27 July 2010

Buying into the Belconnen Town Centre?

| MP123
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Hi All

I recently bought at the Oracle Apartments as an investment property. I want to know what people’s prediction are about capital growth in the Belconne Town Centre itself, now they are doing extensive redevelopments, including making the waterfront area more trendy (with bars, cafes and that new Arts centre).

Belconnen to me has always been ‘daggy’ and so outdated… however the past 12 months i’ve noticed that there is a lot of activity being done to make it more appealing. And i noticed in last weeks paper that the Altitude apartments are selling for a complete bomb (a total rip-off in my opinion) which makes me think that they’re going to make further imrpovements to come (if the developers are building a very highly priced tall apartment building).

Do you think Belconnen Town Centre is a good investment location? Appreciate people’s objective thoughts.

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I don’t think buying into an apartment is a bad idea. There is a heap of baby boomers and single people (e.g. divorcees) who will be looking to downgrade or live in something smaller and low maintenance. A bonus is that your apartment is close to amenities.

troll-sniffer5:39 pm 27 Jul 10

is play on words mein freund, look up guerilla marketing somewhere on the net…

You appreciate people’s objective thoughts? You bought in the Belconnen Centre! Impossible to be objective.

Strictly speaking you don’t own the land in canberra anyway. Its really the location that has the value.
The rates are calculated on the land value. If 50 apartments occupy land worth $5 million, then each apartment technically is on $100k worth of land. Same for Townhouses. Plenty of people have made money on apartments and houses.

There are also diferent tax considerations for purchasing property. Though if I was buying an apartment it would be in the city, not in belconnen.

justin heywood2:18 pm 27 Jul 10

troll-sniffer said :

Second glance it looks like a half-arsed gorilla campaign,

MP123 is a wildlife warrior?

troll-sniffer2:05 pm 27 Jul 10

Mothy said :

I just call bullsh*t.

MP123 – Your only other RA post has been to point out how you predict that the terraces of Crace will be worth a fortune in years to come because of location location location.

That “query” about Belconnen capital gains potential because Belconnen is on the improve sounded more like a sales pitch.

Are you a local Canb Real Estate Agent with probably a few too many Belconnen Apartments on your books?

Second glance it looks like a half-arsed gorilla campaign, praps yer right squire…

Depends on how many more people are murdered in the apartments around there..

I just call bullsh*t.

MP123 – Your only other RA post has been to point out how you predict that the terraces of Crace will be worth a fortune in years to come because of location location location.

That “query” about Belconnen capital gains potential because Belconnen is on the improve sounded more like a sales pitch.

Are you a local Canb Real Estate Agent with probably a few too many Belconnen Apartments on your books?

Wasn’t someone murdered in the Oracle Apartments this year?
Not that unit is it?

The first rule of real estate investment: “Land appreciates, buildings depreciate”

The problem with investing in apartments is that you only own the inside of a building (and probably a shonky one based on previous reports).

The other problem with apartments is that it is too easy for someone to build more apartments if the demand is there to drive up prices. Their shiny new apartment will always be worth more than your crumbling old one.

troll-sniffer12:36 pm 27 Jul 10

Well statistically there’s a several hundred percent higher chance of a foreign student or worker being killed and not discovered in an apartment in Belconnen than the rest of Canberra.

It’s difficult to believe that you would purchase an investment property and then wonder if it was a good decision.

As a general rule, properties in developments such as Oracle are slower than some other sectors of the market, and generally it takes 10 or more years for the investment to be worth selling. The good news is it’s close enough to a Town Centre (even if it is Belconnen) to be a fairly safe bet it will grow in value better than CPI.

But, it’s still difficult to believe…

Those Oracle apartments are insane, 4(?) massive blocks right next to each other. The new Larkmead or Jasmine Allen in the making! Though i suppose at those prices no geezers can afford ’em.

I diagnose a case of buyer’s remorse wanting support…

Too late if you have already bought it!

With a multitude of improvements, redevelopments and the continuation of government departments being located in Belconnen, then yes in the long term it will be a good investment.
Overall I would NEVER purchase an apartment, in my opinion there is not enough capital growth in comparison to the purchase of a home.
However, as long as first home buyers are forced out of purchasing homes and look towards the purchase of an apartment more and more then yes you have a sound long term investment.

I worked in Belconnen for a few decades. In fact, your building sits right on the spot I used to park my car. I view the Oracle building as a waste of a good carpark – but I’m biased.

That aside, my own feeling is that while you probably won’t lose money you probably won’t make a huge capital gain either (but what would I know: the Canberra property market stopped making sense to me years ago).

I think it is probably being charitable to view what is going on in Belconnen as being improvements.

Well I quite like Aranda. Walk on the mountain, walk to the markets etc.

But shouldn’t you have asked whether your apartment was a good investment before you bought it as an investment? You say you thought it was a daggy area and you bought there anyway?

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