years with experience in a number of Gold Coast projects including Bayview Harbour and Rivage Royale.

Structural engineering will be handled by Martin Cosgrove and Associates, a company that has worked on a number of the Gold Coast's most prestigious developments including the recently completed $32 million Ivory Burleigh Beach on the Esplanade at Burleigh.

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source: goldcoast.com

Sunny investment outlook

TELEVISION and radio personality and one-time Gold Coast Bulletin reporter Tim Bailey has a no-frills philosophy towards real estate investing.

``Buy as much as you can,'' he told Eynas Brodie, editor of Australian Property Investor magazine which features a full-length interview with the media maverick in its December edition.

``Bricks and mortar by the sea.''

The effervescent, energetic, self-confessed surf and snow bum moved to Sydney as a 30-year-old with virtually no assets.

Today he has five properties, including a Chevron Island holiday let.

The 40-something Network 10 NSW weatherman and morning breakfast show personality lives one block back from the beach at Narrabeen and his portfolio also contains an absolute beachfront spot at Manly (bought for $147,500 in the mid 1990s) and properties at The Entrance and North Sydney.

``I'm just really comfortable with apartment buying,'' he said.

``I'm lucky that most of my purchases have been well and truly done six, seven, eight years ago, so I'm in a position to power forward.

``And I think the buying's good, I really do.

``God isn't making any more beaches, so that's why I love stuff with an ocean view.

``He's finished it, so if you can get your hands on a bit of it, or even with a view of it, have a crack.''

His success story is one that should bring a sensation of pleasure not just to erstwhile Gold Coast Bulletin types, but to investment hopefuls everywhere.

As a youthful reporter on the Hobart Mercury and later the Gold Coast Bulletin, to be candid, he earned little and saved less, preferring the blandishments of the surf and world travel, as you do.

But obviously he learned something along the way.

``I came back to the Gold Coast at 29 with absolutely zero,'' he said.

Then radio, and soon afterwards television came calling and with a few dollars in his pocket, the talking machine decided to get in to some serious property action.

``I was earning more money and so I thought `right, there has got to be something I can do with this dough','' he said.

``The one of my friends said to me `you know, you really should look at getting into property'.

``I did a bit of research and bought a book called Building Wealth Through Investment Property by Jan Somers.

``I read it and I read it again and put its basic principles into practice.

``I only wish that I had started earlier.

``All my properties have been negatively geared but now 50 or 60 per cent of them are positively geared, because of time obviously.

``I definitely will continue purchasing property. I'm in the market to buy another one.

``I think I'll probably go lakeside this time. I think it's under-valued where I live at the moment.

``Either that or maybe I will buy another apartment in Queensland. Long-term though, I have no real strategy.''

That said, the outlook for Tim Bailey looks sunny and very bright.

``That's because he only invests in properties that stand an excellent chance of weathering the market's ups and downs,'' said Mrs Brodie.

You can read Eynas Brodie's full interview with Tim Bailey in the December issue of the Australian Property Investor.

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source: goldcoast.com

Burleigh hot spot

BURLEIGH Heads Esplanade is tipped to become an apartment hot spot in the same way as prestigious Hedges and Albatross Avenue are to houses.

A range of ultra-luxury new projects are setting a new standard of apartment living in the beach suburb, according to industry specialist Chris Litfin, of Litfin Project Marketing.

He said the traditional beachfront location for tightly held boutique residential apartments was primed for new super-luxury apartments targeting the end user.

Underpinned by the success of Amalgamated Property Group's $32 million Ivory apartments, the evolution of The Esplanade as a truly unique apartment destination warranted comparison with Hedges Avenue, he said.

Ivory sales of more than $19 million with an average price exceeding $3 million have been recorded in the past six months.

``It's all about supply and demand and quality of development,'' said Mr Litfin.

``With about 2.1 kilometres of beachfront between the Burleigh Heads National Park and North Burleigh headland, the opportunities to develop in this area are extremely limited.

``In fact, the sliver of esplanade land is just over 100 metres deep and comprises just over 16 hectares in total, making land very scarce and, as such, highly desirable.

``I see definite comparisons to Hedges and Albatross avenues because of the geographical attributes. Hedges and Albatross avenues exist between Pratten Park Broadbeachand the headland at Miami.

``Similarly there is only a small linear beachfront strip between the two Burleigh headlands for people to own property.''

Mr Litfin said The Esplanade had traditionally catered for end users since the late 1980s with the creation of projects such as White Crest, Aspect, Marista, Nautique North Beach and Ambience.

He said Amalgamated Property Group were working on plans for another major project on The Esplanade following the recent purchase of a 2691sqm beachfront site.

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source: goldcoast.com