2-bedroom apartments from A$455,250(99 sqm)
I am pleased to introduce a pre-release of a fantastic project in Maribyrnong, one of the fastest growing suburbs, 6km NW of the Melbourne CBD.

This is an excellent project with great views to the marina and the Melbourne CBD from the apartments. Prices start from $5,900/sqm and settlement is expected in 2013. You wouldn’t want to miss buying in one of the fastest growing inner-city suburb. Most locations that close to the CBD wouldn’t have spacious apartments like this one. We have a special pre-public release allocation of apartments. This project is priced to sell! We expect that once this project releases publicly it will sell extremely quickly.

Overview
Situated within 6km of the Melbourne CBD, Marina apartments offer investors a unique opportunity to acquire a piece of real estate (250m to the marina) next to one of Australia’s largest shopping centre and vibrant commercial facilities along the Rosamond road (thru highpoint shopping centre) and near to Docklands. The development is 1km to Victoria University (5 mins), 4km to RMIT University (CBD) (12mins), 3km to University of Melbourne (10mins) and Royal Melbourne Hospital, public transport, shops, restaurants and cafes in Highpoint Shopping Centre and not to mention recreational activities around the parklands and the Maribyrnong Aquatic Centre just next to Highpoint Shopping Centre. Commuting to the city takes only 15 minutes by tram. The tram services are available along Gordon Street.

The project comprises two buildings merged together and it’s also located on a sloping site hence the units on the higher ground have fantastic views towards the marina and the city. All units come with car parks (3-bedders with 2 car parks) and some with storage spaces. There’s no swimming pool or gym hence body corporate fees are kept relatively low.

Location
Edgewater Boulevard, Maribyrnong, Victoria

* 100m from Gordon Street trams
* 200m from Les Ames Deli Cafe
* 300m from Edgewater Marina
* 700m from Essendon Municipal Golf Course
* 800m from Maribyrnong Secondary College
* 1.0km from Highpoint Shopping Centre
* 1.0km from Rosamond School
* 1.0km from Footscray North Primary School
* 1.0km from Progress Kindergarten
* 1.1km from Flemington Race Course
* 1.5km from Gilmore College for Girls
* 1.5km from Footscray Primary School
* 1.2km from Western Hospital
* 6km from Melbourne CBD

Estimated Completion Date: Late 2012 to early 2013

Please email me if you are interested to find out more about the project.

If you are an investor and you are looking for a completed property approaching settlement within 90 days, one of the most important things you have to do before putting your name down on the contract is to go to a mortgage broker and obtain ‘Conditional Finance Approval’.

It’s at NO cost to the purchaser and it makes it easier for the purchaser to take over any
potential ‘fall-overs’ in a development approaching settlement.

Note: the ‘conditional approval’ last for 90 days but if you cannot find a property that meets your expectation within this period, you can always go to the broker and all you have to do is to resubmit a few docs and you will get another extension. No dramas at all!

But please do not do this for a off-the-plan purchase. It’s of no relevance at all.

If you are applying for financing for your investment properties in Australia, you may wish to be informed of these updates.

There has been quite a number of credit changes for non-residents and expats over the
past couple of week’s as a result of the introduction of the National Consumer Credit Code. Probably the most important has been advice from the banks that they now require face to face meetings with clients. Also increased credit/serviceability restrictions. For example, Homeside /NAB will not consider anyone who is self employed. ANZ now discounting all income by a further 20%. CBA applying Australian tax rates on all income of applicants.

All banks requiring last 3 consecutive months of bank statements showing salary credits.

If you are after an investment property with an owner-occupied finish coupled with rare water views, this is the unit you have to go for. Construction will commence as soon as the land settles in 45 days’ time and the expected completion date will be some time in May 2010. It’s a 5-stage progressive draw down for the construction and foreigners with sufficient income serviceability can get up to 80% financing (only standard construction loans available) for the entire land and construction package.

The unit is priced in the low $400K with latest valuation report by bank panel valuers. The great thing is I can show you how you can finance this property such that it will yield positive cashflow at completion next year. It’s a relatively reasonable purchase if you are looking for something with great future capital growth potential. When I visited the place in May 2010, they have started moving the earth for the development of the town centre nearby this project. For more information, you may email me directly.

It’s not uncommon for project marketers in Asia marketing Australian properties to collect deposits from prospective buyers on the spot during exhibitions or seminars. For example, a project in a particular location is being advertised for sale. A buyer walks in and after much persuasion, he decides to hold unit 102 in the development. Some companies practise taking a S$5,000.00 deposit from prospective buyers with their credit card.

However, I must warn all prospective buyers that this process is irreversible. If you walk out of that room thinking you can pull out of the deal and get back your S$5,000.00 deposit, you will be sadly mistaken. In the past 6 months, I have been approached by several buyers ’swindled by a company who has this practice’ for help. One buyer even went to small claims tribunal and appear in front of the magistrate. The company who adopted this practice has been doing it for years. Unfortunately, the agreement is done between a Singapore company and the buyer and is under the Singapore jurisdiction (even CASE couldn’t do anything). Complaints to consumer affairs in various states of Australia didn’t help as well.

