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Novotel Melbourne St Kilda – Melbourne’s premier beachside hotel – has been listed for sale by Tourism Asset Holdings Limited (TAHL) with market observers expecting a price between $55 million and $60 million.
It last sold in 2008 and before that changed hands for $21 million in 1992 in the aftermath of the early 1990s recession.
An international marketing campaign will kick off next week led by Wayne Bunz and Mark Wizel of CBRE Hotels, with expressions of interest closing on July 26 – unless sold prior. 
The recently refurbished hotel includes 211 rooms over six levels on a 5,791-square-metre site boasting 270-degree views of Port Phillip Bay. 
The Novotel Melbourne St Kilda is operated by Accor, the world’s biggest hotel and tourism group. 
The management agreement with Accor has a further nine years to run, when vacant possession of the hotel will be available, “offering a myriad of future redevelopment options,” according to CBRE. 
The hotel is zoned residential 1 under the City of Port Phillip. 
The hotel originally opened in 1991 as the St Moritz hotel, which became the Novotel Bayside in 1993 when Accor acquired the management rights and then Novotel St Kilda in 1999.
It was originally developed by Michael Lasky and Izzy Hertzog. 
Lasky founded property development group Lascorp, focused on retail developments. 
Izzy Hertzog, a Holocaust survivor who came to Australia in 1949, made his fortune in wholesale car sales before moving into property development. He died in 2010.
The hotel was acquired by C. K. Fu's Hong Kong-based manufacturing company in 1992 for $21 million after being placed in receivership in 1991. The hotel was sold by the State Bank of South Australia as mortgagee.
The hotel stands on the site of the St Moritz ice rink, which operated from 1939 to 1981, attracting more than 2000 people to its 1,850 square metres of ice. 
The ice rink was destroyed by a fire in 1984. 
The first building on the site was the Wattle Path Dance Saloon and Café, which opened in 1923. 
In 1933 the property was acquired by theatrical entrepreneur F.W. Thring, who transformed the building into one of the largest film studios in Australia under the name Efftee Productions. 
The studio only lasted a couple of years, closing in the late 1930s. 
Bunz tells Property Observer the hotel will be marketed to the majority of the Asian market, with strong interest expected from this market. 
He says it will be “keenly sought after by traditional and non-traditional, national and international investors”.
“In the current market, buyers are looking for unique assets that will allow value-add opportunities.  The Novotel St Kilda presents just such an opportunity by combining a strong income-producing hotel that will generate a healthy return on equity, with significant vacant possession opportunities including the potential to redevelop the site in the future.
“In the past 18 months there have been a number of significant hotel asset transactions, with a strong surge in the appetite of private and offshore investors, particularly Asian-based groups,” Bunz says.
“It stands on a substantial land holding in St Kilda,” Bunz tells Property Observer. 
Prior to the formal sales listing, TAHL chief executive Matthew Eady said there had been “significant unsolicited interest in the property, given its premier location, strong ongoing cashflow and attractive alternate use as a residential development”. 
“Given the strength of investor and developer interest, we have decided to consolidate that into a formal sales campaign,” he says.
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Asian buyer interest expected for Novotel St Kilda, with price expectations around $55 million

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There was a 13% increase in the volume of Perth residential sales in the March quarter, with first-home buyers and investors returning to the market, according to CBRE’s first-quarter WA market view report. The firm says a recovery could be under way. 
CBRE recorded 5,663 sales in the Perth metropolitan area over the first three months of the year, compared with the 5,268 in the previous quarter and a “noticeable contrast to conditions in the prior 12 to18 months, when sentiment was low”, according the firm’s associate director of global research and consulting Sam Reilly. 
Total house sales over the 12 months to March reached 22,676, a slight decline from the 23,032 over the previous 12 months. 
Perth house sales peaked in early 2004, with just over 40,000 sales recorded. The market reached just under that peak in March 2006 and traded strongly until early 2007, when the ill winds from the GFC first began to be felt. 
Perth’s inner-city apartment market has been particularly strong, buoyed by the resources sector through the second quarter, with both owner-occupier and investor demand on the rise. 
Unit sales rose from 1,191 in the December quarter to 1,852 in the March quarter, with CBRE recording 6,654 unit sales over the year to March. The unit market last peaked around March 2006 with just under 10,000 annual sales. 
“Perth’s inner-city unit market has experienced notable change recently, with oversupply now correcting as take up is being driven by the resource sectors, a trend that clearly highlights the tangible impact resource growth is having on Perth at present,“ says CBRE director of valuation and advisory services Michael Veletta.
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Perth house prices increased by 3.9% over the quarter to a median of $487,500, though they are up only 0.5% over the past 12 months, according to Residex data.
The RP Data-Rismark Daily index has Perth home values up 0.76% for quarterly growth to June but still down 1.78% year-on-year. 
Reilly says it is too early to point to a full market recovery, but the increases in sales volumes suggested renewed interest from buyers following the price corrections that had substantially reduced capital values across all sectors of the market. 
The increase in activity has been attributed to the flow-on effect from oil, gas and iron ore industries in the state, which CBRE says “continues to underpin the market due to high infrastructure spending and increased employment opportunities”.
Deloitte Access Economics is forecasting the WA economy to grow by 4.2% annually between 2012 and 2017. 
However, Reilly warns that while the resources boom provides Western Australia with a strong advantage in terms of economic growth, the risk of a slowdown to commodities markets remained. 
“If that were to occur in a substantial manner, the residential market would immediately come under pressure,” he says. 
The report notes recent REIA data showing Perth vacancies trending down in the December quarter to 2.3%, compared with 2.8% in the September quarter, with population growth creating increasing demand for rental accommodation.
 
