Buying an apartment in Melbourne is a risky task with many factors that must be considered to avoid buying a lemon.
Things like negative equity, a small floor plan, high body corporate fees, poor capital growth and low rental yields.
In addition to the above issues Melbourne’s experienced an over supply of apartments over the last 5 years creating an environment where there is more sellers than buyers. Quite opposite to the current residential housing market being a sellers market (more buyers than sellers).
Purchasing in a buyers market is difficult and for some reason attractive, there is a feeling of missing out and everything seems to sell. In a sellers market it’s quite the opposite, buyers are thinking more about risk and become property savvy, this is only natural due to increase in choice.
Being an experienced buyers agents and property developer I know which market I prefer. Many successful investors understand how to profit from market cycles, Warren Buffet famously said ‘buy when people are selling and sell when people are buying.’ This simple rule works with any sort of investment class.
Mistakes Buyers Make When Buying Apartments.
– Dime a dozen property. These are usually high rise (10+ floors), small floor plans with poor lighting. Vendors / property owners find it difficult to lease or sell this property for good prices due to high volumes of the same stock on the market place.
– Buying off the plan. There are many issues that can arise like project completion times, Sunset clause that offer developers ways out of your agreement and quality of finish. More information on this topic read: The Dos & Don’t For Buying Off The Plan.
– Location, location, location. Many apartments are appearing in the outer suburbs away from important local ammonites and infrastructure. To insure buying a lemon I follow some simple rules like: distance to the city (maximum 8km from Melbourne’s CBD), walking distance to a train station, coffee shops, schools and shopping centres, parks, beach or walking tracks.
– Cost of up keep: Many apartments in Melbourne have large body corporate fees and existing structural issues that can cause a price crash in the property value. It’s important to do your home work before buying any property.
Playing The Market To Your Advantage
Making money in real estate is simple if you follow a few basic rules, the two key factors:
- Time on market: Long-term ‘hold’ strategy.
- Hold quality assets in your portfolio, buying something everyone wants:
Long-term hold strategy allows you to choose the most profitable time to exit the market. Stock market traders have a catchy saying ‘buy low sell high’ rings true in property investing. Currently it’s obvious the market is flat and prices have dipped and could fall further, hence a low point in the market is presenting a good buying opportunity.
Looking at Melbourne’s big brother property market Sydney, an entry-level two bed, 1 bath, 1 car apartment sells for approximately $1M, this is almost double Melbourne’s entry-level apartment price.
Don’t Melbourne’s love the Australian dream of owning a house? I believe this is changing due to a combination of high median house price $840,000, poor wage growth, high cost of living, low levels of blue-collar job opportunity around the outer suburbs and heavy traffic congestion.
Apartments are relatively cheap to purchase, cost effect to live in, low maintenance, located close to great amenities and infrastructure and most importantly close to high paying job opportunities.
How A Buyers Agent Can Help
To ensure your time on market is successful it starts from planning for the right purchase. Having a good team to ‘steer your ship’ by influencing your decision-making saving you time, money and heat ache. This means finance advisors, finance broker, buyer’s agents, property mangers and solicitors. Each has an important role to play in your assets long-term success.
How do you spot a good ‘quality’ apartment? Our buyer’s agents have been buying property for over 20 years, we understand the key factors that effect capital growth and apply this when selecting an apartment. Some selection criteria we apply:
- Minimum size apartment.
- A healthy balance of apartments and residential property.
- Lower number of apartments in the complex.
- Around infrastructure (trains).
- Secure car park on property title, not leased.
- Life style options (cafes, shops, parks, beach etc).
- Low maintenance and holding fees.
- High rental return, 4% p.a.
- Certain proximity to the city.
- We knock back 95% of property on the market.
If you’re considering buying an apartment in Melbourne consider how a professional property buyer can ensure your success, contact Wise Real Estate Advice for an obligation free chat.
