Ship-in homes receive show of faith from big four bank
Australia's largest mortgage lender is funding the construction of a new 21,900 square metre factory on the Sunshine Coast for Oly Homes – set to be built in the second half of 2026. Once built, the factory will help lift Oly Homes' annual average from 200 homes to about 550 a year.
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News.com.au
2 minutes ago
- News.com.au
A home a day: Qld's top-selling property hotspots revealed
More than one property was sold every day of the year in Queensland's 22 most popular suburbs, with a staggering 1246 homes changing hands over 12 months in the top-selling market alone. Suburbs with the highest volume of sales since July 2024 comprised a mix of city apartment hubs and outer metro and regional growth suburbs, many with house prices below Greater Brisbane's $1m median. Surfers Paradise was top-ranked overall, with more than three apartments sold each day since last year – eclipsing runner-up Brisbane City by a whopping 452. Median unit prices in those hotspots sit at $760,000 and $670,000. PropTrack's Market Trends report showed an almost even split between units and houses among the suburbs where more than 365 annual sales were recorded. Brisbane's inner ring markets including Fortitude Valley, South Brisbane, West End and Newstead performed strongly, with 639, 533, 413 and 387 units sold respectively. Nundah in the city's north was another standout, notching up 374 apartment sales. For houses, buyers seeking more bang for their buck ventured further, led by Redbank Plains (482 sales), then Caboolture (479), Morayfield (404), Springfield Lakes (378), and Narangba (373). The Gold Coast's Pimpama took the crown for most house sales overall, at 492. Nearby Upper Coomera (384) and Coomera (377) also made the cut, with first-home buyers snapping up much of the stock previously held by investors in the region's northern growth corridor. The Coast's CBD suburb, Southport, also featured with 744 apartment sales, along with nearby Labrador, 454. Other regional top sellers included Buderim and Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast, and Kirwan in Townsville. Brisbane buyers agent Andrew Cumming said the city suburbs on the list generally offered more opportunities to get into an otherwise competitive market. 'The volume of transaction is really driven by affordability – it is easy to get in because there are so many properties available. Lifestyle and proximity to the city are the main reason these areas are doing well,' Mr Cumming said. But he cautioned about the potential for fluctuating values. 'Growth is good now while demand is high, but it might not last forever,' the co-director of said. 'From my experience as a sales agent prior to being a buyers agent, there is too much volatility in those high-volume markets and that can hurt your value as a homeowner. 'The more transactions, the more risk there is of someone selling at a lower value that can impact your investment.' He advised seeking properties with a 'point of difference', such as those in a smaller, boutique building, or located in a quieter, more exclusive pocket. 'We tend to focus on suburbs with a lower transaction volume. But suburbs like Newstead and Fortitude Valley have quality investment merits, where the super-high volume of transactions is anchored by the number of developments, but also by the lifestyle amenities.' Mr Cumming bought a two-bedroom, one-bathroom unit in Fortitude Valley in 2020 for $400,000, which is now valued at about $720,000. 'Mine is in a smaller building and sits within a really nice character pocket with a fixed supply.' In Newstead, an influx of new strata developments had propelled the suburb, located 3km from the CBD, with unit prices soaring 22 per cent since last year to a median of $666,000. New projects on the market range from spacious luxury apartments priced from $2.295m to a riverfront tower designed for retirees with units from $830,000. Surfers Paradise agent Katrina Keegan, of Coastal, put the Glitter Strip capital's surge down to increased buyer confidence, and the diversity of local real estate on offer. She and partner Penelope Nicholls sold 124 Surfers Paradise properties over the past 12 months, including both on and off-market sales, with local stock ranging from one-bedroom studios priced at $250,000 to an $8m beachfront penthouse. 'Prices per square metre and days on market have really dramatically come down,' Ms Keegan said. 'We are dealing with some really smart and savvy buyers who know the market and what they are prepared to buy, but they don't necessarily want a bargain.' She said the proportion of owner-occupiers purchasing properties priced above $700,000 had doubled in the past two years, while 70 per cent of buyers for homes under $750,000 were investors. First-home buyer activity had also spiked, along with Boomers looking to acquire a Gold Coast holiday home. Unit owner Harry Laumets near doubled his return on a two-bedder in a 2005-built beachside tower. He bought the apartment for $450,000 in 2020 and has just sold it for $800,000 after three weeks on the market. 