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Looking ahead towards the second quarter, CBRE notes that the more affordable sub-$500,000 house market in Perth has fared the best as first-home buyers targeted affordable housing stock following some easing in interest rates. 
First-home buyers have faced competition in this price bracket from investors. 
Veletta says investors are focused on the fact that rentals are beginning to reach parity with debt servicing levels. 
“Price declines have obviously assisted to increase demand levels, but the high levels of rental growth have been equally important to stimulate this area of the market,” he says. 
The latest REIA/Deposit Power report records a 4.1% increase in the number of loans to first-home buyers from 3,757 in the December quarter to 3,910 in the March quarter. 
First-home buyers were attracted back to the market despite housing affordability worsening in the state of the March quarter, with the proportion of family income needed to make mortgage repayments increasing by 22.9% to 24.1% over this period. 
Rent payments as a proportion of family income increased by 0.7% to 20.8% of family income. 
Further up the price spectrum, the $500,000 to $1 million bracket remained soft and is expected to stay relatively subdued until improved levels of buyer interest in the first-home buyer market begin to flow on. 
“As owner-occupiers that currently own houses in the sub-$500,000 bracket begin to trade up, the middle range markets should see demand levels improve. This is a gradual process, however, and impacts on capital growth will take some time,” says Veletta. 
Outside of Perth, a recovery appears unlikely, with regional areas such as the Peel region continue to experience oversupply. 
“Mandurah continues to chug along with no great signs of recovery, limited demand, small buyer pool and growth in employment concerns,” Veletta says. 
Activity levels also remain low in WA’s land sales market, with developers offering a range of incentives to boost demand levels. Established stock is slowly being taken up, with slight increases in building approvals recorded.
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Perth residential market poised for recovery, buoyed by mining boom: CBRE

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Cheaper mortgage rates across the Tasman have helped New Zealand house prices recover over the past 12 months to levels last seen around the time of the GFC.

The benchmark Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) Housing Price Index rose 1.7% in May to be 6.4% up on the same time last year – 0.3% higher than the previous peak recorded in November 2007.

During this period house prices have increased by 5.4% to a median of NZ$369,000 (A$287,000).

In Australia, house prices were down 4.74% across the five major capital cities, according to RP Data- Rismark.

Mortgage rates are noticeably cheaper across the ditch, with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand offering a cash lending rate of just 2.5%, unchanged since March 2011 – 100 basis points lower than the RBA’s June cash rate of 3.5%.

Westpac New Zealand is offering a standard variable rate of 6.24%, compared with the 6.89% it is offering in Australia, according to www.interest.co.nz.

ANZ offers a “simple” variable mortgage of 5.74%, compared with the 6.8% standard variable rate it is offering in Australia.

ASB, the Commonwealth Bank’s New Zealand brand, has a standard variable rate of 5.75%, compared to the 6.8% offered in Australia.

According to the REINZ there were 7,175 sales in May, a 24.4% rise on the same month last year.

Jane Turner, economist at ASB, says the low interest rates are “stoking demand” and helping drive a trend of “gradual improvement” in the housing market.

The total value of residential sales was NZ$3.30 billion in May, compared with NZ$2.57 billion in April and NZ$2.46 billion in May 2011. 

The Auckland market, New Zealand’s biggest housing market, has performed particularly well of late, with house price index up 3.7% from a July 2007 high in May 2012.

Auckland recorded 2,792 sales over May, a 28% rise on the same time last year, with the median sale price rising 7.8% over this time to a record NZ$500,000 (A$389,000).

Auckland’s largest real estate agency, Barfoot and Thompson, posted its busiest May in seven years, recording 1,165 sales during the month – up 31% from May 2011 – with sales prices rising 2.5% over the month to $582,285.

Managing director Peter Thompson attributes the jump in sales to significant number of new listings, “keenly priced mortgage lending rates, fine weather and a larger pool of potential buyers”.

Barfoot and Thompson listed 1,421 properties during May, up 12.2% from April.

REINZ chief executive Helen O'Sullivan says sales volumes have been surprisingly strong in May, with all regions recording increases in sales over April and over May last year.

