From inner Melbourne to the Sunshine Coast: The new developments hitting the market across Australia

Developers are pushing ahead with new housing projects across Australia despite widespread predictions of a property downturn.

While COVID-19 restrictions and warnings of price falls of up to 15 per cent in Sydney and Melbourne have been enough to stop some developers in their tracks, others have decided to forge on.

On the Sunshine Coast, HM Developments is launching a $200 million project that includes 220 land lots, 36 apartments and 16 terrace residences.

Baby Boomer downsizers, the prime demographic of the Pelican Waters estate, seemed relatively immune from the economic impact of the pandemic, said HM sales director Marcus Muir.

“Our average buyer is retired and I would say nine out of 10 don’t have a mortgage,” he said.

“If anything, COVID-19 has prompted them to fast-track that move to downsize and there’s also a big push from the southern migrating market. We find that a lot of people in Melbourne and Sydney have kids or grandchildren who have already come to Queensland.”

The confidence in the downsizer segment of the market has propelled the decision to move forward, he said.

“We decided to make a commitment, we’ve come this far financially, acquiring the land and everything, that we’re going to push on,” Muir said. “If we were targeting an investment market, it would have been a different story.”

Healthy demand has similarly driven Gold Coast project Serenity 4212 by Keylin Group and Kinstone Developments. The new estate in the suburb of Helensvale currently has a mix of land lots and townhomes on offer.

“Outside of the high-rise space, we’ve got very little supply in townhouses and land, so for me this will be the last land subdivision I’ll probably do in my career because we just don’t have the sites,” said Tony Ashwin, director of Ashwin Property.

In Newcastle, developers DOMA are launching The Crossing, a 48-apartment building set to be constructed in 18 months. Selling agent Chris Chapman from Colliers said there was no need to stop development plans when the Newcastle market was performing so strongly.

“Even last year when it got a bit wobbly in Sydney and Melbourne, it didn’t happen here in Newcastle and we’ve seen no distress from buyers,” he said.

“So anyone waiting around for someone to get themselves into strife is barking up the wrong tree, particularly in the Newcastle market.”

A $3.5 million off-the-plan penthouse is among the stock left to sell at Anden, a 15-apartment project in Coogee.

“We were taken by surprise by how well it’s gone and how strong it is,” said CBRE agent Ben Stewart.

“We didn’t see COVID-19 coming, so we put the property on the market and we didn’t have great expectations that it would sell so well, but it just goes to show if you’re in an area well priced with good product, there’s a flight to quality.”

Melbourne developments, particularly in the wealthy inner-east and south-east, are also progressing as per usual. Six developments with Marshall White Projects are set for launch in June and July across Hawthorn, Malvern East, Highett and Balwyn.

And in Camberwell, CBRE agents will stage a soft launch of Victoria and Burke at a prime junction site next month.

Victorian managing director Andrew Leoncelli said many developers were at critical stages of planning when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, so were moving forward with their plans.

“The reality is developers buy land then undertake enormous planning processes, but have very little choice but to bring non-income producing development projects to market,” he said.

“So they have all been busy building their display suites and preparing their marketing materials.”