As far as I am concerned, every high-ticket item warrants a ‘cooling-off’ period. In the contract of sales, there’s a cooling-off period of 3 days if you purchase anything in Victoria and 5 days if you purchase in Queensland. But even then, those companies that practise taking S$5,000.00 deposits will just rescind the contract. The S$5,000.00 remains non-refundable.

I don’t quite understand some Singaporeans/Malaysians. Why would they pay S$5,000.00/RM5,000.00 extra for the purchase of a property since the price is fixed by the vendor? A lot of them foolishly think that S$5,000.00/RM5,000.00 holding deposit forms part of the 10% deposit. They then realise that is not the case but they have no choice but to go ahead and complete the transaction.

As far as I am concerned, companies that have this practice are just digging their own grave.

Advice: when in doubt, just walk away from the deal. It’s not the project that matters, it’s the people that is servicing you that matters most.

It’s been reported lately that the tight lending practices of lending institutions are leading the way for property prices to hit the roof in Australia. Ben Wilmot from the Australia Financial Review went to the ground level to find out actual statistics from the horses’ mouth.

Nearly 45 per cent of residential builders’ clients have cancelled or postponed projects in Victoria this year because they could not secure finance, an industry survey says.
Master Builders Association of Victoria executive director Brian Welch said the survey by his showed the damage that tight lending practices were continuing to have on housing affordability.

“Victoria has an undersupply of 29,000 homes and we’re currently building 5000 too few homes per year to meet that demand,” Mr. Welch
Said.
“If Victorian families are unable to secure finance to build their first home, then this under-supply will worsen.”

When builders were asked if their ability to access credit over the past three months has changed, 5 percent reported an improvement but 24 per cent reported a deterioration.

“Our members are telling us that many residential projects are not getting off the ground because banks were unwilling to lend.”

About one-third of builders reported a rise in customer inquiries in the past quarter, but many were not developing due to problems in projects getting credit.

If the situation continues, it won’t be long before we see median prices of homes in various states hitting a million bucks.

If there’s one development you have to get into this year, Trilogi in high street, Prahran is the one!

When I was in melbourne two weeks ago, I had the chance to visit the site in 201-209 High street. This project is in an absolutely superb location. It’s right next door to the famous Chapel street in Prahran and it has trams along the High street as well as Chapel street. Travelling along high street heading westwards, turning right along St. Kilda road and in 5 minutes you will be in the Melbourne CBD. Its accessibility is fantastic and being in the City of Stonnington, the abundance of schools around it means that it’s an inner city suburb that will appeal not just to single professionals but also to families who wants a piece of inner-city action.

The following are Secondary colleges (High schools) in the City of Stonnington:

• De La Salle College, Malvern;
• St Kevin’s College, Toorak;
• The King David School, Armadale;
• Korowa Anglican Girls’ School, Glen Iris;
• Lauriston Girls’ School, Armadale;
• Loreto Mandeville Hall, Toorak;
• Presentation College, Windsor;
• Sacré Coeur School, Glen Iris;
• St Catherine’s School, Toorak;
• Melbourne High School, South Yarra.

Higher education is provided by Universities, Vocational Education and Training (VET) facilities and Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutions. Swinburne University has a campus in Glenferrie Road, Malvern and its Prahran campus in High Street.

The shopping street Chapel Street is a mix of upscale fashion shops and cafes. Along with the South Yarra section of Toorak Road, it is a fashionable magnet for Melbourne’s upscale set. Greville Street, has many cafés, bars, restaurants, bookstores, clothing shops and music shops.

Prahran Market is the oldest continuously running Market in Australia, known as “the food lovers market” because of the quality and range of the food.

Prahran features many small gardens scattered throughout the suburb. “Grattan Gardens” are off Greville Street on Grattan Street. The Princes Gardens are a small garden which features the “Chapel Off Chapel”, an old church converted into a theatre, as well as the Prahran skate park, home to the best vert skateboarding facilities in Victoria. Victoria Gardens off High Street is a Victorian era garden with a main space consisting of a
circular row of London plane trees and an angel statue. The Orrong Romanis Park is the largest park in Prahran.

Consisting of both 1 and 2-bedders with car space, this would be a fantastic investment property to add to your personal portfolio.
Construction work will start in early 2011 and is expected to complete by 2013.

We have a small window of opportunity for pre-public release now for clients in my database. If you wish to know more about this development, all you have to do is to email me with your contact details and I will get back to you within 48 hours.

I just came back from a 10-day work trip to Melbourne. One of the highlights of this trip must be the visit to the site of Alexander Lombard Tower (ALT) at Mount Alexander Road, Travancore. I deliberately took tram No.59 from Elizabeth Street and along the way, the tram went past Royal Melbourne Hospital, University of Melbourne, Queen Victoria Market, etc to reach the development at Mount Alexander road.

