Western Australia’s strong residential fundamentals and growing popularity is increasing demand quality residential development sites, according to Knight Frank.
The company has sold 12 major development sites in the last few months, including four in South Perth and in Cockburn Central for a price of more than AUD$60 million. They have sold to a diverse mix of local, national and international developers, all keen to capitalise on WA’s current and projected future growth.
Knight Frank WA Managing Director, John Corbett, said with WA’s population expected to reach three million people over the next 15 years there was an increasing focus on in-fill and medium to high density development sites.
He said buyers were looking for well-located property as close to the city and infrastructure as possible, which made areas like South Perth, Cockburn, Fremantle and the inner city fringe highly appealing.
“We have sold a number of sites in recent months to buyers from China, Malaysia, interstate and locally,” Corbett said.
“In every instance there have been multiple buyers keen to secure the sites and in some cases they have driven the purchase price.
“Nearby infrastructure such as public transport, shopping centres and schools always feature prominently in developer wish lists, as well as being close to the city or natural attractions like the river or ocean.”
Knight Frank Project Marketing Director Neil Kay said there was still very strong demand for apartments up to AUD$800,000, particularly in city and near city locations.
He said both broad acre and apartment developers were keen to secure sites whenever they became available and the consistent demand and booming population could lead to shortages in the near future.
Corbett added that sites recently sold by Knight Frank included 3 Richardson Street, 32 Charles Street and 4 Judd Street in South Perth and 866 North Lake Road and 71-89 Muriel Court in Cockburn Central.
He added the South Perth sites could be developed with 10 to12 storey buildings, and strong demand is creating keen competition for the sites. The larger of the Cockburn Central sites on Muriel Court and 866 North Lake Road – has zoning ranging from R60 to R160 and have potential for development of 4 to 8 levels and several hundred apartments.
Knight Frank believes the growing trend of inner city living will see increased development in inner city suburbs.
Andrew Batt, International Group Editor of PropertyGuru Group, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email andrew@propertyguru.com.sg
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