Residential Properties Replacing Office Properties

Phil McCarroll writes a piece for Your Investment Property wherein he talks about a boom in the fortunes of residential properties and how they are ready to compete with office stock in Sydney. Some 1,80,000 square metres of office stock is due to be removed in the next few years and the space thus created will be used for residential purposes.

Areas with maximum conversions

North Sydney, Hurstville and Burwood are among those names which have witnessed the maximum number of such conversions. While markets such as Burwood and Hurstville are likely to turn primarily into residential zones, other areas like North Shore will remain office hubs with a marked increase in residential activity.

Residential properties more desired

Lack of greenfield sites and land rezoning protocols can toughen the problem for office space seekers. One main reason for conversion is the pricing. Presently, office spaces are fetching nearly half in comparison to the residential properties for the same acreage. To give an example, At St. Leonards, the price of residential property is $12,000 per square metre compared to $6,000 per square metre which happens to be the going rate for office properties.

There is a consensus that the residential transition will help provide a night life to these areas. Presently, nothing much happens in these places after 7 pm, given that they are office hubs.

You can read the original article here.

The new pattern with residential market

The trend, if anything, is a clear indication of how the residential market is patterning itself. A few days ago I heard that Australians are using their self-managed super fund to hit the residential market and the number of SMSF-enabled properties- while still being only a fraction of total assets in SMSF- is increasing by the day.

And the trend adding to the nightlife of a place like Burwood is quite a thought, one must say!