O’Sullivan says May is typically stronger than April but the May 2012 increase was “considerably stronger than normal seasonal trends would suggest”.
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Lower mortgage rates drive up NZ median house prices 5.4% for year to May: REINZ

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Negative gearing tax breaks for property investors will not be removed, says Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Gillard says her government has ruled out removing the tax break.
It was in response to a question asked on the ABC’s Q&amp;A program.
“We didn’t agree with the Henry Tax Review,” Gillard said.
“We think that an abolition of negative gearing will cause distortions to the property market that we did not want to see,” she said.
The federal opposition also appears loath to remove the tax break, with Coalition spokesman Joe Hockey tweeting after the broadcast that negative gearing “holds down rents... just ask Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. They tried to get rid of it and reversed their policy.”
However Sarah Toohey, spokesperson for lobbying group Australians for Affordable Housing, disagreed with Hockey, tweeting that “rents only rose in Sydney and Perth when Keating changed [negative gearing].
“[Rent rises] have been nationwide if that [were true],” she tweeted.
Property buyers’ advocate Catherine Cashmore agreed with Toohey, tweeting that negative gearing needed to be phased out.
“No other country has such a generous gearing policy – it does nothing to ease housing affordability,” she tweeted.
Negative gearing was used by around 2 million property investors in the last financial year to reduce their tax bill, according to ATO figures.
A property is negatively geared when the costs of owning it – interest on the loan, bank charges, maintenance, repairs and capital depreciation – exceed the rental income it produces.
The Henry Tax Review called for a raft of investment tax breaks – including negative gearing – to be replaced with a 40% discount on the marginal tax rate.
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Julia Gillard rules out scrapping negative gearing tax provisions for property investors

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Unicredit WA Mutual Bank, which passed on all 25 basis points from the RBA’s cash rate cut to borrowers, is offering one of the lowest standard variable mortgage rates at 5.85%.
The tiny lender, born out of the Chemistry Department at the University of Western Australia in 1964, has a standard variable rate that is 94 basis points below that of the average of the big four banks.

NAB was the last of the major banks to cut its variable mortgage, <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/residential/nab-stays-cheapest-but-only-passes-on-21bps-rate-cut-to-borrowers/2012060855049" target="_blank">reducing its benchmark variable rate product by 21 basis points just before 6pm as the Queen’s birthday long weekend began on Friday</a>.

This allowed NAB to keep its promise – just - of having the lowest standard variable rate of the big four banks – with a new rate of 6.78% from next Monday.

The standard variable rate gap between Westpac and the next cheapest – ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank – has widened.
The 19 basis points cut by the Bank of Melbourne (BoM) pipped rival Westpac brand NSW-based St.George's 18 basis point rate cut.
This took BoM's SVR down to 6.80% compared to St.George's 6.86%, with the bank far more ebulient in its media statement.
“With our new standard variable rate and market?leading fixed rate offers, together with the great life of loan discounts available under our Advantage Package, Bank of Melbourne is providing Victorians with some of the best home loan deals available,” said BoM chief executive, Scott Tanner. “It’s a great time forcustomers ? new or existing ? to speak to us to ensure that they are on the right home loan for them and maximising all of the benefits available.”
"This is good news for our customers," said St George Bank's general manager of retail banking Andy Fell in a statement.
Here’s a guide to the new standard variable rates of the major banks as well as some of the lowest standard variable rate offerings.

All rates correct as of 2pm, June 13.
5.85%

The new standard variable home loan rate of Unicredit WA Mutual Bank

6.02%

The standard variable home loan rate being offered by State Custodians Mortgage Company

6.22%

The new standard variable home loan rate of ING Direct’s Mortgage Simplifier variable home loan from June 15

6.28%

The new standard variable home loan rate of ME Bank
6.40%

The new standard variable home loan rate of Greater Building Society from June 15
6.75%

The new standard variable home loan rate of RAMS from June 15
6.78%


The new standard variable home loan rate of NAB and BankWest from June 18
6.80%

The new standard rate of ANZ (June 12), the Commonwealth bank (June 18) and Bank of Melbourne (June 18)
6.85%

The new standard variable home loan rate of BankSA from June 18.
6.86%
The new standard variable home loan rate of St George from June 18.

