Massive apartment oversupply warning comes from John Holland boss

Massive apartment oversupply warning comes from John Holland boss
Staff reporterDecember 7, 2020

The chief executive of development and construction group John Holland, Joe Barr, says there is a massive oversupply of apartments in some areas.

"I think in some areas there is massive oversupply [of apartments] and that is going to be problematic for values," Mr Barr told The Australian Financial Review.

"Most of the economic commentary on that is fairly on the money."

"You look at the amount and sustainability of the demand supply equation in some areas and there are so many apartments. How do you differentiate yourself?"

"[The market] has got to come off and I think most of the mainstream media has got the commentary going."

Mr Barr warned that the constant roll out of apartments without proper infrastructure was dangerous.

"Apartments need to be integrated with public transport and a good community- you can't create a void of just mass residential without the community," he said.

"The Metro [in Sydney] is a gamechanger. It is a no brainer to take cars off the road and volumes of people into town. We want to make the most of this infrastructure boom - it is a huge opportunity to change the shape of cities."

He noted that the Chinese parent company's approach to developing thousands of apartments in China was to ensure there was plenty of infrastructure supporting new development.

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