Why is Harry Triguboff still building so much in 2020?

Apartment mogul Harry Triguboff is continuing his rollout of thousands of units on the east coast, saying prices are holding due to low interest rates.

“Many knowledgeable people are asking why I am building so much when we have so few migrants and students coming,” the multi-billionaire founder of Meriton Apartments told The Australian in an interview on Thursday.

“It is true we must have migrants and students coming here, but the real estate sales are improving because there is so much money available at such low interest rates. We always had and always will have a shortage of supply,” he said.

“My units are going up in price. It’s not big rises, but there are rises.”

Mr Triguboff’s comments about the housing market were backed on Thursday by CoreLogic data, which revealed that despite suggestions there would be a 10 per cent decline in property values this year — with worst case scenarios suggesting prices could fall by as much as one third — the softening of prices had been much milder.

Home values fell just 1.7 percent between March and October and increased last month by 0.4 per cent, according to CoreLogic.

“Although housing values are once again rising, it’s important to highlight that Melbourne housing values remain around 5.4 per cent below their recent high, and Sydney housing values are still 4.8 per cent below their 2017 peak,” CoreLogic said.

“Values in Perth and Darwin are more than 20 per cent below their 2014 peaks, while the remaining capital cities have seen housing values move to new record highs through the COVID-19 period.”

Meanwhile, Mr Triguboff confirmed that he is building 2350 units in Sydney, the Gold Coast and in Melbourne.

He said banks now had more courage and were happy to lend at very cheap rates, making it easier for people to repay their loans.

“We must now not worry that prices have started to go up. They are still considerably lower than they were pre-virus; they must at least reach those prices.”

Mr Triguboff noted that some of China’s biggest developers had come to Australia and lost money “so the properties couldnot possibly be overpriced”.

“Before people paid 15 per cent more for the property and the interest rates were three times greater than now,” he said.

He said young people were now buying his apartments because repayments were so low — and in some cases lower than rent.

He reiterated calls for people to return to the workplace.

“At last we are opening the borders. This will result in a great improvement and morale of the people. We know where we stand. We will go where we want. It was very difficult to run many businesses when the borders were closed.

“I think also at last we see how good it is here and why so many foreigners want to settle here. Imagine if you were now in Europe or America? As we grow the opportunities will improve and it will only get better.”

 

This article originally appeared on The Australian