6.89%

The new standard variable home loan rate of Westpac from June 18 

6.90%

The new standard variable home loan rate of Bendigo Bank from June 25 

6.91%

The new standard variable home loan rate of Bank of Queensland from June 16
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From St George’s 18-basis-point cut to ANZ’s 25 bps: a guide to standard variable mortgage rates

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There are three architecturally designed townhouses left to purchase in Silvan, an eight-townhouse development that forms part of Scarlet Croydon, a master-planned community in the east of Melbourne.
Prices for the remaining townhouses range from $399,000 to $515,000, all under the $600,000 threshold for the <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/residential/time-running-out-for-first-home-bonuses-and-stamp-duty-concessions/2012052854863" target="_blank">Victorian government’s $13,000 first-home bonus</a>, which ends on June 30.
The townhouses are set against a backdrop of the Dandenong Ranges surrounded by wetlands, a children’s playground, a rotunda and barbecue facilities.
<img src="/images/stories/2012/06/silvan.jpg">
The homes are being sold with everything from fencing to driveways – even the letterboxes are included.
Scarlet Croydon offers expansive open spaces of established trees, parklands, wetlands and meandering walking trails, with all the comforts of enviable contemporary living.
The project is being marketed by the Oliver Hume Real Estate Group.
“The appeal of affordable and beautifully finished townhouses for first-home buyers and those looking to downsize is enormous with this current release,” says Oliver Hume Real Estate Group project director Gerrard Ellis
“These homes are a ‘totally turnkey’ purchase – buyers can move straight in. As well, council approval has locked in the streetscape, so buyers can be assured there will be no colour changes to neighbouring houses. Internally, with a variety of upgrade and colour options, the choice is all theirs.”
<img src="/images/stories/2012/06/silvan2.jpg">
Each residence affords a variety of interior colour selections, with diverse upgrade options for kitchens and bathrooms. The houses have a six green star rating.
All homes in Scarlet Croydon will be enabled with the latest fibre to the home (FTTH) technology, compliant with the national broadband network strategy (NBN) and can provide services such as telephone and high-speed broadband.
Croydon is also serviced by a network of bus, rail and road routes, including nearby Mooroolbark and Croydon railway stations.  The development is near Eastland and Knox Shopping Centre, as well as EastLink.
This townhouses range in size from 17 square metres to 24.5 square metres.
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Three Croydon townhouses left in Silvan as June 30 deadline draws nearer

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The Commonwealth Bank has announced it will reduce interest rates on its range of variable home loan accounts by 0.21 percentage points per annum with effect from Monday 18 June 2012.
The new Standard Variable Rate is 6.80 per cent per annum.
This ensures NAB will have to reduce its standard variable rate by 20 basis points to keep its promise of offering the lowest standard variable rate of the Big Four banks.
NAB is the last of the major banks to make its interest rate announcement and currently has a standard variable rate of 6.99%
"In making this decision, the Group has continued to balance the interests of its 1.8 million home loan borrowers with those of its 11 million depositors, and those of its shareholders, who include 800,000 Australians who own its shares directly, and millions more Australians who own shares through pension funds," the bank said in a statement.
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CommBank passes on 21 bps rate cut to borrowers

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Westpac will reduce interest rates on its standard variable mortgage by 20 basis points to 6.89% from 18 June 2012.
This follows <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/residential/anz-passes-on-full-rate-cut-to-borrowers/2012060855042" target="_blank">big four rival ANZ passing on all 25 basis points earlier today</a> with its standard variable rate falling to 6.8% from June 15.
Customers on Westpac’s Premier Advantage Package who receive a minimum 0.7 percentage point discount on the headline standard variable mortgage will see their new effective rate fall to 6.19%.
The reduction in home loan rates will save home owners $41 a month or $492 a year in total monthly repayments on an average mortgage of $300,000.
Since October 2011, Westpac has cut its variable mortgage rates by 97 basis points out of the 125-basis-point reduction in the cash rate since November last year.
“This has been a difficult decision as we have sought to balance the needs of our mortgage customers with those of our millions of savers, particularly retirees who depend on the income from their deposit accounts,” says Westpac Group executive retail and business banking Jason Yetton.
“We also fully appreciate the financial pressures that many households are currently facing even though the economy as a whole is doing well as the latest GDP and job figures released this week showed. That is why we continue to offer discounts on our headline mortgage rate which will see nearly 90% of our home loan customers pay no more than 6.19%.
“And for those borrowers who are looking for security and peace of mind over a longer period given the current financial uncertainty we have also been able today to reduce the rate on our most popular fixed home loan rate, the three year term, to 5.89% once the discount that we offer is taken into account. This new rate will be effective next week.”
“Small businesses will also benefit from the interest rate cuts with cuts in certain headline variable loans of 25 bps. “This is the second time in consecutive months that we have reduced the interest rate on certain variable business loans,” he said.
“Despite increased funding costs, we recognise that it is particularly important at this time to help small business in this way given the critical part this sector plays in supporting the economy and maintaining employment as a whole.”
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Westpac passes on 20 bps rate cut to borrowers