'Prices were quite reasonable at the time I bought. In hindsight, people were trying to offload investment properties. But since then, prices have just been going up and up, even with the glut of units that were already here,' Mr Laumets said. The retiree is returning to Melbourne after a five-year Queensland sojourn. The data aligned with quarterly results by prop tech firm InfoTrack, with Springfield Lakes and Surfers Paradise recording the most house and unit sales from April to June this year. 'Springfield Lakes continues to gain traction due to its blend of lifestyle, community, and affordability,' InfoTrack head of property Lee Bailie said. 'Nearby Redbank Plains also made the top 10 [last quarter]. 'Both suburbs offer their own unique character but are also well within commuting distance to central Ipswich and the Brisbane CBD,' he said. How first-home buyers can turbocharge their chances Mr Cumming said soaring house sales in outer metro suburbs like Caboolture reflected rapid population growth. 'Buying and selling is challenging in Brisbane, whereas in suburbs like Caboolture there is more of an abundance. 'People are selling out of there to get into Brisbane, but Caboolture and the Moreton Bay region are growing really fast and the number of transactions is fuelled by the amount of interest driven by affordability and proximity to Brisbane giving it the benefit of growth piggybacking off Brisbane,' he said. House prices in Caboolture were up 13 per cent from last year, to a median of $750,000.
Sydney Morning Herald
2 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Does Australia's biggest contribution to global dining come from ... McDonald's?
Before flat whites surged through New York City, Aussie-inspired coffee was being poured at America's first McCafe in Chicago, back in 2001. Since its Melbourne creation in 1993, the McDonald's concept has taken off globally and McCafes now serve macarons in France and alfajores in Argentina. There are McCafes with bubble tea in China, zaatar croissants in Saudi Arabia and local coffee beans in Guatemala. 'I don't think it would be crazy to argue that Australian coffee culture is the country's biggest culinary contribution to the world, within which McCafe plays a major role as the delivery vehicle,' says Gary He, author of McAtlas: A Global Guide to the Golden Arches. The self-published book won the Reference, History and Scholarship category at the prestigious James Beard food media awards in June, held in Chicago. He, a US-based writer and photographer, travelled to McDonald's outlets across six continents to document the fast-food chain's surprising diversity. The project, started in 2018, has taken him to more than 50 countries, from Sweden's McSki to Germany's McBoat and New Zealand's Taupo location which incorporates an actual plane.
Sydney Morning Herald
2 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Private placements', property and cars: Inside WA's multimillion-dollar fraud trial
The first week of the trial of an alleged Perth-based fraudster heard his former clients claimed they had no idea he was hedging their investments with real estate and cars, rather than keeping the funds safe in a 'blocked bank account'. Private investor Chris Marco is on trial in West Australia's Supreme Court, facing 44 charges after allegedly defrauding investors of about $36.4 million. His former executive assistant, Linda Marissen, has been charged with 30 offences for her alleged role in the crimes. Both have pleaded not guilty to all charges. The minimum investment to work with Marco was $100,000, and his clients included an environmental scientist and a Sydney-based insurance underwriter. In his opening statement, Prosecutor Steven Whybrow said Marco spent years developing credibility with his clients between 2011 and 2018, promising to invest their money in lucrative overseas investment structures called 'private placements'. Private placements are when a company raises money by selling shares, bonds, or securities to a select group of private investors, rather than through the public stock exchange. They are generally a riskier type of investment and aimed at exclusive groups of people, which Marco claimed to have access to. In an interview from 2021 played to the court on Friday, Marco said he mainly ran them through overseas operators. Whybrow told the court Marco added to his credibility by allowing investors to pull their money out at any time, but the generous returns his clients received meant they often rolled over their investments.
