Apartment Units Finding Favour From Investors
In an article for the website Your Investment Property, Phil McCarroll asserts that the growing hiatus between the median prices for detached dwellings and apartments could see the latter becoming a more attractive option for investors. It is notable that the differential in some of the top suburbs in Australia is getting really high.
Median house values 8 times higher than units, really!!!
Imagine the scene in Centennial Park, Sydney, where the median house value is nearly 8 times higher than median unit values. Vaucluse, Lavender Bay, Cremorne Point, Dover heights and Bellevue Hills at least have 3 times higher median house values (compared to unit values) to offer. In fact, it can be termed a bizarre development that Northern Territory and Tasmania are the only two places where the differential is lesser than 200%.
Units being seen as a profitable option
While it can certainly be argued that units do not have the same charm for buyers as detached dwellings (at least traditionally it has been so), the differentials may shift the real estate dynamics, making investors see units as an increasingly viable option in months and years to come.
You can read the original article here.
Gentrification trend
I feel that the present gentrification level and the shift of demographics will also turn the tide very much in favour of apartment units. Australia has always been enamoured of the concept of McMansions. It then comes as no surprise that in terms of square metre space we are ahead of the USA.
Lately, however, our penchant for the café lifestyle, transport amenities and lifestyle facilities has brought within us the desire to gentrify. This sense of urbanisation has led us to embrace the idea of living in apartments. If this means sacrificing our McMansion dream, so be it.
Demand-supply dynamics
Moreover, we have also begun to figure out the demand-supply scene and how the forced cramping of space may pan out in the near future. Because land is at a premium, we will have to seize all the ‘vertical’ options that we have and this, needless to say, will turn our endeavours more in the direction of apartment units in the coming years. So here’s the verdict: detached dwellings should not lose their shine, ever. They are a labour of love, though apartment units are certainly going to find more takers.