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The current interest rate cutting cycle, which began in November, is not aimed at boosting house prices or “re-igniting a boom in borrowing,” says RBA governor Glenn Stevens. 
Delivering a speech in Adelaide today called “The Glass Half Full”, Stevens said one thing Australia should not do is “try to engineer a return to the boom”. 
Stevens said he agreed that there was a need for more confidence in the economy among households and businesses, but said it had to be “the right sort of confidence”. 
“The kind of confidence based on nothing more than expectations of ever-increasing housing prices, with the associated willingness to continue increasing leverage, on the assumption that this is a sure way to wealth, would not be the right kind. 
“Unfortunately, we have been rather too prone to that misplaced optimism on occasion. 
“You don’t have to be a believer in bubbles to think that a return to sizeable price increases and higher household gearing from still reasonably high current levels would be a risky approach. 
“It would surely be a false basis for confidence. The intended effect of recent policy actions is certainly not to pump up speculative demand for assets. As it happens, our judgement is that the risk of re-igniting a boom in borrowing and prices is not very high, and this was a key consideration in decisions to lower interest rates over the past eight months,” he said.
In his address to the American Chamber of Commerce, Stevens also tackled the nature of the current two-speed economy, blaming it in part on spending habits before the GFC, when property prices were rising by 6% per year. 
He said the dissatisfaction felt in certain sectors of the economy reliant on household spending was not the result of the mining boom not spilling over into these sectors “but a lot to do with events that occurred largely before the mining boom really began”. 
These events, he said, were that “household spending grew faster than income for a lengthy period up to about 2005” and gross debt rising from 70% in 1995 to about 150% in 2007 principally as a result of people investing in housing. 
“Correspondingly, by 2007 the share of current income devoted to servicing that debt had risen from 7% to 12%, despite interest rates in 2007 being below those in 1995,” said Stevens. 
“It is still not generally appreciated how striking these trends were. I cannot say that it is unprecedented for spending to grow consistently faster than income, because it had already been doing that for the 20 years prior to 1995. 
“That is, the saving rate had been on a long-term downward trend since the mid- 1970s. But it is very unusual in history for people to save as little from current income as they were doing by the mid-2000s,” Stevens said. 
“And it is very unusual, historically, for real assets per person to rise at 6 per cent or more per annum. It is also very unusual for households actually to withdraw equity from their houses, to use for other purposes, but for a few years in the mid 2000s that seemed to have been occurring,” he said. 
Overall, he said the Australian financial system is sound and the country well placed.
“Our government is one among only a small number rated AAA, with manageable debt. We have received a truly enormous boost in national income courtesy of the high terms of trade.
“This, in turn, has engendered one of the biggest resource investment upswings in our history, which will see business capital spending rise by another 2 percentage points of GDP over 2012-13, to reach a 50-year high,” he said.
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Current rate cut cycle not aimed at creating ‘risky’ new housing boom: Glenn Stevens

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The number of home loans granted in April rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2% to 46,632, according to ABS estimates released today. 
That compares with an upwardly revised 46,519 home loans in March. 
In terms of overall value, total housing finance rose by 1.2% to $20.45 billion.
Analysts had been forecasting the number of home loans to be flat over April.
The value of owner-occupier mortgages increased by 0.9% over April to $13.6 billion and rose 0.2% in number terms to 46,632 loans.
The value of seasonally adjusted owner -occupier loans rose in Queensland (2%), Victoria (0.3%), Tasmania (1.9%) and the ACT (0.2%), while falls were recorded in NSW (0.8%), Western Australia (1.2%), the Northern Territory (18.8%) and South Australia (2%).
Fixed rate loans accounted for 14% of all loans in April, easing from the 4-year high of 14.6% in March.  
The value of investment housing commitments seasonally adjusted rose 1.7% in April 2012.
The HIA noted that the number of loans for the construction or purchase of new homes increased by an encouraging 2.1% in April following a 3.8% rise in March. 
“Given contemporary weakness in new home construction activity, it is encouraging to see a second consecutive, albeit modest rise in this leading housing indicator,” says HIA chief economist Dr Harley Dale.
Number of mortgage commitments for the purchase of new dwellings
<img src="/images/stories/2012/06/hiajune8.jpg">
Source: ABS
Commenting on the data, CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian said it was important to highlight that this data is backward looking.
"There are modest signs of improvement on the housing front, but the gains are still miniscule in nature and follow a period of sustained weakness.
"On an encouraging note there does seem to be light at the end of the tunnel- particularly given that the substantial rate cuts should entice potential home buyers to sign on the dotted line. In addition the lift in loans for newly-erected homes should eventually lead to more building ahead," he says.
"The fundamentals for the housing sector remain sound. The lack of new residential construction has led to pent up demand, and with migration levels at 3½-year highs, demand for new and existing homes should lift. It really comes down to confidence. A substantial pick up in confidence is needed to justify a turnaround and the recent interest rate cuts and strength in employment may just be the catalyst."
In original terms, the number of first home buyer commitments as a percentage of total owner occupied housing finance commitments rose to 16.8% in April 2012 from 16.4% in March 2012. 
Between April 2012 and March 2012, the average loan size for first-home buyers rose $600 to $280,200. The average loan size for all owner-occupied housing commitments rose $4,400 to $288,900 for the same period, down 4.7% over the past year.
The value of owner-occupier refinancing rose 0.3% in April 2012, following a rise of 1.5% in March 2012. 
The number of bank owner-occupier mortgages issued in April was flat following a 0.3% rise in March. 
The number of mortgages for owner-occupied dwellings financed through non-banks rose 1.8% in April following a rise of 5.3% in March. 
The number of permanent building societies owner occupier mortgages fell 9.6% in April 2012, after a rise of 21.5% in March 2012.
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Mortgage lending up 0.2% in April with 2.1% rise in new housing loans: ABS

