Harry foresees signs of life in a time of uncertainty

Australia’s largest residential property developer and hotelier, Meriton, has continued moving forward in times of uncertainty with sustained activity over the past few weeks showing confidence in a returning property market.

“Continuing on from the recent sell-out success at our Pagewood Green Dahlia site last month, we are excited to announce that two additional projects in Mascot and Rhodes have also sold out this week.” said James Sialepis, Company Director & Director of Residential Sales at Meriton.

Escada, a 111-apartment development located at Haran Street, Mascot, completed in October 2019, exchanged on the last remaining apartment  this week. Mascot has always been an area of demand due to the close proximity and connectivity to Sydney Airport, Sydney CBD and the Eastern Suburbs beaches.

Secondly, Aqua, a boutique waterfront development of 68-apartments located at 103 Walker Street in Rhodes sold the final generously sized three-bedroom apartment for $1.28 million this week to a young family upgrading from a smaller unit in Lane Cove attracted by all the conveniences including the train station.

“There is no doubt a rise in demand for completed apartments that the buyer can walk through and see the finished result. They want to see quality apartments that are built for the test of time and that is what we are renowned for.” said Mr Triguboff.

“As prices naturally started to go down in line with the market response, we believe prices will start to go up again.” said Mr Triguboff  “We are releasing new stock due to high demand as the interest rates are at record lows and there is a general consensus they will stay that way. Buyers are realising with these record low interest rates; it is cheaper to buy compared to renting in many areas.”

Over in Sydney Olympic Park, Meriton has been busy accommodating a flurry of buyer’s keen to acquire completed apartments. Meriton recently converted its prized 22-storey hotel at Carter Street, Lidcombe into residential along with another smaller building originally held for Build to Rent. The hotel was initially run as part of the serviced apartments portfolio but due to strong buyer demand in the Lidcombe and Olympic Park area, Meriton made the obvious decision to release the development for sale. The domino effect is we can now start construction on the 3^rd and 4^th stages which will include a brand new Meriton serviced apartment hotel, supermarket, childcare centre and retail hub.

“The consistency and resilience of the apartment market throughout this pandemic has given us great confidence to continue building and embarking on future projects.” said Triguboff

More and more local buyers, especially first home buyers are enquiring and buying which we believe sets a great platform for our market. The overseas market has been a little quieter due to the travel and student restrictions in place, but we expect overseas students to arrive very soon and this will further boost the appetite for our apartments. In anticipation of a steady rebound and enquiry levels increasing week to week, we are preparing to release-to-market more projects within the next few months.

The first project to market, in response to Meriton’s recent success in South East Sydney, will be a 13-storey development on Epsom Road Rosebery comprising a mix of apartments and townhouses across 4 buildings with 276 residences in total. The project also comprises 7 retail tenancies and backs onto the celebrated Gunyama Park Aquatic and Recreation Centre, with the project anticipated completion in 2022.

The team are also working hard to fine tune the next stage of Pagewood Green with imminent approval anticipated towards the end of the year. The stage will be the heart of the development, comprising 420 apartments across 19-storeys and will activate the precinct anchored by a supermarket as well as circa 1,250m2 of various speciality retail.

As Government restrictions around Covid-19 have started to lift, Meriton Suites has also started to see signs of life and activity increase, recommencing operations at any temporarily closed suites.

“We have 18 serviced apartment locations offering over 4,800 hotel suites, due to Covid-19 we were in a position whereby we had to hibernate 10 hotels. We have now recommenced operations, with 5 of these hotels reopening within the month. First to re-open was Meriton Suites World Tower which welcomed back guests from last weekend.” said Matthew Thomas, Group General Manager – Meriton Suites.

“Occupancy in city blocks will start to improve once people are getting back to their daily normality and return to the office.” Mr Triguboff concluded.