Development land holdings in Southport GC yay or nay?

Hi PCer's,

I've got a strong vested interest in Southport in the Gold Coast. Was thinking of purchasing more boutique development sites with holding income, however I'm having reservations about putting too many eggs there. The rise of Robina, the Broadbeach developments, light rail stage 3 to the airport and the Helensvale/Coomera development all seem to indicate that the local developers are playing elsewhere.

There also seems to be 5+ proposed mega-developments with a cap of over 1Bil in Southport, however nothing has commenced significantly.

 

Southport is eclectic.

The CBD is still has a high scumbag proportion walking around in the daytime. The court and centrelink etc don't help that. My guys are in court there all the time and when it is Domestic Violence court sitting times there are face and neck tattoos as far as the eye can see. We moved our office out of Southport and to Mermaid Beach, though we maintain a small space there for pre/post court stuff.

There was a push to move the CBD to Robina pre-GFC but it hasn't eventuated.

Southport Central's commercial towers had massive vacancy last time I looked.

The dining scene is better on the mid coast these days then that end.

BUT

It has the infrastructure and will remain the CBD so I still think it has great long term potential.

 

That's what I've heard from many others. It wasn't too bad when I was last visiting Australia Fair, but many of the residential tenants out west and south west of Scarborough seemed to be unemployed or working part-time. Is it true that 60-70% of the white collar employment is in Southport?

I thought developments like the light rail stage 1 & 2, broadwater and university would have made the suburb more family friendly and attract a larger professional population

 

I call it the Gangsta's paradise, I'm sure there's money to be made if you know what you're doing. I've been told that commonwealth games are going to prop the area up a bit and rent will climb.

 

I say yay. Long term plans are for dense highrise living. Still early days yet. Land is a great buy.

 

These two statements sums it up in my opinion. Also take into consideration the hub-and-spoke town planning design and how Mayor Tom Tate is building adjacent as feeder-infrastructure

 

I'm absolutely shooting for a 5-10 year landbank strategy @big max. Sucks that the block behind me on 44 Eugaree street sold off the market to builders last month. Should have spoken to the owners when I last visited, but the time off on the coast was too hard to past up, since I'm based in Sydney

 

Is the Ferry Rd to Bundall road one of the more prominent spokes?! I do hope so since I bought about 150m from Ferry Road, just behind the Storage King

I'm actually renovating the place and looking for a second one now. Doesn't seem to be much under 600K in the Benowa, Wardoo triangle. What do you think about the Chirn Park portion of Southport?

 

Benowa / Wardoo triangle has certainly heated up which is great

Around Chirn Park has a bit of development going on, so land to me is key for good CG investment (e.g., I like South of Cotlew). In saying that, provided you target house/land, I believe it will be promising

 

Chirn Park is good. Becoming trendy with new cafes/bistros and gentrifying. Circa 1 km to the Broadwater. It has all the drivers for growth.

As you mention in an earlier post, if your time horizon is 10 years, Southport will do well. If you are trying to time a cycle, it will rise further in the short term and likely be affected by pullback/softening in 3-4 years. Then will track sideways and rise again from there.

The demographic of the CBD won't change drastically anytime soon, however having said that, it was much worse before the light rail came.

I find it very hard to believe that 60-70 % of white collar jobs (presuming Gold Coast) are based in Southport. Tom Tate and Dawn Critchlow are keen to see it cement itself as the commercial CBD, however there are plenty of white collar opportunities in nearby Bundall and the precincts of Surfers, Broadbeach and Robina

Don't try to reconcile your decisions on this. There are already too many cranes in the sky on the greater Gold Coast and it will only be a few short years before this ends in tears..............again


Merely my 0.02.............not advice.

 

Chirn Park has never moved in the way that others have predicted - it has always had the village sort of atmosphere that people like but in the early 2000's, West of Ferry (behind Southport Park) and Bundall moved significantly and now Labrador, East of Government Rd is fast moving but Chirn Park is still pretty sleepy.

 

What's the zoning on 44 Eugaree?

 

Player
what's the exact appeal of the Broadwater seeing one can't swim in it? Not being a smart arse - just want to know why its an attraction per se.

 

If there is too much land out there for future development than you have diluted the values of all land, new releases and estates tend to do that. Go to basics, why do properties grow in value?
Supply and demand, yes, but what are those? Location such as scarcity of land, higher income or wage growth (would hospitality be the main industry there - how much people make in these professions?). I like land banking but not in areas where there is lots of land available for many years.... However, only you can decide as your game is development, hence totally different investment strategy to mine!

 

@Lacrim, people swim at Paradise Point and at the seafood place at Labrador. There is an obvious appeal to those who want views, nice walks, people that fish, jetski or boaties.

 

@GC1 covered it. It's a beautiful vista for walking paths, parklands for picnics, access for boaties etc.

 

Zoning is RD5, zoned for 23m, but most builders/small developers are building 4-5 townhouses on these blocks to profit in the current market. The bloke who bought 44 also owned 3 blocks across the road in the PDA zoning on Eugaree. The ones right behind the 11 storey building on the corner of ferry rd and queen street

 

I can definitely see why after spending a few days in the bustling Ferry road markets

 

I absolutely agree with your points. Wage growth, owner occupancy rates and macros + micros are usually my more important indicators of growth.

I'm in a speculative mode with this recent purchase. Just hoping that GCC is extra lenient to extend their PDA 80 more metres. Plus it was only 200m to Ferry Road, 200m to Southport private hospital and about 550-650m lightrail, so it was too good to pass up, especially when I negotiated a long settlement(actually bought in Jan and settled 180 days after).

101 Pohlman street is zoned RD5, 1012m block, but they managed to put 12 2 bed and 6 one beds on it (30 rooms opposed to the 20). Hoping GCC stays lenient post commonwealth games

 

I think it was a tour guide or a sales agent that told me that 60-70% of the white collar jobs, most likely the latter