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/broadbeach-qld-4218">Broadbeach</a> offers plenty of reasons to live vertically, but moving from a substantial family home into an apartment can expose the compromises of high-density living. Privacy, room for guests and usable living space tend to matter more when an apartment is intended as a permanent home rather than an occasional coastal base.

A typical residential floor at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/the-eveleigh-broadbeach-7-9-surf-parade-broadbeach-qld-4218">The Eveleigh</a>, on Surf Parade,&nbsp;contains just four apartments. The 94-residence development by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/hirsch-faigen">Hirsch &amp; Faigen</a> is predominantly made up of expansive three-bedroom homes, with a limited collection of half-floor penthouses above.

Across the apartment floors, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/rothelowman">Rothelowman</a> has used the relatively limited number of residences to give each home greater access to natural light and outlook. Living spaces extend towards full-height glazing, while a series of bay windows frame selected views across the Pacific Ocean, city and hinterland rather than treating the building edge as a continuous wall of glass.

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=149670 project_image_fid=360965]

“The apartment floors deliver a collection of homes that embrace controlled outlook via a series of bay windows deliberately framing moments of view,” Rothelowman Director Kim Lowman said.

From outside, those projecting forms contribute to the tower’s faceted profile. Strong horizontal and vertical elements establish its proportions, while the changing position of the sun alters the light, shadow and reflection across the façade throughout the day.

The same attention moves inside the apartments, where the material palette combines warm timber, natural stone, metallic detailing and softer curved forms. Kitchens sit within the main living zone, with stone island benches, integrated joinery and European appliances, before the living areas extend towards the glazing and the outlook.

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=149670 project_image_fid=360981]

Three genuine bedrooms provide room to accommodate family and guests, while two secure car spaces and storage address some of the practical considerations that can become more noticeable when moving from a larger home. Feedback from the display suite has centred on the warmth and restraint of the interiors, with buyers commenting that the residences feel like homes rather than conventional coastal apartments.

A limited collection of half-floor penthouses occupies the upper levels, increasing the scale of the living spaces and adding private balconies and elevated finishes. From this position, the outlook extends between the ocean and hinterland.

Outside the private residences, The Eveleigh separates its shared spaces between the podium and rooftop. The podium is centred on wellness, with subtropical landscaping surrounding a swimming pool and pool terrace, yoga garden, private gymnasium, sauna and hot and cold plunge facilities. Landscaped retreats and pavilions provide additional places to sit away from the main recreation areas.

&nbsp;

[smartcode_project:default project_id=149670 project_image_fid=360966]

Higher in the building, a rooftop pavilion and private dining suite sit alongside resident lounge, barbecue and outdoor dining areas, opening towards panoramic views across the ocean, city and hinterland.

“Buyers are no longer just looking for an apartment, but a lifestyle where they can relax, reset, and enjoy a balanced way of living,” Hirsch &amp; Faigen Director of Sales Matt George said.

Interest to date has come from established owner-occupiers and interstate lifestyle purchasers, including buyers planning a future move to the Gold Coast. Many are coming from larger homes and want to reduce ongoing maintenance without giving up space for family and guests, privacy, two car spaces or the ability to entertain at home.

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[smartcode_project:default project_id=149670 project_image_fid=360969]

Much of that daily life can also take place beyond the building without requiring a drive. Kurrawa Beach and Pratten Park are an easy walk from Surf Parade, while Pacific Fair, Oracle Boulevard, The Oasis, restaurants, cafés, entertainment and public transport are also within walking distance.

The Eveleigh is Hirsch &amp; Faigen's fourth Gold Coast development since entering the market in 2021, following The Hemingway at Palm Beach, The Emerson at Kirra and Yves at Mermaid Beach. Each of the preceding projects sold out before completion.

“Broadbeach had been on our radar throughout our time operating on the Gold Coast,” the developer said. “Following our projects in Palm Beach, Kirra and Mermaid Beach, Broadbeach represented the natural next step for the business.”

The Surf Parade site brought together proximity to the beach, protected coastal outlooks and walkability to dining, shopping and recreation. Hirsch &amp; Faigen also identified the street as an emerging premium residential address, with enough separation from Broadbeach's busier destinations to retain a quieter environment at home.

The Eveleigh is now under construction by Maxcon, with completion forecast for mid-2028. Three-bedroom residences are currently available from $2.87 million.