The tram stopped in front of the site earmarked for ALT. I snapped some pictures of the SiennaApartments which is stage 2 of Travancore On the Park and the apartments have been sold and are scheduled for settlement at August/Septemeber 2010.

If you haven’t been to the site, you would have NO clue how the layout of the apartments of ALT will be like. All marketing materials and brochures do not state indicate the orientation of the units. I have taken a shot of the model at its showroom below Travancore On the Park stage 1 to give you an indication of the facing of the units.

Having said that, there are some very good valued units (priced at below $8,000/sqm) and facing the park view. If you buy with the right price, your yield would be optimized.

Personally, I feel that this development offers great value to investors. Many developments off-the-plan within 5km of the CBD are asking for sky-high prices (very often $10,000/sqm) but ALT is right up there in terms of location, quality and also value for money.

This development would suit investors who are looking for a second investment property with a 24-month settlement period. With multi-award winning Fender Katsalidis Architects, you can be sure your return on your investment is maximized. The development features mainly 2-bedroom units and it appeals to professionals working in the city and also the airport. There’s a growing number of people working in the airport who wants to live close to the city. Hence ALT is the natural choice. The other upside is there are not many developments coming up in this area (Travancore) hence supply is definitely limited.

If you want a piece of inner city apartment without paying through your nose, ALT is the one. Of course, you need to know what your objectives of investing are and it’s best to find out your borrowing capacity before taking the plunge. For more information, please email me for a no-obligation discussion.

Australia Saturday clamped down on foreigners buying property after complaints that a rapid influx of Asian money had helped make its housing among the most expensive in the world.

The government reimposed tough rules relaxed in 2008 that say temporary residents need permission to buy homes and must sell when they leave, while foreigners investing from abroad can only buy new properties.

The rules are backed by stiff new penalties including compulsory sell orders, as well as expanded monitoring and a crackdown on real estate agents who help foreigners flout the rules.

They follow growing disquiet that ordinary Australians are being priced out of the market after a decade-long property boom that has accelerated over the past year.

“We want to make sure that Australian working families are not being priced out of their own family homes. That is why we have acted in the way in which we have done,” said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

“We want to make sure that foreign speculators are not going to force up prices for Australians seeking to buy their own home, buy their first home and we think this is the right course of action.”

House prices have been red-hot in Australia’s major cities, especially Sydney and Melbourne and also Perth, centre of the country’s booming minerals exports to Asia.
Victoria state, whose capital is Melbourne, smashed the billion-dollar (925 million US) weekly sales barrier in March, while Rupert Murdoch’s son Lachlan landed a record 23 million dollar property at a Sydney auction in November.

An international survey released in January found Australia’s housing was the least affordable among six advanced nations including the United States, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Ireland.

Australia’s opposition has said foreign investors are outbidding locals at house auctions, while media reports refer to cashed-up Asian buyers snapping up homes for their children studying in the country.

However experts also blame a lack of housing supply and say government hand-outs, including grants for first-time buyers, have inflated prices.

There’s an upcoming project in inner city Melbourne. It will be located on 17-21 Harcourts Parade, Cremorne; a suburb 2km SE of Melbourne CBD. Located by the riverside, this 11-level building boasts 182 apartments with both river and CBD aspects. It also has extensive podium facilities consisting of a gym, recreational garden and also a theatre. Secure undercover car parks and storage are available for residents and there’s an additional benefit of a live-in building manager for ease of maintenance.

If you look the site for the development, you will find the units facing the river to be just in front of a 4-lane freeway. Yes, that’s monash freeway(M1) and to add to that ‘congestion’, there’s the Harcourts parade lane, making it 5 lanes in front of the development.

But all’s not that bad. I learnt that the developers are building winter gardens for all the balconies for units facing the river/freeway. In case, you haven’t heard of winter gardens (like myself), it’s a balcony with glass to the top of the ceiling and double glazed. That provides the first level of sound attenuation. The entrance to the balcony from the living areas will have glass doors that are double-glazed as well. So imagine yourself, sitting in the living room, watching television or listening to Norah Jones after a days’ work. All you could hear is the music and the 2-level of sound attenuation will virtually block out 99% of the noise.

Last year, I stayed in my business partner’s apartment at 80 Lorimer Street (one of the developments by Mirvac). The bedroom I was putting up faced a 8-lane freeway (west gate freeway) and there wasn’t any barriers in between. So the room was exposed to the high traffic flow during peak hours. The irony was that it was so quiet with the double-glazed windows that there was hardly any noise. And for your information, the apartment was on the 11th floor!

Overseas buyers will be limited to only a small percentage of the buyers due to banks’ lending policies now. The indicative prices* are as such:
1-bedroom from $385,000*
2-bedroom from $490,000*
2 bedroom plus study from $750,000* onwards

This development would be ideal for investors as their 2nd or 3rd investment property as it’s off-the-plan. More details will be posted once I have them. To indicate your interest, just indicate your name, tel and email me at info @ pagreal.com(without spaces).