The appetite for apartments in Perth’s CBD will be tested when Frasers Property Australia launches its $450 million Queens Riverside development on Adelaide Terrace in East Perth.
The appetite for apartments in Perth’s CBD will be tested when Frasers Property Australia launches its $450 million Queens Riverside development on Adelaide Terrace in East Perth.
The international property developer appointed commercial property firm Colliers International and Perth-based Wayne Briggs Project Marketing as joint selling agents to market the first stage of the development.
Queens Riverside is located near the Causeway on the former Metrobus depot site and will consist of apartments and townhouses, commercial space, a new retail precinct and a luxury apartment hotel.
Colliers International spokesman Nick Di Lello said Queens Riverside would be a valuable addition to the Perth property market, considering that apartment stock in the Perth CBD was already low.
“The number of apartments already under construction in the city is not enough to meet projected demand,” he said.
Knight Frank director Neil Kay agreed that there was a large demand for CBD apartments, but said the struggle by developers to obtain finance had seen a lack of new projects being brought to the market. “We are seeing many people that want to live in the city. The owner-occupiers want to live here for work and, for investors, there is a strong rental market,” he said.
Knight Frank research showed that only four apartment projects would be ready for occupation this year, which included Times 2 and Aspect in East Perth and Equus and Zenith City Centro in Perth.
Colliers International research showed that in 2010, 408 residential apartments were completed and delivered to the market in the Perth CBD.
This year, that figure could be boosted by almost 45 per cent, with 589 new apartments due to be delivered over the course of the year.
Mr Di Lello said the improved economic conditions both locally and overseas were driving a growing thirst for apartments, which showed a better net return than property in the suburbs.
“While international buyers pulled back during the GFC, they’ve been quick to return with improved economic conditions. Singaporean buyers are leading the charge and feel like Perth is a great fit for them,” he said.
The first apartments to be marketed at Queens Riverside will be in the 26-storey QIII building.
The 265 apartments range in price from $340,000 for a studio apartment to $595,000 for ‘dual key’ apartments, which contain two dwellings on a single title. The Queens Riverside development is set to be followed by several apartment projects slated for the Perth CBD.
In November, Perth-based property developer Diploma Group bought an 872-square metre site at Plain Street in East Perth, which Diploma said was earmarked for a $60 million development.
Diploma was also given the green light in January to construct $130 million worth of new projects at Pier Street and Adelaide Terrace.
In an $80 million joint venture with the Department of Housing, Diploma will deliver 161 apartments at Pier Street with a scheduled completion date of June 2013.
It also got the go-ahead for a $50 million 79-apartment iSpire project on Adelaide Terrace, construction of which is set to start this month.
Apartment specialist Finbar Group launched a joint venture with investment and development firm Swanline Group in January to build a $50 million, 90-apartment mixed-used project in East Perth.
Finbar is also redeveloping the old Fairlanes Bowling site on Adelaide Terrace and is advancing plans to redevelop the former ABC studios site.