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Joel Robinson

The Eveleigh brings house-like apartments to Broadbeach

A long-stalled Campbelltown development site is back in play, with new plans for 139 apartments set to supersede a mixed-use scheme approved almost a decade ago but never built.

The new proposal for 28 Cordeaux Street would deliver 116 market and 23 affordable apartments in a part 14-storey building, bringing a substantial new project into a Campbelltown market where new apartment supply remains limited.

Plans have been filed over the 3,092 sqm corner site at Moore-Oxley Street, around 600 metres from Campbelltown Railway Station and the city-centre retail core.

The site already carries a mixed-use residential approval dating to 2016. Doroch Architects has now been engaged on a larger replacement scheme, which is progressing as a State Significant Development Application following a Housing Delivery Authority determination in August 2025.

The apartment mix comprises 39 one-bedroom, 72 two-bedroom and 28 three-bedroom residences. Two-bedroom apartments make up just over half of the project, while three-bedroom homes account for 20 per cent.

<img alt="First look: New 139-apartment plans revive long-stalled Campbelltown city centre site" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="136dd5b9-3791-4da6-9e31-76f533f5b4de" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Campbelltown%20da2.png?VersionId=LgOSy9nwf5u.MGswBBwaGGxuX8QpHSl_" />

Of the 139 apartments, 23 will be delivered as affordable housing under the in-fill affordable housing provisions of the Housing SEPP. The affordable component represents 15 per cent of the residential gross floor area and will be managed by a registered Community Housing Provider.

Doroch has sought to break the scale of the building into two distinct elements, with a masonry podium of around four storeys establishing the street edge before the residential tower steps back above.

The corner position has shaped that approach. Cordeaux Street faces toward the commercial and civic centre, while Moore-Oxley Street leads into the lower-scale residential neighbourhood to the south, and the design verification report describes the site as "bridging the commercial core to the north and established residential areas to the south."

The podium will be expressed predominantly in face brick, while the upper levels shift to brushed and grooved concrete cladding with darker metal detailing. Recessed sections, deep balcony edges and landscaping break down the upper form, with an approximately 11.8-metre setback to the northern boundary addressing the adjoining St Peters Anglican School.

<img alt="First look: New 139-apartment plans revive long-stalled Campbelltown city centre site" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c8b3d2d3-c561-4bfc-a5d9-a68c0c10dac1" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Campbelltown%20da1.png?VersionId=AeAEyJU02Gk2k5noUj2StziCvdQ7fW4B" />

Campbelltown has been starved of new residential developments in the last decade.

The only other notable development set to come to market this year is ALAND's Queen Square, a mixed-use precinct on over two hectares that will comprise apartments above a vibrant ground-level retail and hospitality dining precinct.

First look: New 139-apartment plans revive long-stalled Campbelltown city centre site

First Look: Sherlock Construction pitches apartments for low-rise Deception Bay

Queensland builder-developer MAYD has revealed the first look at its major North Kirra beachfront development, lodging amended plans that reduce the number of apartments and increase the proportion of larger residences.

The project is planned across a substantial 4,742 sqm amalgamated site spanning seven lots at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/2-6-pacific-parade-bilinga-qld-4225">2-6 Pacific Parade</a> and 27-33 Golden Four Drive in Bilin​ga, directly opposite Nor​th Kirra Beach.

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/mayd-group">MAYD</a> secured the site for $32.5 million in 2025, in what was one of the Gold Coast's largest property transactions of the year.

The development will be delivered across two stages, with the first stage carrying an estimated gross realisation value of around $360 million.

The latest amendments seek to reduce the overall apartment count and shift the project further toward the owner-occupier market, with larger residences designed for buyers wanting considerably more space than traditionally offered in a beachfront apartment.

The residential mix will include townhomes, oversized two-bedroom apartments, substantial three-bedroom residences and four-bedroom homes.

MAYD has appointed Cera Stribley to lead the architecture and interiors, with the Melbourne-based design practice drawing on the beachfront setting through a series of ocean-facing terraces and heavily landscaped balconies.

Strong horizontal forms and curved balconies will define the exterior, with subtropical landscaping integrated throughout the building to soften the built form and increase the connection between the residences and the beachfront.

The project will also include an extensive collection of resident wellness and lifestyle facilities, continuing the broader shift across the Gold Coast's luxury apartment market toward larger homes supported by resort-style amenity.

<img alt="MAYD" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="d1bcbb05-e659-4b47-8bd4-1e595315e2ad" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-08-27%20at%202.05.03%E2%80%AFPM.png?VersionId=jj0XEud1X1DuLt7_KyElhjMdZGOXmLHP" />

MAYD Founder Todd Mould said North Kirra was increasingly appealing to buyers attracted to the more established, lower-density character of the southern Gold Coast.

