More than half of Fortitude Valley's new stock yet to find buyers

More than half of the more than 4,000 apartments in the pipeline in Brisbane’s development hotspot of Fortitude Valley, Bowen Hills and surrounding northern fringe suburbs are yet to be sold, according to the latest figures from research group Oliver Hume.

During the months of September, October and November 2011, 146 apartments were sold in this precinct, the highest volume of sales in Brisbane.

About 2.3 years of supply remaining at current sales rates.

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According to Oliver Hume, the variety of stock on offer contributed to the high level of sales.

The Vecchio Property Group’s The Rivé apartments at Breakfast Creek was the most successful project for the quarter, accounting for more than a third (56) of this total.

Of the 29 projects being marketed in the northern fringes area, 14 have sold more than 50% of their available residential stock while just seven have sold 75% of their stock.

Projects spearheaded by noted property developer David Devine have performed strongly to date.

The Chelsea, a New York-style project being developed by Devine’s Metro Property Group, is 98% sold, with 191 out of the 195 apartments snapped up. The development consists of two towers of 12 levels each with one-bedroom apartments priced at $295,000.

The Hamilton Harbour project on the Brisbane River being developed by Devine Limited and Leighton Properties has sold 98% of the 257 apartments in Harbour One and 85% of the 212 apartments in Harbour Two.

One-, two- and three-bedroom apartments have been priced from $422,000 and rise to $2.25 million.

Laing O’Rourke’s $250 million McLachlan  & Anne (M&A) project under construction at McLachlan, Connor and Ann streets in Fortitude Valley is 72% sold, with 163 out of the of the 234 one- and two-bedroom apartments now sold.

Other apartment projects in Fortitude Valley appear less successful.

At the end of November all 131 apartments in the Alex Perry Residential 11-storey designer block were still available for purchase.

According to a spokesperson for the project, five apartments had been sold in January, and the project is “performing well”.

Another Fortitude Valley project, Belise, was unsold up until the end of November, according to research by Oliver Hume.

Construction of the 199 apartments at the St Paul’s Terrace is due to commence in the second quarter of next year.

In September last year a spokesperson for this development told Property Observer about 50 had been sold off the plan since launching in October 2010.

Photograph by Michael Zimmer