New apartment listings into the Urban.com.au Project Database reveals a trend

The last week or so has seen in the vicinity of 30 new medium to high-density residential entries added to the Urban.com.au Project Database, along with numerous existing database listing upgrades as proponents of the next wave of apartment projects ready themselves for their respective sales campaigns.

In the course of adding these fresh projects it became evident that this 'next wave' of new apartment projects has Melbourne's suburbs in mind; certainly no tsunami but an appreciable shift toward more non-core localities. That is to say no new listings have been added for Docklands, Southbank or Melbourne's CBD.

Far and wide

The suburbs located within a 4-12 kilometre band of the CBD look to be the current sweet shop for developers seeking to deliver new apartment projects. Not all new listings are bound to this nominal bracket, yet the majority are.

New Urban.com.au Project Database listings include the following locations within the nominated band:

Beyond those suburbs listed above further projects have also announced themselves of late. Seen above are Canterbury Hill, 28-30 Warwick Avenue, Kubix Stage 2, Curlew and Whitehorse Towers which represent the next tranche of projects that are currently at sales or are about to embark upon their sales campaign. Surrey Hills, Springvale, Wantirna South, Doncaster and Box Hill are the represented suburbs.

A project representative of the times

There are greater attention grabbing suburban projects such as Sovereign Square Box Hill at 33 levels, yet if one project is representative of the change that has engulfed Melbourne's suburbs (in attitudes and planning outcomes) in recent years, it may just be Evergreen Ivanhoe. A project of this size in this locale was surely unfathomable a few short years ago, but as seen below the freshly revealed project looks set to take its place as Ivanhoe's largest high-density development.

As Kokoda Property Group's latest offering, Evergreen Ivanhoe at 8 levels will hold an impressive 157 apartments; by far and away the largest apartment development in Ivanhoe.

Evident current trends?

Much of 2014 has been subsumed both on Urban.com.au and elsewhere with the indelible impression that Asian-backed property developers have made upon Melbourne. Only in the latter part of 2014 have local developers taken centre stage once more as the wave of large-scale inner-city apartment projects begins to be digested.

A obvious trend has emerged out of the latest Project Database listings whereby the vast majority of new and pending apartment developments are found in the middle and outer suburbs of Melbourne. Although only a few of the many variables that form the current Melbourne apartment market dynamic, a handful of likely factors that may contribute to the wider spread of upcoming apartment projects include:

• Local developers favouring suburban sites as home grown demand for apartments remains strong for well considered, smaller-scale projects.
• The likelihood that local developers have been outbid on premier CBD and inner-city sites by foreign developers, forcing their hand to a degree into suburban apartment developments.
• The next stage of Melbourne's acceptance of apartment living, with a higher infiltration of apartment developments into previously underdeveloped suburbs such as Wantirna South, Brighton, Mentone or Williamstown.
• Local buyers or intended occupiers shunning the CBD and Southbank in favour of more intimate suburbs such as Northcote or Essendon; apartment living without the CBD lifestyle.

With the influx of new apartment development listings it seems that while the CBD and inner-city apartment market may be pausing to subsume the high number of apartments under construction or at sales, the suburban apartment market has surged ahead... and the overall Melbourne apartment sector marches on!