"North Kirra presents one of the most compelling luxury residential opportunities currently emerging in Australia, combining absolute beachfront with the character and authenticity that buyers are increasingly seeking, and the same sense of tight-knit community that defined Burleigh and Currumbin perhaps 10 or 15 years ago," Mould said.

"With Gold Coast Airport on its doorstep, it also offers a level of accessibility that broadens its appeal across almost every market demographic."

The project comes as the southern Gold Coast continues to attract an increasing share of high-end apartment development and buyer activity.

Kirra in particular has emerged as one of the region's more tightly held beachfront markets, with its relatively low-density character, established surf and hospitality scene and proximity to Gold Coast Airport differentiating it from the higher-density markets further north.

Mould said those characteristics had informed the approach MAYD and Cera Stribley had taken to the project.

"We've worked closely with Cera Stribley to create a vision that is deeply connected to its surroundings," he said.

"Inspired by the coastline itself, the architecture has been shaped around space, privacy and resort-style living, creating a collection of homes that reflects the next generation of luxury on the southern Gold Coast."

MOTIV Managing Director Carly Cottam, who has been appointed to market the project, said buyer attention had continued to move south along the Gold Coast.

"Purchasers who may once have defaulted to Broadbeach, Main Beach or Surfers Paradise are increasingly recognising the value of a genuine beachfront location that offers lower density, strong amenity and a more established sense of community," Cottam said.

"Kirra has a powerful combination of growing demand and genuine scarcity. Beachfront supply is inherently constrained, the area remains relatively low density, and buyers are increasingly placing a premium on locations that feel established, uncrowded and authentic rather than heavily developed."

Cottam said the proximity to Gold Coast Airport was also proving increasingly important for interstate and second-home buyers.

"Being minutes from Gold Coast Airport makes it particularly compelling for interstate buyers, frequent travellers and second-home purchasers who can access an authentic coastal lifestyle almost immediately after stepping off a flight."

The acquisition takes MAYD's active development portfolio to more than $500 million, with the North Kirra project representing one of its largest undertakings to date.

MAYD is targeting an early 2027 launch.

First look at MAYD's North Kirra mixed-use precinct

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Castle Hill, the longtime hub of the Hills District, has been one of the major beneficiaries of Sydney's Metro expansion, with improved connectivity helping drive continued population growth, development and buyer demand across the Hills District.

But despite that growth, the suburb has seen relatively few major new apartment projects brought to market over the past 18 months.

Hills District developer Reve Group is looking to fill that gap with <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/nova-r-ve-castle-hill-2-garthowen-crescent-castle-hill-nsw-2154">Nova Rêve</a>, a major new mixed-use precinct on the corner of Garthowen Crescent and Old Castle Hill Road, a short walk from Castle Hill Metro Station and Castle Towers.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152737 project_image_fid=377679]

The project will comprise three residential towers alongside a hotel, restaurants, cafes and a skybar, more than 1,600 sqm of ground-floor retail and almost an acre of landscaped gardens.

It represents the largest project undertaken by Reve Group, the development arm of the Kassis family, which has been building across the Hills District for more than 30 years through Kassis Homes.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152737 project_image_fid=377675]

Nova Rêve also represents a significant step up from the family's first apartment development, Grand Rêve, which was delivered nearby on Garthowen Crescent.

Grand Rêve introduced larger, house-like apartment layouts and premium inclusions including Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances to the Castle Hill market.

Nova Rêve takes that approach to a precinct scale, combining the residential component with hospitality, retail and substantial public and resident landscaping.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152737 project_image_fid=377685]

Reve Group Managing Director Sam Kassis said the project reflected the family's three decades of building in the Hills, which has evolved from trophy homes on quarter-acre blocks to larger-scale apartment development.

"Grand Rêve was our first apartment project here and it showed us what this pocket of Castle Hill could be. Nova Rêve is the refinement of that idea: not just apartments, but a place the whole suburb can use," Kassis said.

A key part of that approach is the hotel, which has been designed to operate as an amenity for the wider Castle Hill community rather than solely hotel guests.

It will include restaurants, cafes, skybars and all-day dining, alongside conference and event facilities catering to business functions, community groups and private events.

At ground level, more than 1,600 sqm of shops and cafes will open onto the surrounding streets and landscaped areas.

Almost an acre of gardens designed by Land and Form Studios will run through the precinct, incorporating pathways, seating, barbecue areas and children's play spaces.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=152737 project_image_fid=377680]

Reve Group's Romio Georges said creating an active ground plane had been central to the planning of Nova Rêve.

"There are gardens with pathways, barbecues, seating and play areas, shops and cafes opening onto the street, and a hotel with restaurants and a skybar that anyone in Castle Hill can walk into," Georges said.

The project's elevated position on one of Sydney's highest ridgelines will also provide apartments with outlooks toward the Sydney skyline, surrounding parkland and the Blue Mountains.

More than 80 per cent of the apartments will occupy corner positions, with Turner responsible for both the architecture and interiors.

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Larry Schlesinger

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